Wisconsin partnership program awards grants

The Wisconsin Partnership Program at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has awarded 25 grants totaling approximately $6.2 million for community partnerships designed to improve the health of the people of Wisconsin.

The funded projects are the third annual series of planning and implementation grants awarded by the Oversight and Advisory Committee (OAC) of the Wisconsin Partnership Program. The awards represent programs covering 32 counties including 18 rural counties. Statewide programs represent 7 of the 25 awards, with eleven of the programs focusing on the needs of children and adolescents, seven on families, and seven on adults and seniors.

“The quality of these initiatives builds on the rich mix of creative programs we funded in the past two years,” says Philip Farrell, MD, PhD, chair of the OAC. “The grants foster unique partnerships between community organizations and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. These unique collaborations address a wide variety of public health challenges in Wisconsin.”

Planning grants, typically covering one to two years of activity, help local organizations develop community-academic partnerships, stimulating new collaborations that may lead to larger projects. Implementation grants, typically covering three years, emphasize more expansive projects specifically targeting some of Wisconsin’s most urgent public health needs. "The Committee was encouraged by the quality of the proposals received,” says OAC member June Martin Perry, founder of the Milwaukee-based Center and President of Access to Success in Non Profit Management and Succession Planning. “It lets us know that our communities are keeping abreast of this tremendous opportunity to improve health care in Wisconsin.”

A total of 81 organizations submitted applications for both implementation and planning grants. Funding for the Wisconsin Partnership Program was provided following the conversion of Blue Cross/Blue Shield to a for-profit organization. External reviewers with experience in evaluating grants and with backgrounds in public health evaluated the merits of each application. OAC members made the final award decisions for both types of grants. For more information on the Wisconsin Partnership Program, see http://wpfh.med.wisc.edu/ or call (608) 265-6688.

Last updated on 1/29/2007