2012 - 2013 Minority Health Community Grants
Wisconsin's communities of color consistently score poorly on most
health indicators compared to the general population. The state health
plan, Healthiest Wisconsin 2020, declares that health disparities
"appear to be worse [in Wisconsin] than in many other states,"
(HW2020 main document, page 6) that they "violate the values of
justice and fairness", and that "they interfere with creating a
healthy social and physical environment for all of us (in Wisconsin),"
(Ibid, page 76). The Plan recommends that the Department of Health Services
fund efforts to eliminate health disparities. The Minority Health Program
is required by Wisconsin Statute §250.20(3) to fund activities that seek
to improve the health of disadvantaged members of minority
communities.
The projects funded 2011- 2013 aim to eliminate health disparities by
focusing on the root causes of health disparities, also known as
socioeconomic determinants of health (e.g., lack of education, poverty,
racism and other forms discrimination, unemployment, unhealthy environment,
poor housing conditions and violence).
2012 - 2013 Community Grant Projects
Resiliency is Health: Youth Creating Healthy Communities--Freedom,
Inc. (exit DHS)
Freedom, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides services to
low- and no-income communities of color in Dane County. Its primary goal
consists of promoting healthier living by looking at new definitions and
solutions to end all forms of violence (including systemic racism, sexism,
cisgenderism, classism, ableism, issues of nationality, etc.) against
womyn, gender-queer persons and youth. Its roots of building healthy
communities began in the Hmong community nearly a decade ago and have since
expanded to include the Cambodian and African American communities where it
has strong youth advocacy programs.
The overall goal of the Resiliency is Health project is to build new
youth leaders that will eventually engage in health justice work, advocacy
and campaigns to make positive changes in their communities, families, and
their own lives. African American/Black, Hmong and Cambodian youths, ages
12-24 years old are the targeted population. In addition, poor people
and/or people of color will benefit indirectly. The main outcomes of this
project are share analysis of health, food and land justice and what this
means to each of the communities. Youths will build their capacity to
change social, structural and cultural norms that prohibit them from
achieving healthier lives, through: 1) the convening of a Youth Health
Justice Summit to develop a common language around health disparities; 2)
creating alternative solutions to address health and food access issues,
and 3) organizing and advocating for one policy change.
Building Healthy Refugee and Immigrant Communities- BHRIC--Pan-African Community
Association-PACA (exit DHS)
The Pan-African Community Association (PACA) was founded in 1999 to
bring together people of African descent in an effort to address the needs
of the increasing number of African immigrants and refugees in the
Milwaukee area. These needs include language access; literacy skills;
poverty reduction and health improvement. PACA addresses the community's
needs through advocacy; cultural promotion and competency; education and
services.
Since its inception, PACA's scope has expanded to include Asian and
other refugee communities; the organization has been advocating for the
promotion of healthy immigrant refugee communities by providing a
culturally sensitive approach to serving the individuals and families that
comprise the community. The Building Healthy Refugee and Immigrant
Communities project will continue this approach through the recruitment and
training of health promoters from the Congolese, Eritrean, Burmese and
Somali populations. Each of these communities will help select health
promoters that will be trained in health literacy on topics including
social cohesion, self-confidence and personal growth as factors to improve
health. Each cohort of health promoters will function as a team in reaching
out and building bridges between the different communities through health
literacy workshops and "kitchen table" approach of smaller
workgroups. They will serve as role models to younger peers in their
respective communities, while providing direct support to their families
and raising the standard of living in their neighborhoods. As a result of
this project the Milwaukee area will have African and Asian immigrant
families that are aware of their environment, ready to integrate into
society in a productive way, and educated about their personal and
collective health.
2011 Minority Health Mini-grants
2010 Minority Health Mini-grants
2009 Minority Health Mini-grants
2008 Minority Health Mini-grants
2007 Minority Health Mini-grants
2006 Minority Health Mini-grants
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If you have any comments about this page or suggestions for improving it,
please write to: Ruth DeWeese.
Last Revised:
March 21, 2013
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