You have seen the strides made in childcare and affordable housing over the last year, but Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers wanted to see and talk about it for himself.

Evers and Secretary of Administration Kathy Blumenfeld joined community leaders from across the county in Sturgeon Bay Tuesday afternoon to discuss a number of issues facing the state such as childcare and affordable housing. In December 2021, the United Way of Door County received a $3.5 million Workforce Development Grant from the state to address the two issues that are holding Door County businesses back when it comes to hiring people to work in the area. In the year since Northern Door Children’s Center has been able to expand its operation and the Door Community Child Development Center was able to break ground on a new facility as a result of the funding.

On Tuesday, Evers proposed dedicating hundreds of millions of dollars towards programs offering affordable workforce housing grants and workforce housing rehabilitation loans. He says it is important to hear how some of the programs that have already been instituted are paying dividends in communities like Door County.

People associated with two different housing projects received the opportunity to tout their current success and inquire how to make their efforts even more successful. Jim Honig and Mariah Goode of the Door County Housing Partnership highlighted how they were able to work with the Village of Sister Bay to acquire a number of lots for affordable housing under their community land trust model. Paula Anschutz of Sister Bay discussed her home and cabin reclamation project that is saving buildings from demolition and setting up future housing at the fraction of the price of new builds. You can watch portions of the roundtable meeting below.