Higher Expectations engages community partners, aligns efforts, and maximizes resources to promote excellence and equity in education and employment outcomes in Racine County.
While many communities work from cradle to career, our work begins with the end in mind: a fully capable and employed Racine County workforce. To achieve this vision, we work backwards – from career to cradle – to ensure Racine County youth are prepared for success in life.
Learn more about our five outcome areas Employment, College Enrollment and Completion, High School Graduation, Elementary Reading, and Kindergarten Readiness.
To support our focus on evidence-based decision making. Data helps our partners identify the high-impact strategies that will strengthen our community. Partner’s use this data as evidence to: make decisions in real time, improve and expand practices, life up and address disparities, and target resources to support what is working for Racine County
Take a closer look at our data dashboards.
Racine county partnered with Gateway Technical College and Higher Expectations for Racine County to contribute more than $100,000 to fund at least 15 more internet access points across high-needs areas in the county.
The Brookings Institution shared data from How We Rise: How social networks impact economic mobility in Racine, WI, San Francisco, CA, and Washington, DC. This study focused on the differences in an individual’s social networks and how those differences impact economic mobility. City of Racine Alderman, Maurice Horton, represented the Racine community in a panel following the presentation.
We are proud of our community showing, once again, that we can have a greater impact when we work together to create change in Racine County. As we close out this year, take a look at all the great work our partnership has accomplished in 2020 in our new, digital annual report format.
We are requesting proposals from active community members in and around the Racine community to be a Community Power Consultant, create and implement our community engagement strategy with Higher Expectations. Proposals are due by November 25th, 2020 and the Community Power Consultant will begin work with us in January 2020.
On Friday, June 5th, after navigating a few speed bumps, four pallets of foods and drinks filled with healthy snack items, meal sides, coffee k-cups, drink mixes, protein bars, and candy were donated to the YMCA to distribute to families!
The Higher Expectations team mourns the loss of the precious lives that have been taken too soon as we’ve collectively failed to address racism in our systems and structures.
As an organization committed to eliminating barriers for our community, we understand that in order to create true change in our system we must listen to and be led by those most impacted by racist structures. We are committed to doing this work.
In the spring of 2019, the City of Racine was selected as one of nine cities to participate in the What Works Cities (WWC) Economic Mobility initiative, a new program designed for cities to increase their residents’ economic mobility prospects and to share how cities and local communities can help reverse the national trend of declining economic mobility.
We want to talk to more families to get a better idea on what matters most to Racine residents when it comes to child care and show decision makers just how many families could be impacted by new, or improved, child care policies.
Last week, we gathered a small group of our partners to work through a case study of a family living in Racine and discuss how to work more collaboratively to support whole families.
As a part of our Talent Hub work to reach the goal of increasing post-secondary credential attainment rates to 60% of adults in our region and close equity gaps for African American, Hispanic, and low-income populations, our partnership brought experts from the Charles A. Dana Center to facilitate a day-long Math Symposium.