Partnership Awards Four Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families Planning Grants

The Wisconsin Partnership Program has provided $830,000 in grants this spring to help improve birth outcomes among African-Americans in southeastern Wisconsin.

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health's Oversight and Advisory Committee awarded planning grants to community coalitions representing Beloit, Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Racine.

The funds will be used to set a course toward improving access to maternal and child health resources and tailoring city-specific action plans that use evidence-based practices to close the racial disparity in birth outcomes. 

The grants were made as part of the Wisconsin Partnership Program's Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF), a $10 million commitment to ending the disparity in birth outcomes between blacks and whites in Wisconsin.

The state's African-American infant mortality rate is among the worst in the nation; a black child born in the state is more than three times more likely to die before his or her first birthday than a white child.

Outside agencies have pledged more than $280,000 to assist in planning efforts, including a full $177,000 match from the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread to support the Racine committee.

When the planning process is complete, each community will present its blueprint to the Oversight and Advisory Committee for potential implementation grants.

Related Information

• Wisconsin Partnership Supports Beloit Group's Plan to Fight Infant Mortality
• Wisconsin Partnership Program Approves Kenosha's Plan to Fight Infant Mortality
• Wisconsin Partnership Endorses Racine's Plans to Fight Infant Mortality
• Wisconsin Partnership Joins With Milwaukee Coalition to Fight Infant Mortality