Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment: Awards $3.9 million for 66 health improvement projects

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Colleen McDonald

Sr. Communications Consultant – Earned Media

414.801.3146 | cmcdonald@mcw.edu

Seed Grants support community health, workforce development, and health-focused research

Milwaukee, Wis. – Jan. 21, 2025 – The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) will fund 66 new projects focused on improving health and advancing health equity in Wisconsin. The projects were selected for grants of up to $50,000 through a competitive application process.

AHW’s Seed Grants support initiatives designed to lay the groundwork for longer-term efforts to address Wisconsin’s leading health challenges. The funding is for 12-month projects beginning in January 2025. Grant applications received approval by the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Consortium on Public and Community Health, the AHW Research and Education Advisory Committee, and the MCW Board of Trustees—AHW’s three oversight bodies.

Grant awards totaling $3,879,305 will fuel 21 community-led projects throughout the state, 32 projects led by MCW faculty, and 13 projects shepherded by MCW post-doctoral researchers with faculty supervision.

Community-based organizations receiving AHW Seed Grants work with MCW faculty members to collaboratively carry out their community-led project. Community-led projects receiving AHW funding represent 36 Wisconsin counties, with eight projects impacting the entire state. These projects include initiatives devoted to housing security; mental health services; healthy food access; suicide prevention; refugee and immigrant integration programs; sexually transmitted infection prevention and care; and maternal and child health.

Among the MCW projects receiving AHW funding are studies focused on the diagnosis and treatment of opioid use disorders; spinal cord and traumatic brain injury; liver disease; Alzheimer’s disease; epilepsy; and cancer.

“The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment continues to develop strong partnerships throughout Wisconsin to improve the health of the people and communities we serve,” said AHW Director Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH. “This latest round of Seed Grant funding further demonstrates the successful formula we’ve used throughout our 20-year history to propel the best ideas for maximizing the health of our friends and neighbors throughout the state and beyond.”

For more information on projects funded by AHW, including Seed Grant awards that take effect in January 2025, visit the funded projects page on the AHW website.