Grant Type: Community Grant

This project, led by La Crosse County Human Services, aimed to enhance the La Crosse System of Care (SOC) through the addition of two part-time community cultural liaisons to help address the social and emotional health needs of adolescents. The La Crosse SOC supports youth by prioritizing mental health, safety and self-sufficiency over punitive measures, through a partnership between the School District of La Crosse and La Crosse County. Nearly 50 percent of referred youth are racially diverse, highlighting the need for more cultural liaisons to address current racial tensions and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on minority communities. The project successfully improved the La Crosse SOC and advanced adolescents’ social and emotional health by forming meaningful connections between 49 Black youth and caring adults. This led to improved school attendance, participation in activities and greater parental involvement. The project also increased workforce diversity and community support capacity by adding cultural liaison positions. Finally, La Crosse County Human Services strengthened and expanded networks and partnerships which created opportunities for youth and supported parents and caregivers.

This grant has ended. Menikanaehkem, a grassroots organization based on the Menominee Reservation in Northeast Wisconsin, will use its grant to help build behavioral, social and hands-on skills for youth as they learn about their native language and cultures, and nature-based healing and resilience. This project promotes mental, physical, spiritual and emotional wellness through practices that are traditional to the Menominee tribal people.

This project, led by the Great Lakes Native American Elder Association (GLNAEA), aimed to to educate and empower tribal communities while creating or harnessing existing resources to serve families affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRDs). American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) individuals have been identified to be at high risk for ADRDs, with higher incidences of early- and late-onset dementias compared to other ethnic groups. To address this, GLNAEA hosted nine educational events that focused on promoting awareness of ADRDs and discussing their effects on the community. Awareness grew over time, with 120 individuals Attendance grew over time, with the most well-attended event attracting 120 individuals, reflecting a strong interest among elders. These events featured Indigenous speakers, including clinicians and researchers specializing in dementia and aging, who were crucial in building the trust needed for the elders to engage with the content.

Through its grant, Thriving Wisconsin (previously Supporting Families Together Association (SFTA)) and its grant partners focused on improving health outcomes by implementing a tiered model of consultation services delivered by quality coaches and infant mental health (IMH) consultants to address disparities in rates of expulsion among young children in Wisconsin. Beyond direct services, the initiative aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of this tiered model in both urban (Milwaukee) and rural (Western Wisconsin) settings, with the goal of informing policy and system-level changes.

The FREE Campaign seeks to improve health outcomes for formerly incarcerated women and their families by increasing access to safe, stable and supportive housing and resources to support successful recovery and reentry. The team will employ various approaches including transitional and reentry housing coordination in Milwaukee, Madison and the Chippewa Valley to achieve its goals. The FREE Campaign is an initiative within EXPO (Ex-incarcerated People Organizing), led by criminal justice-impacted women; EXPO is an affiliate of WISDOM, a faith-based community organization in Wisconsin. Lori DiPrete Brown, UW–Madison School of Human Ecology serves as the academic partner.

This project, Addressing Stressors, Preventing Farmer Suicide: Social Connectedness and Health, led by the Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program worked to reduce farmer suicide risk by strengthening social connectedness, building community leadership and improving access to culturally responsive mental health support for rural communities. The project trained hundreds of rural community members, agribusiness professionals and health care providers to recognize suicide risk, support individuals experiencing stress and connect them with appropriate resources. Over the course of the grant, the program expanded its statewide partnerships, increased public awareness through storytelling, education and outreach and broadened its focus to support Spanish-speaking farmworkers through bilingual community health workers who integrate mental health into broader health and social services.

Oneida Nation will develop a model of programming that promotes food sovereignty and cultural identity among Indigenous communities as a comprehensive approach to reducing health disparities and improving health and healthcare. Dr. Bret Benally Thompson, a clinical assistant professor in the SMPH Department of Medicine and advisory council member of the SMPH’s Native American Center for Health Professions, serves at the academic partner.

This project, led by Community Advocates, Inc., aimed to improve health and reduce the inequities within Wisconsin that are driven and reinforced by poor housing conditions. In Milwaukee, over 28,000 rental units were deemed moderately to severely inadequate to live in and nearly 16,000 adults and children face eviction each year. Disparities exist as women and people of color are over 50 percent more likely to be evicted than men or white individuals. The lack of quality, stable and affordable housing leads to poor health outcomes. In collaboration with Human Impact Partners, the project conducted a modified Health Impact Assessment (HIA), leading to the publication of the “Home Is Where Our Health Is” report with policy recommendations. The formation of the Healthy Housing Initiative’s Housing Advisory Council facilitated stakeholder engagement and contributed to the establishment of the Milwaukee Rental Housing Resource Center. The center’s triage team provided diverse services and resources to over 2,300 households in six months. Finally, a website was launched and garnered substantial engagement, with over 158,000 visitors since its launch in December 2020.

This project, Improving Birth Outcomes for Black Families through Community-clinic Collaborations, led by the Dane County Health Council and the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, aimed to reduce racial inequities in maternal and infant health outcomes for Black families in Dane County. Through a collaborative model that integrated health care providers, community health workers, doulas and community organizations, the project screened more than 13,400 households for social determinants of health, facilitated more than 4,400 connections to essential services and supported approximately 200 active participants and their families. Since its start, ConnectRx Wisconsin has contributed to 515 healthy births among prenatally enrolled families, while the Well Black Doula program attended 332 births, with 94% of babies reaching optimal gestational age and 93% achieving healthy birth weights.

The Strong Fathers Strong Families Project, led by Fathers Making Progress, aimed to address maternal and infant health disparities among Milwaukee’s Black families by focusing on the role of fathers and father figures. Milwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in the United States as historical and systemic racism have perpetuated disparities in income, health and other socioeconomic measures that contribute to urgent health crises and increased violence and civil unrest. Previous work has demonstrated the positive impact of engaging fathers to improve family well-being, however a need for innovative and sustained efforts to address these challenges remained. Fathers Making Progress exceeded their goals in empowering Milwaukee’s Black communities through efforts like the Fatherhood Mobilization Project, which conducted over 350 interviews in neighborhoods like Washington Park, Metcalfe Park and Lindsay Heights to inform innovative programming. They successfully hosted 50 Men’s Wellness Groups and 30 intergenerational sessions at local high schools, enhancing social connections and stress management skills among attendees. Additionally, their healthy relationship workshops evolved into the Love Lab series, which integrated relationship counseling and social activities to provide practical relationship tools.