About Us
A Wisconsin-built approach to helping young people matter.
Mattering for Wisconsin grew from years of youth engagement, community collaboration, and exploration of how Wisconsin can better support young people as learners, workers, neighbors, and citizens. The initiative is focused on turning that work into a practical statewide framework that communities can adapt while sharing a common language, development process, and documentation tool.
Youth Voice at the Center
Built with young people, not just for them.
Young people help shape the framework, tools, and community priorities. Youth voice is part of how Mattering for Wisconsin is built.
Built Through Collaboration
Connecting the work, not replacing it.
Mattering for Wisconsin brings together people and organizations that already play meaningful roles in young people's lives. The goal is to connect and strengthen that work through a shared framework rather than replace it.
The Mattering Ideal
We measure whole people, not test scores or program completions.
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Mental Wellbeing
Confident &
ResilientConfident, resilient, self-aware, emotionally regulated, and supported by meaningful relationships.
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Physical Wellbeing
Active &
HealthyActive, healthy, and equipped with habits that support lifelong wellbeing.
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Workforce Readiness
Skilled &
AdaptableSkilled, adaptable, reliable, and prepared to contribute in a changing economy.
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Community Vitality
Connected &
EngagedConnected, civically engaged, and invested in the people and places around them.
The Mattering Ideal describes the destination. The Mattering for Wisconsin Framework provides a way to develop and reinforce the skills, relationships, and experiences that move young people toward it. The Mattering Resume provides a way to document that growth.
Our Story
It started with students who wanted to be heard.
Mattering for Wisconsin did not begin in a boardroom. It began with young people speaking up about their lives, and with adults who chose to listen and build alongside them.
2022
The shout at Lambeau
Students from Beloit Memorial High School gathered at Lambeau Field to speak out about the trauma, poverty, depression, ridicule, violence, and racism in their lives. They chose Lambeau because the people of Wisconsin own it. They wanted to matter, and they wanted people to listen.
2023
Students redirect the work
Pathways students told the workforce program they were part of that it needed to refocus on mental health. Students, schools, and partners took youth ideas public with a health Shark Tank at American Family Field.
2024
Mattering becomes the strategy
150 students and teachers convened at Lambeau Field around pride, purpose, and hope, building action posters on learning, earning, leading, and serving. That gathering began the exploration of mattering as a statewide strategy.
Today
A statewide framework takes shape
With support from the Boldt Family Fund, Bridge and Build was challenged to get past the blinders of now and build at scale. The Mattering Ideal, the Framework, and the Mattering Resume are the answer: one common language for helping young people matter across Wisconsin.
I've never felt like anyone ever listened to me before, and now I feel like the world would listen if I want them to.
Help every young person know they matter.
Wisconsin has communities that care, employers who want to invest in the next generation, and young people who want to matter. Join the work.
