2024–2029 Five-Year Plan

It is a privilege to present the Wisconsin Partnership Program’s 2024–2029 Five-Year Plan.

The 2024–2029 Five-Year Plan reflects the voices of diverse partners across Wisconsin who gathered for in-depth strategic design activities over the past year. The plan advances and expands the vital journey of improving health and advancing health equity through investments in community partnerships, education and research.

This journey is guided by the Wisconsin Partnership Program’s goals and strategies. It is sustained through our strong commitment to fiscal responsibility and stewardship of the resources resulting from the Blue Cross Blue Shield conversion and gift that established the WPP more than twenty years ago.

The 2024–2029 Five-Year Plan is designed to be strategic and intentional, while maintaining the nimble flexibility required to address new opportunities and unexpected challenges.

Like any journey, plans can take unexpected turns. This was certainly the case during this past five-year period when we faced critical health challenges including a once-in-a-century pandemic that disproportionately impacted many members of our communities. The Wisconsin Partnership Program was able to respond rapidly, nimbly and effectively, establishing grant programs in the very first weeks of the pandemic that provided critically needed resources. These quick responses resulted in grants to support researchers to innovate, health systems to increase capacity and community organizations to expand and adapt. In this way, the WPP helped our state navigate the dangerous, turbulent seas of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The goals and strategies put forth in the 2024–2029 Five-Year Plan build upon WPP’s history of impactful work. WPP grantees are solving complex health challenges, responding to critical health needs, strengthening the health care workforce and promoting the health and wellbeing of Wisconsin communities. They leverage WPP funding for greater impact by successfully competing for external funding, sustaining partnerships and building new collaborations.

Through the 2024–2029 Five-Year Plan, and with the full support of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, the Wisconsin Partnership Program will continue to engage partners across the full continuum of health, throughout our communities, universities and state. We will dedicate resources and energy for supporting innovative ideas and new approaches that are built on community and university partnerships and expand WPP’s legacy of successful outcomes and impact.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. Together, we can achieve our shared vision of advancing health and health equity for the people of Wisconsin.

Sincerely,

Robert N. Golden, MD
Robert Turell Professor in Medical Leadership
Dean, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Thank you for your interest in the Wisconsin Partnership Program’s 2024–2029 Five-Year Plan.

The 2024–2029 Five-Year Plan forwards the Wisconsin Partnership Program’s (WPP’s) mission and vision to improve health and advance health equity. This plan embraces strategies that catalyze innovative solutions to meet emerging health needs, engage and build capacity with a broad and diverse range of partners, and propel high-value community, research and education invention and infrastructure.

The development and evolution of this plan is the result of extensive engagement with people across the state of Wisconsin through a multistep in-depth strategic design process that included a diverse array of voices over a twelve-month period. The Wisconsin Partnership Program provided outreach to more than 7,000 individuals, collecting input through public surveys and listening sessions, and received guidance from an advisory panel comprised of leaders from Wisconsin nonprofits, urban and rural communities, public health, health care and academia. The resulting feedback shaped the strategies put forth here to guide WPP’s work throughout the next five years.

The Wisconsin Partnership Program remains steadfast in our commitment to support initiatives that advance health equity and reduce health disparities. We know that some communities and populations are disproportionately impacted by factors that result in poor health outcomes, often because of historical and/or on-going structural inequities. This plan includes support for work that addresses these multi-domain social influencers of health.

Over the past five years, WPP grant partners — community organizations, researchers and educators — have moved health forward in remarkable ways. They have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, innovated to address complex health challenges, prepared our future medical and public health leaders, and improved health and health equity by implementing a diverse range of interventions across our state. I hope you will take a moment to review the examples highlighted in this plan.

This five-year plan is shaped by our commitment to progress and optimism for the future. As we move forward over the next five years, we will continue to ensure rigor and impact in our investments, funding work with the greatest potential for successful outcomes and long-term sustainability. We will build upon the successes of the past five years, remain nimble in responding to critical health needs, and support partnerships and projects that will positively impact health and advance health equity.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together towards our shared vision that everyone in Wisconsin will live healthy and full lives.

Sincerely,

Amy JH Kind, MD, PhD
Executive Director, Wisconsin Partnership Program
Associate Dean for Social Health Sciences and Programs, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

In late fall 2022, a survey was sent to 7,267 individuals across the state drawn from several sources including current and former WPP grantees and applicants, Wisconsin community organizations and public health departments, UW faculty and staff and subscribers to WPP’s mailing lists. This survey asked for input on the goals, strategies and priorities of WPP for the next five-year period. The surveyed population included government and public health employees, nonprofit workers and community advocates, faculty and staff from a variety of Wisconsin colleges and universities, hospital workers and other individuals who had previously expressed interest in the work of WPP. Survey respondents included nonprofit workers (35.4 percent), employees at academic institutions (35 percent) and government or public health department workers (25 percent). Respondents spanned all areas of the state.

The survey was followed by three 60-minute listening sessions with academic and public members (including an open virtual session) to obtain feedback on the new five-year plan framework. This open public virtual listening session was led by staff from the UW–Madison Office of Strategic Consulting and invited reflection on the draft five-year plan framework. All responses were assessed to inform the final five-year plan framework and document.

Incorporating input gathered through the surveys and listening sessions, a draft framework was developed and shared with a WPP Leadership Advisory Panel in April 2023 for additional feedback. This panel consisted of 44 people including leaders from Wisconsin nonprofits, urban and rural communities, public health, health care and academia. The additional feedback and refinements offered by the advisory panel during this meeting resulted in the final draft Five-Year Plan framework released for public comment. This draft and all comments generated during the public comment period are presented to the OAC and PERC for approval. Following this, the plan is presented to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents for approval.