Wisconsin Partnership Endorses Racine's Plans to Fight Infant Mortality

Madison, Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Partnership Program's commitment to tackling infant mortality rates in the African American community is moving ahead in Racine. 

A community coalition - led by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread and the Racine/Kenosha Community Action Agency - won approval for its $360,000 planning proposal from The Oversight and Advisory Committee (OAC) of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

The Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) will provide about $186,000 for the planning efforts. That award will be matched by the Johnson Foundation, which has been a community leader on this issue for years. The group in Racine has assembled a wide-ranging coalition with stakeholders representing local government, health care providers, educational institutions and community service groups.

"This is an excellent proposal from a group that clearly understands both the scope of this problem, and the broad commitment needed to improve birth outcomes in Racine and throughout the state," said Lorraine Lathen, Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF) program leader.

The funds were awarded as part of the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families, the Wisconsin Partnership Program's $10 million commitment to address infant mortality in Wisconsin's black community. From 2002-2006, Racine County had the highest black infant mortality rate (23.4 deaths per 1,000 births) of any county in the state, more than three times larger than the rate for whites. 

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

"The reviewers and the OAC were delighted with the quality of the application, which met all the standards envisioned for the Lifecourse Initiative program," said Dr. Philip Farrell, co-chair of the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families steering committee and professor of pediatrics and population health sciences.

The Racine coalition includes the following groups:

• The City of Racine Health Department
• Professional Women's Network for Service
• Cribs for Kids
• Next Generation Now
• Infant Death Center of Wisconsin
• Racine Community Health Center
• Wheaton Franciscan Health Care
• Aurora Health Care
• Caledonia/Mt. Pleasant Health Department
• Health and Nutrition Service of Racine
• Racine County Human Services Department
• YMCA of Racine
• Racine Infant Mortality Coalition
• Wisconsin Literacy Council
• Racine Unified School District
• Gateway Technical College
• UW-Milwaukee School of Nursing
• United Way of Racine
• Managed Health Services
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center
• Foundations for Life

Planning proposals from coalitions in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Beloit will be reviewed in the coming months.