Grant Program: Community Collaboration Grant

In the United States, the incarceration rate of women is growing 50 percent faster than that of men, yet their voices and experiences are left out of the conversation around criminal justice reform and mass incarceration. Women incarcerated in Wisconsin face gendered disparities in housing, economic opportunity and family unity due to policies surrounding incarceration and supervision. Ex-incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO) is a statewide network of formerly incarcerated people, and women within EXPO identified the need for their own space to support one another and address the gender-specific impacts of mass incarceration. FREE, a project led by women members of EXPO, aimed to create a statewide network of women civic leaders who have experience with incarceration and make their voices heard through collective action on issues that affect their lives. FREE has made great progress towards its goals by forming statewide chapters for impacted women, developing leadership and wellness programming and addressing the challenges formerly incarcerated women face at a policy level.

The Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association (RLWA), a community organization located inside JP Hair Design, Madison’s largest Black barbershop, used a Community Collaboration Grant to expand its work through the Black Men’s Wellness Sustainable Initiative (BMWSI). The BMWSI aimed to improve health and increase access to health care for Black males in Dane County, who are at higher risk for chronic conditions including heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma and diabetes, and who are less likely to have health insurance and are less likely to access health care systems than white males. This project has been successful in making significant progress toward each of its goals. BMWSI has taken steps to address the poor health outcomes of Black men in Dane County. The funding supported work to vaccinate 450 community members for COVID-19, provide health education and preventative screening and open the Perry Family Free Clinic which provides care exclusively to uninsured and under-insured Black men. BMWSI added two new Barbershop Men’s Health and Education Centers, giving access to more than 7,000 barbershop clientele each month. Further, BMWSI has helped 115 Black men secure BadgerCare coverage, and the project has inspired other communities to adopt the Barbershop Health Model to improve the health of Black residents in their community.

In Dane County, Black women and their families face the largest gaps in health care access and timely use of health care services. With this grant, the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness (FFBWW) was successful in establishing initiatives and approaches to successfully address and bridge these gaps. FFBWW launched a community-based Community Health Worker program, a Wellness Ambassador Program and initiatives that aim to improve birth outcomes for Black women and birthing persons. FFBWW used this grant to implement comprehensive health promotion and education programming to broadly serve and provide health improvement learning opportunities and experiences to Black women in and beyond Dane County. FFBWW also grew its Health Equity Internship Program which has become a sought-after training ground for emerging health care professionals and health equity leaders. Additionally, the FFBWW has become deeply involved in local and statewide policy work and published the Black Women Deserve Policy Blueprint Preamble. Through this work, FFBWW also has cultivated several partnerships with community partners, national policy and advocacy partners, private organizations and public agencies including philanthropy, health systems and government.

A grant to MACH OneHealth for the project titled Increasing Capacity for MACH OneHealth to Improve Health Access, Equity, and Outcomes for Individuals Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity will support the organization’s efforts to bridge gaps in the Madison healthcare system by ensuring that individuals experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness have equitable housing and healthcare.

This project, Central Wisconsin Health Partnership’s Collective Impact: Moving Towards Resilience, aimed to raise awareness of health inequities in Central Wisconsin and mitigate them through policy change. The Central Wisconsin Health Partnership (CWHP) includes Family Health La Clinica and Adams, Green Lake, Marquette, Juneau, Waupaca and Waushara counties. The project yielded significant results, including the hire of a Community Health Engagement Coordinator and the identification of the region’s primary health concerns, including substance use disorders, mental health, lack of transportation and chronic disease, through a comprehensive community needs survey. These outcomes led to resource allocation, educational programs and advocacy efforts including the implementation of Health in All Policy (HiAP) resolutions in some regional counties.

The Good Hood project, led by The Mellowhood Foundation, aimed to cultivate a more empowered community by securing financial resources to pay more adults a living wage, offering more youth opportunities in paid programs and enhancing educational opportunities. Systemic racism has significantly impacted Madison’s Meadowood community, resulting in feelings of hopelessness among community members and contributing to poverty, crime, housing instability and mental and physical health issues. Good Hood successfully enhanced community infrastructure, safety and housing quality. It supported residents facing eviction, assisted new renters with security deposits and ensured access to healthy food through a food share program. To improve health and well-being, a summer program was launched to address immediate food insecurity needs, and 16 youth were engaged in activities that promote physical exercise, stress management and mental focus. Finally, the project formed new, and maintained old, partnerships which helped to distribute resources, support educational initiatives and address key social issues in the community.

Common Wealth Development,a non-profit community development corporation working to support and preserve the vitality of neighborhoods in the Madison Metropolitan area through an approach centered on racial equity and community level health improvement has received a Community Collaboration Grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program to strengthen its ability to address health inequities through funding as well as training and technical assistance.

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.

A grant to REAP Food Group increases the capacity of an innovative collaboration between REAP Food Group and Roots4Change Cooperative, a cooperative led by Latina and Indigenous women, to advance health equity by working with the food and healthcare systems to address individual and collective health and well-being in a holistic, culturally aligned way.