The Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health has announced eight new awards totaling $1.2 million to support community organizations working to improve maternal and infant health outcomes for Wisconsin’s Black mothers and babies.
The new grants, awarded through the Partnership Program’s Strengthening Community Solutions to Improve Black Maternal and Infant Health funding opportunity will help community-based organizations strengthen and expand their capacity and community models of care to help improve the health of Wisconsin’s Black mothers and infants. Projects aim to expand doula services and community outreach, support mothers recently released from incarceration, promote the health of fathers, and build collaborations between organizations. 
Eight new grants were awarded for a maximum of $150,000 each for up to two years, including one to UWPRC Community Partner, African American Breastfeeding Network (AABN) for their WeRISE Community Doula Program.
African American Breastfeeding Network, a Milwaukee-based organization that addresses breastfeeding disparities, has received a grant to expand its successful pilot project WeRISE: Black Birth Workers Response to COVID-19 to a sustainable community-based model of care for Black families. Through this model, community-based doulas will provide culturally responsive pregnancy and childbirth education, connection to health care and social services, labor coaching and breastfeeding education and counseling.
Read more about each funded project here.