June 2, 2021                                                        

Contact: Anne Pankratz

(608) 216 5637

[email protected]

Wisconsin Partnership Program To Provide up to $2 Million in Grant Funding to

Support Efforts to Improve Health for Wisconsin’s Black Mothers and Infants

            Madison, WI – The Wisconsin Partnership Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health has announced a new funding opportunity: Strengthening Community Solutions to Improve Black Maternal and Infant Health. The new grant program will provide up to $2 million to strengthen and expand successful efforts and approaches of community-based organizations and community models of care to help improve the health of Wisconsin’s Black mothers and infants. Through this grant program, the Wisconsin Partnership Program aims to support a broad range of community partners and effective solutions to improve Black maternal and infant health.

“The Wisconsin Partnership Program is committed to supporting efforts to reduce health inequities in Wisconsin and has invested in work to improve Black maternal and infant health for many years, across several of our grant programs,” says Amy Kind, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the school and chair of the Partnership’s Oversight and Advisory Committee. “The evidence regarding the types of programs and interventions that are effective and make a difference in our Wisconsin communities continues to evolve. We are encouraged by the robust array of community-led work —solutions emerging directly from communities—that is happening right now in our state to support healthy birth outcomes for Black families. This new grant program will strengthen support for these innovative solutions to ensure that Black mothers are healthy and that their babies reach their first birthdays. We hope to receive a dynamic and diverse group of applicants to this new funding opportunity.”

Grant awards will be for a maximum of $150,000 for up to two years. This funding prioritizes areas of the state with the highest populations of Black families and Black maternal and child health disparities: Dane County, Kenosha County, Milwaukee County, Racine County, and Rock County. Other areas of the state are also eligible to apply.

“The goal of this new grant program is one that we in Wisconsin all share – to see mothers, children and families healthy and thriving,” says Renuka Mayadev, JD, maternal and child health advisor at the Wisconsin Partnership Program. “By providing Black women with access to culturally competent, community-based models of care and reducing the chronic stress caused by racism, we can improve both maternal and infant health outcomes.”  Mayadev also highlights the importance of supporting the whole family. “We know that families don’t come in pieces. Multi-generation support, consideration of both mother, father, or caregiver and infant together, is essential. By supporting organizations that are committed to these priorities, together, we can steer our state toward progress in improving the health of Black mothers and infants.”

The deadline to apply is June 28, 2021. For more information about the grant program and the Request for Partnerships, visit https://www.med.wisc.edu/wisconsin-partnership-program/maternal-and-child-health-grant-programs/.

###

Print Friendly, PDF & Email