Wisconsin Partnership Program awards $3.5 million in funding to nine Wisconsin community organizations

The Community Impact Grant Program provides two levels of grant funding designed to support community partnership initiatives that address the social determinants of health to improve health and advance health equity in Wisconsin’s rural, urban and tribal communities. Grant recipients undergo a competitive, rigorous application and review process.

The Level 1 Engage awards are designed for small to medium-sized organizations and provide up to $250,000 each over three years, matching teams with new academic partners or building on existing partnerships. Level 2 Accelerate awards are designed for larger organizations and provide up to $500,000 each over three years and require community-academic partnerships.

The new awards support innovative community-led approaches to address critical community health needs including access to health care, housing, education and workforce development, child development and youth health and well-being, nutrition and more.

“This year’s recipients represent rigorous efforts to advance health and health equity across a wide array of critical health issues facing Wisconsin,” said Amy Kind, MD, PhD, associate dean for social health sciences and programs at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and executive director of the Wisconsin Partnership Program. “Their initiatives reach broadly across our state to serve urban, rural and tribal communities and provide innovative community-led approaches and solutions to support diverse populations and health needs.”

The Level 1 Engage grant recipients and initiatives are:

First 5 Fox Valley for the initiative Advancing the Help Me Grow Model with Family-engaged Developmental Modeling

This project’s goal is to improve early childhood health, development and family-level outcomes by expanding the national evidence-based Help Me Grow (HMG) model – a family-engaged developmental screening system of community resources – within underserved rural and urban Wisconsin communities. The project will support 9000 families with young children prenatal-five who might experience health disparities and inequities.

Home for Good of Eau Claire Inc. for the initiative Empowering Families and Individuals Experiencing Housing Insecurity to Succeed through Tenancy Support Peer Mentorship

Home for Good will promote housing stability across Eau Claire county through the expansion of its tenancy support services and tenancy support peer mentors. Mentors with lived experience of housing insecurity will work with participants toward health, financial and permanent housing goals to build stability and independence.

Mentoring Positives for the initiative The Positive Path through Madison’s Darbo Neighborhood

This project expands Mentoring Positive’s The Positive Path, a program open to K-12 students in Madison’s Darbo neighborhood. The program promotes positive youth health and well-being by focusing on building trusting relationships, introducing social-emotional learning and developing life skills through mentoring, athletics and social entrepreneurship.

Ukwakha, Inc. for the initiative From Seeds to Table: Indigenous Culinary Partnership and Education

The From Seeds to Table project aims to address food insecurity and health disparities in the Oneida community by reclaiming traditional Haudenosaunee culinary practices. This initiative will provide nutritious, culturally appropriate meals, offer educational courses on traditional meal preparation, and build a sustainable framework for food sovereignty, while addressing both immediate nutritional needs and long-term health and cultural sustainability.

The Level 2 Accelerate grant recipients, initiatives and academic partners are:

CAP Services, Inc. for the initiative Restoring Health and Health Equity in Central Wisconsin Housing; Katie Livernash, Extension Portage County, UW–Madison, serves as the academic partner.

This initiative addresses the impact of safe, adequate housing on health and health equity and seeks to improve health outcomes in Marquette, Portage, Waupaca, Waushara and Wood counties by improving the timeliness and accessibility of housing rehabilitation services provided to low-to-moderate income households through its Housing Repairs program. CAP will test select interventions to determine their impact on health outcomes and engage other community action agencies to inform and share best practices.

Catholic Multicultural Center for the initiative Enhancing Access to Culturally Appropriate Mental Health Services for Immigrants and Refugees; Matthew Wolfgram, PhD, UW–Madison, College of Letters & Science, serves as the academic partner.

This initiative will introduce a novel peer-led, evidence-based approach to improve access to culturally appropriate mental health services for immigrant and refugee communities in South Central Wisconsin. By addressing the significant barriers these populations face, the program aims to fill existing service gaps through a comprehensive, multifaceted strategy.

Forest County Potawatomi Community for the initiative Investigating Strategies to Remove Barriers that Exclude Indigenous Populations from Early Diagnosis and Intervention of Autism Spectrum; Liliana Wagner, PhD, UW–Madison, LEND Program, Waisman Center, serves as the academic partner.

This project aims to address equitable access to programs, resources and services for Indigenous children with autism. Conducted with collaborators at the UW Waisman Center, the project’s goal is to implement evidence-based strategies to promote early detection, intervention, and improved autonomy of underserved Native American children with autism and ensure equal development.

Wisconsin Humanities for the initiative Community Powered Tribal Health Initiative; Arijit Sen, PhD, UW-Milwaukee, serves as the academic partner.

The initiative’s goal is to address the disproportionate health challenges faced by tribal communities by increasing their communities’ capacity to identify, design, implement and evaluate culturally relevant solutions to mental health challenges. The project is adapting the existing Community Powered community resilience training program for use in tribal contexts to address health challenges including depression, isolation and drug and alcohol abuse.

Workforce Resource Inc. for the initiative Crisis Intervention to Facilitate Successful Transition to Adulthood; Tamara Kincaid, UW-River Falls, serves as the academic partner.

The goal of this project is to provide crisis intervention services for young adults participating in Workforce Resource Inc.’s Independent Living for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care and Anti-Human Trafficking programs by utilizing crisis navigators. In doing so, the project aims to reduce the negative effects of stress caused by crisis, enhance resilience and promote recovery, and achieve a sense of economic stability and security for program participants.

The Wisconsin Partnership Program is a grantmaking program at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health committed to improving health and advancing health equity through investments in community partnerships, education and research. Since it began making grants in 2004, the Wisconsin Partnership Program has awarded more than $300 million for more than 635 projects.