Grant Type: Community Grant

According to neuroscience, the first three years of life are a critical window of opportunity and time of increased vulnerability. Supporting a child’s social and emotional development while also being nurtured within culturally responsive relationships in which they can form secure attachments lays a solid foundation for lifelong health and well-being. The goal of this project was to create equitable access for Spanish-speaking early childhood educators to professional development opportunities related to social emotional development and infant mental health. Tools, resources and training were translated into Spanish and reflected the cultural awareness of the needs of Latin/x early educators. The grantees were able to make significant progress in strengthening equitable pathways to professional development and the IMH-E® (Infant Mental Health Endorsement) credential in Spanish. As a result of this project, Latin/x educators well-trained in this area were able to foster positive health outcomes for infants and children in their care.

The Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) is a social service agency in Madison that offers support to those in need of assistance with meeting basic needs and spiritual and educational growth. It served some of Madison’s most vulnerable people, including those who were amongst the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic facing housing, food, and job insecurity. In order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 among its English and Spanish-speaking clients, the CMC sought to address their clients’ immediate needs for food and hygiene supplies and assist those seeking employment or unemployment benefits. This project allowed the CMC to continue offering crucial social services throughout the pandemic. The CMC served 810 households through its food pantry over the duration of the project and distributed 213,471 pounds of food – double the amount in 2019. The personal essentials pantry served 769 total households from May to December in 2020 and 205 households from January to April in 2021, distributing a total of 7,071 personal hygiene items. The jobs office successfully assisted an average of 61 individuals per month throughout the project, with 18 individuals referred to an employer to apply for work, and 15 individuals gaining employment on average each month.

Note: Funding for this grant has ended.

In response to challenges faced by immigrant populations in Racine, Appleton and Eau Claire, this project, called Building Immigrant Leadership for Wisconsin, aimed to empower immigrant community leaders to foster relationships and address immigrant-related issues. Despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this project made significant progress toward its goals. The project raised awareness of family separation, supported immigrants held in Wisconsin jails and made efforts to increase voter turnout and provide accurate census information to dispel fears of immigration consequences. Notably, the Immigrant Support Project was established and raised funds to assist over 130 undocumented families in Racine during the pandemic.

This project led by Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health, Maroon Calabash and UBUNTU Research and Evaluation aimed to develop Black women’s leadership in reproductive justice by establishing a statewide reproductive justice and advocacy nonprofit. The project successfully transformed Maroon Calabash into a statewide organization led by Black women, implemented a community doula program and advocated for policy changes including Medicaid reimbursement for doula services and expanded coverage for midwifery care.

Youth aging out of foster care face high rates of homelessness and some of the highest barriers to health and well-being in the nation. National and Wisconsin data indicate that one in three youth aging out of foster care will stay in a homeless shelter within two years of exiting the system, and 42 percent will have a homeless experience by age 21. Through further research and evaluation, this project aimed to expand an innovative model of service delivery to address youth homelessness in Wisconsin and beyond. This project expanded the evidence base for an innovative solution to the challenges of youth homelessness that has been piloted in Milwaukee. Pathfinders, a nonprofit organization that serves youth in crisis in Milwaukee, was able to expand the program’s capacity to enroll youth in the PATHS pilot program. The PATHS program represents an innovative approach to preventing homelessness for youth aging out of foster care. Youth enrolled in the PATHS program exceeded every outcome target within the five PATHS domains: stable housing, positive connections, academic progress, training and employment, and social-emotional wellness.

This project led by Anesis, a Black-owned therapy center in Madison, aimed to address the high rates of violence and trauma experienced by children, particularly in the Black community. All Anesis staff were successfully trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Brainspotting, and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) to help children and their caregivers work through trauma and prevent cycles of intergenerational trauma. While the original goal was to include training in Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), it was not feasible due to cost constraints. Instead, over 200 families were treated with TF-CBT, BrainSpotting and EMDR during the two-year grant cycle. The success of the project led to securing a substantial contract with Dane County Human Services to expand Anesis’ In-Home Mental Health Program for youth ages 0 to 17 years old.

The crisis of farmer suicide in Wisconsin cannot be ignored. In 2015, the rate of suicide for farmers was at least two and a half times that of the suicide rate of the general population. This crisis was grounded in the correlation between financial instability, farm foreclosures, high stress, and rates of suicide. Though this needed to be addressed, in southwestern Wisconsin, there was a lack of access to adequate mental health care for farmers. Effective targeted outreach for mental health support was needed to successfully engage members of the farming community in mental health education and interventions in order to improve mental health outcomes for farmers and address the crisis of farmer suicide. This project developed a comprehensive set of community-based education and intervention tools that was integrated into the farming community to address the immediate crisis of suicide and support the overall mental health of farmers. The grant team was successful in providing direct training in suicide and crisis prevention to farmers and their communities, skill building and stress management with farmers, and coordinating with a network of agri-business leaders. The success of this project has resulted in an additional grant to extend and expand this work.

Experts in childbirth education and doula births have gathered decades worth of data that supports doula-assisted birth as a promising model to address maternal infant mortality. However, increasing education on the benefits of utilizing doula services as well as gathering feedback on the best way to provide these services is crucial before doula programming can be enhanced in America. This project aimed to improve the experience of Black women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum by building the capability and collaboration of the existing Black doulas in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and increasing the understanding of community needs around doula-assisted births. African American Breastfeeding Network successfully increased community awareness of the health benefits of doula-assisted births among stakeholders, politicians, birthing families, healthcare administrators, policymakers and the general public. They held meetings and collaborated with eight different community-based organizations to hold multiple virtual community conversations. This initiative also increased effective and efficient collaboration between Black doulas in Milwaukee County by providing space to build community.

The goal of this project was to implement an enhanced bike share program in Wisconsin Rapids following the success of River Riders Bike Share, which was introduced in the city to increase physical activity and reduce obesity rates. This project was successful in developing an improved bike share program by engaging with the community, addressing barriers for underrepresented populations and adding accessible bikes and safety measures including bike lanes and signage. These changes resulted in a significant increase in ridership with 548 users utilizing the 30 cruiser bikes and three adaptive bikes. The program’s positive impact was evident in the increased physical activity and reduced air pollution, with an estimated elimination of 268 car trips and 230 pounds of carbon emissions.