Intergenerational Care

Grassroots Community Leaders Celebrate a 'Small Victory' for their 'Nursery to Nursing Home' Campaign for Intergenerational Care

In December 2024, a group of Walworth County neighbors who had united under the banner "Fight Isolation. Win Transportation." celebrated their first win over cookies and coffee. Because of their work, these strangers were now friends, and Sunday transportation services in the county would soon be added. A significant victory for the whole community. "So," they asked, "What's next?"

Over several months of 1:1 conversations, listening sessions, and community engagement, one answer to that question came in the form of a new campaign. By this time, the group had settled on a name for itself and this next campaign. And so the newly branded Groundswell Collective launched "Nursery to Nursing Home: We Need Care," a grassroots movement to transform a vacant wing of the county-owned Lakeland Health Care Center into an intergenerational facility serving both children and seniors under one roof.

On Wednesday, May 20, that campaign reached a milestone nearly 18 months in the making. Responding to grassroots pressure and persistence, the Lakeland Health Care Center Board of Trustees voted 5 to 0 to release the administrative hold on $190,000 in feasibility study funding -- money that the campaign celebrated winning in November as a grassroots victory.

In September 2025, Groundswell hosted an Intergenerational Summit on Childcare in Elkhorn, gathering 42 community members to share their stories. Parents described waitlists of one to two years for childcare. Seniors described isolation and longing to contribute. The room articulated what the group had been hearing in small towns throughout the county for months: senior care, child care, and isolation are interrelated problems--which means they could also have interrelated solutions.

Since September 2025, members of the Groundswell Collective have coordinated countless delegations, sending them month after month to meeting after meeting to deliver public comment at both the Lakeland HCC Board of Trustees and the Walworth County Board of Supervisors. Rotating delegations of neighbors arrived month after month, representing a community of more than 567 residents who signed petitions, packed budget hearings, and refused to let the issue fade.

Although the funds for a feasibility study were secured in November, the group did not let up -- it doubled down. "We all know that funds don't equal action," they reported. "And we want this study to be a vehicle to get us to intergenerational care, not a roadblock on the way!"

Earlier this spring, Groundswell, along with Common Ground Lake Geneva and the Senior Empowerment Project, hosted the South Central Wisconsin Senior Summit in Elkhorn. The findings amplified much of what the groups had already been hearing. According to a report from the Project, across three Wisconsin regions, isolation and connection tied with housing as the top concern, named by nearly 70% of participants. Intergenerational care was raised by residents as the kind of solution they longed for as they looked ahead. "Intergenerational care is not just a building project," reported the Collective. "It is a direct response to what our neighbors are telling us they need."

The work has drawn attention well beyond Walworth County. PBS Wisconsin, the Daily Yonder, and The Nation Magazine have all featured this community's story. The Janesville Gazette covered it as far back as September 2025. It is no exaggeration to say that eyes of the nation are on Walworth County.

At Wednesday's meeting, the Rev. Lily Brellenthin, pastor at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Walworth, Dean of the South Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's South Central Synod, and Groundswell co-leader and cofounder, stepped to the microphone during public comment. In a simple statement that carried the weight of nearly two years of work, she told the board: "We are here in favor of the intergenerational option. And we're excited that the administrative hold is on the agenda."

"Better to plan than delay," remarked Supervisor Brian Holt before the vote. The board voted unanimously in favor.

The resolution that passed explicitly names both a Community-Based Residential Facility and an Intergenerational Center as options to be studied. One open question remains: a $1 million federal grant, congressionally directed through Senator Tammy Baldwin and awarded to Lakeland for renovation of the vacant wing, may or may not be usable for intergenerational purposes.

"If there turn out to be limits on the funding," said the group, "then let's get creative. By all means, we need more options for senior care in the county! We want all seniors and all families to have access to the care they need. So the question would become: with a million dollars going somewhere, what can we do with the additional remaining funds to offer innovative, intergenerational care in Walworth County?"

The vote to remove the hold is a small victory. On June 9, the full Walworth County Board of Supervisors will take a final vote to approve the move. The meeting will be held at 5 PM at the Walworth County Government Center, 100 W. Walworth St., Elkhorn. Groundswell is encouraging community members to attend.

"Your presence is the push that makes change possible and actual in our communities. This whole initiative is in motion only because the community has consistently shown up and spoken out. And we won't be done until we've won. For kids. For seniors. For us. For our community. See you on the 9th. Bring a neighbor, a senior, or your kids."