Marquette, UWM and MCW collaborate with community partners to benefit Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE — Leaders of Marquette University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Medical College of Wisconsin have announced the winners of the Presidents’ and Chancellor’s Challenge, a community-engaged research initiative that brings together innovative thinkers to solve local, Milwaukee challenges and make an impact.
“The Presidents’ and Chancellor’s Challenge represents Marquette’s commitment to developing mission-focused, partnership-based research to address the challenges of an ever-changing world,” said Marquette President Kimo Ah Yun. “This is a great opportunity for the prominent higher education institutions in Milwaukee to come together and achieve true community impact.”
Winning projects partner researchers from at least two of the three higher education institutions with community partners on solutions to issues impacting the Milwaukee community. Teams will collaborate for the next 18 months on their projects, which were chosen by a panel of university leaders. Funding to support the projects comes from the three universities, the Johnson Controls Foundation and Wintrust.
“Research is a powerful resource we can use to solve Milwaukee’s most pressing challenges,” UWM Chancellor Thomas Gibson said. “As a research-intensive institution, UWM is at the forefront of producing research that changes lives and makes the world better. Together with our partners in the Presidents’ and Chancellor’s Challenge, we can now have an even broader impact.”
The winning projects for 2025 are:
- Get In the Game: Connecting Milwaukee Families to Adaptive Sport Resources addresses a critical communication gap between available adaptive sports resources for children with disabilities and families who could benefit from accessing the resources. The project will increase participation in adaptive sports, with a long-term goal of improving health outcomes for children with disabilities.
- Lowering Household Costs Through Environmentally Healthy Homes: Resilience from Poverty aims to increase the energy efficiency of homes in Milwaukee, which can help lower the energy burden and utility costs for families. This project team will help continue the efforts of the Sherman Park Community Association, Inc. by supporting household budget resilience through energy audits, healthy home assessments and connections to weatherization services.
- Building a Participatory Toolkit that Facilitates Opportunity Youth Success and Thriving will focus on young people between 16 and 21 years old who are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market (“Opportunity Youth”). A trained cohort of youth researchers will work with the project leads to develop and distribute a resource toolkit for organizations that serve Opportunity Youth in Milwaukee.
More information on the winning projects and their teams is below.
“The only way to build a healthier world is for us to build it together. We are collaborating with our partners to address some of the toughest challenges faced by our communities today, which ensures that these projects meet the needs of those most impacted,” said Medical College of Wisconsin President and CEO John R. Raymond, Sr., M.D. “We’re very pleased to join The Presidents’ and Chancellor’s Challenge to affect positive change on the health and well-being of our Milwaukee community.”
Community partners include Milwaukee Public Schools and the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association; the Sherman Park Community Association and the City of Milwaukee Environmental Collaboration Office; and Milwaukee Succeeds and Pivot Consulting.
The President’s Challenge was first announced by Marquette in 2018 through a partnership with the Johnson Controls Foundation. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President’s Challenge was adapted to address immediate needs in the community through 2020’s President’s Challenge for COVID-19 Response and the President’s Challenge for Racial Justice and Equity Response in 2021. In 2023, winners of the first President’s and Chancellor’s Challenge in partnership with UWM were announced.
Winning projects and teams
Get In the Game: Connecting Milwaukee Families to Adaptive Sport Resources
Team members: Dr. Maja Goršič (Marquette), Dr. Jacob R. Rammer (UWM), Sharon Rohde (WASA), Steve Wolf (MPS), Carlos Rodriguez (MPS), Dr. Gerald Harris (Marquette)
This project addresses a critical communication gap between available adaptive sports resources for children with disabilities and families who could benefit from accessing the resources. The goal is to increase participation in adaptive sports, with a long-term goal of improving health outcomes for children with disabilities.
To accomplish this, the team will partner with the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association to support four “Try It” events hosted at Milwaukee Public Schools and community centers in Milwaukee over the next year. Each event will showcase adaptive equipment, trained coaches and opportunities for parents or guardians to connect with WASA and other community resources. Researchers will also partner with WASA and families on the creation of a mobile app or other communication resources that help promote and centralize the services and resources available in the greater Milwaukee area.
Lowering Household Costs Through Environmentally Healthy Homes: Resilience from Poverty
Team members: Dr. Lynne Woehrle (UWM), Dr. Erin Lee (MCW), Mabel Lamb (Sherman Park Community Association), Mia Rudolph-Schulta (City of Milwaukee Environmental Collaboration Office)
This project will increase the energy efficiency of homes in Milwaukee, which can help lower the energy burden and utility costs for families. This project team will support the efforts of the Sherman Park Community Association, Inc. by building household budget resilience through energy audits, healthy home assessments and connections to weatherization services. Resilience Ambassadors will play a critical role by sharing energy efficiency resources with participating households. The data collected will help to support the implementation and sustainability of additional home improvement assessments and programs, with a goal of scaling the project to other Milwaukee neighborhoods.
Building a Participatory Toolkit that Facilitates Opportunity Youth Success and Thriving
Team members: Dr. Gabriel Velez (Marquette), Dr. David Nelson (MCW), Kristin Kappelman (Milwaukee Succeeds), Bevin Christie (Pivot Consulting)
This project advances youth-led transformational change in Milwaukee by focusing on young people between 16 and 21 years old who are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market (“Opportunity Youth”). A primary focus of this project is centering youth researchers in the project team, which will gather and assess data to better understand the needs and success measures for young people to become thriving adults.
From these analyses, the trained cohort of youth researchers will work with the project leads to develop and distribute a resource toolkit for organizations serving Opportunity Youth in Milwaukee. The toolkit and youth researchers will collectively help inform policy and programming that serves Opportunity Youth in Milwaukee.
About Marquette University
Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit university located near the heart of downtown Milwaukee that offers a comprehensive range of majors in 11 nationally and internationally recognized colleges and schools. Through the formation of hearts and minds, Marquette prepares our 11,100 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional students to lead, excel and serve as agents of positive change. And, we deliver results. Ranked in the top 20% of national universities, Marquette is recognized for its undergraduate teaching, innovation and career preparation as the sixth-best university in the country for job placement. Our focus on student success and immersive, personalized learning experiences encourages students to think critically and engage with the world around them. When students graduate with a Marquette degree, they are truly prepared and called to Be The Difference.
About UWM
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has an ambitious mission as both a top-tier research university and an access institution, striving to ensure that students have equitable opportunities to earn a college degree. UWM educates a diverse student body of more than 22,000 students from 88 countries. About 41% of its undergraduates are first-generation college students. Its unique and top-rated programs include Wisconsin’s only accredited schools of architecture and public health, the only North American school dedicated solely to freshwater sciences and a film program ranked among the top 50 in the world. It has the largest and top-rated online education program in Wisconsin. UW-Milwaukee partners with leading companies to conduct joint research, promote entrepreneurship, provide student internships and serve as an economic engine for southeastern Wisconsin. The Princeton Review named UW-Milwaukee a 2024 “Best Midwestern” university based on overall academic excellence and student reviews.
About the Medical College of Wisconsin
With a history dating back to 1893, the Medical College of Wisconsin is dedicated to leadership and excellence in education, patient care, research and community engagement. More than 1,600 students are enrolled in MCW’s medical, graduate and pharmacy schools at campuses in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Central Wisconsin. MCW’s School of Pharmacy opened in 2017. A major national research center, MCW ranks in the top 1% of U.S. research institutions (National Science Foundation), is the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area, and is the largest private research institution in Wisconsin. Annually, our faculty directs or collaborates on more than 3,800 research studies, including clinical trials. In the last 10 years, MCW faculty have received nearly $2 billion in external support for research, teaching, training, and related purposes. Additionally, our more than 1,800 physicians provide care in virtually every specialty of medicine, annually fulfilling more than 4.8 million patient visits.
