Focus Area: Community

Through the creation of the Well Black Women Institute (WBWI), the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness will connect, train and empower Black women to reshape the conditions in which they live, work and play. Through this Institute, the Foundation will prepare women as health equity leaders to address the persistent health and birth outcome disparities plaguing Black women in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, Black women face higher death rates, lower life expectancy and some of the highest rates of infant mortality. Black families experience chronic stress caused by systemic racism and economic instability. These health challenges have been further exacerbated by COVID-19 and racial unrest. The WBWI will harness the talent and experience of Black women and provide them with the tools and training to become systems change leaders who can inform and promote policies and solutions to change how Black women experience health and well-being.

This project, led by Marshfield Clinic, aimed to change the way clinics, campuses and communities interact to advance health equity by refining and expanding the Community Connections Team (CCT) model to screen for and address unmet social needs. The CCT model recruits, trains and supervises volunteers to connect patients with unmet social needs to community agencies for assistance. Traditional health care systems excel in treating illnesses through medication, therapy or procedures but often fall short in addressing upstream social factors that significantly influence health outcomes. Systematic screening for social needs is rarely part of routine care, leading to many patients not receiving the necessary referrals and support. This project successfully advanced health equity by screening over 54,300 individuals for social determinants of health (SDOH) needs and facilitating 11,361 referrals to community agencies, connecting patients with baby needs, dental care, housing and more. The integration of Findhelp into Marshfield Clinic Health System’s electronic health record system expanded access to a directory of social care programs via a ZIP code search. Additionally, the project trained and supported 154 volunteer navigators who collectively contributed over 15,500 hours to bridge health care gaps and promote health equity through community resource navigation.

The goal of this initiative is to improve population health by reducing health problems that are fueled by civil legal injustices. The initiative’s approach combines technology and community-based programming to address legal problems that are barriers to employment, economic stability and health and well-being. Civic legal issues like child support, consumer and medical debt and evictions, influence economic and employment stability, housing access and poverty, and chronic stress, and impact families and individuals who often don’t have the resources to address these issues effectively. This grant team aims to transform the legal aid system, court procedures and the policy environment through community-driven policy and a technology response to make legal services more accessible to Black, Indigenous and People of Color in Dane County (LIFT Dane), Racine County (LIFT Racine) and statewide (LIFT Wisconsin). By addressing issues that can be resolved with a legal intervention, through a system that is modern and accessible, this initiative will work to improve health and well-being for people throughout the state.

This grant awarded to the Nehamiah Community Development Corporation aimed to reduce racial health disparities by strengthening social connectedness and community leadership among African Americans in Madison. Grounded in the understanding that racism – not individual behavior – is a primary driver of poor health outcomes, the project focused on addressing Racial Battle Fatigue (RBF), the chronic stress caused by daily experiences of discrimination and microaggressions.

This project, Legacy Community Alliance for Health (LCAH), aimed to to strengthen the collaboration between Green Tier Legacy Communities (GTLC) and the UniverCity Alliance (UCA) by leveraging academic expertise to address health improvement and health equity at the local policy making level. GTLC are communities that signed a charter pledging to lead initiatives that promote environmental stewardship, economic growth, public health and social equity, and UCA is a partnership among leading centers, departments and schools at the University of Wisconsin–Madison that applies campus-based education, service and research to further the sustainability, resilience, livability and wellbeing of cities. The need for collaboration between these organizations stemmed from a GTLC survey that indicated participating communities lacked knowledge and experience with Health in All Policies (HiAP) frameworks and Health Impact Assessment (HIA) methods, and all respondents felt that their communities would benefit from assistance from academic partners in addressing issues of health and equity. LCAH significantly contributed to advancing health equity in Wisconsin by providing training for 216 individuals across 18 communities and creating HiAP virtual modules with case studies from 15 communities in the state. Notable achievements include collaborations with cities like Appleton, which passed the first HiAP Ordinance in Wisconsin, and Fitchburg, addressing neighborhood barriers through the Healthy Neighborhoods initiative. The project’s impact extended to improved collaborations in Oshkosh, the introduction of HIAs in Wisconsin Rapids and initiatives promoting housing reforms and community health improvements in Ashland and Bayfield County.

This project, led by Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, aimed to address the health inequities and socioeconomic challenges faced by residents of Metcalfe Park by promoting housing security, improving residential stability and enhancing the neighborhood’s built environment. Metcalfe Park is a predominantly African American neighborhood in Milwaukee that has experienced decades of disinvestment and neglect due to segregation and biased public and private investment. The project achieved its goals and key accomplishments include establishing a Community Land Trust, purchasing five city-owned vacant lots for green spaces and connecting residents with resources for tenant and homeownership rights, credit recovery and financial literacy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mutual Aid Program distributed essential supplies, established four mobile food pantries and offered four vaccine clinics. Additionally, the project advanced workforce development through partnerships with WE Energies and Madison Area Technical College (MATC) who offered residents pathways to apprenticeships and well-paying jobs through the new utility pole electrical training site in Metcalfe Park.

Menikanaehkem, Inc., a grassroots community organization based on the Menominee Reservation in Northeast Wisconsin, will use its award to address poverty, housing and trauma as part of its efforts to rebuild its community and improve health outcomes. This grant has ended.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Southeast Wisconsin, Inc, was awarded a grant to adapt and expand the capacity of the “Compassion Resilience Toolkit,” a resource for parents and caregivers supporting youth with mental health needs. In partnership with Rogers Behavioral Health, this project established caregiver groups and facilitator training to create psychologically safe spaces for skill development and resilience building. As a result, parents and caregivers became better equipped to reduce compassion fatigue and increase their ability to support their children facing mental health challenges as they move through and beyond the pandemic. In addition, the team partnered with Milwaukee’s CORE El Centro to recruit and train Spanish-speaking parents and caregivers as group facilitators.

GSAFE, an organization working to create school communities where all LGBTQ youth and students thrive, has received a grant to deliver critically needed social-emotional supports to some of the most vulnerable adolescents in Wisconsin. This project aims to support BIPOC, Trans, Nonbinary LGBTQ+ adolescents impacted by COVID-19 through new programs and resources that expand pathways to youth leadership and increase educators’ ability to provide affirming and inclusive classrooms and schools.

PATCH Youth Advocacy Fellowship for Social and Emotional Health aimed to engage Wisconsin youth as key partners and experts in addressing the social and emotional health (SEH) impacts of COVID-19. PATCH (Providers and Teens Communicating for Health), is a Wisconsin-based program that aims to improve adolescent health and well-being by engaging, educating and empowering youth and adults to partner for positive change. The PATCH Youth Advocacy Fellowship successfully completed two years of programming, offering 25 youth a 10-month opportunity to gain skills and lead community advocacy projects, such as creating widely adopted suicide response policies for schools. The fellows consulted with over 30 organizations and contributed their voices and perspectives to a number of events typically reserved for adults. Comprehensive evaluation led to the fellowship’s replication in Ohio and the launch of the PATCH Alumni Impact Study. The PATCH Youth Advocacy Fellowship, now renamed the PATCH Teen Consultant Program, continues to empower youth and expand opportunities for meaningful engagement in health advocacy.