MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The Wisconsin Bankers Association (WBA) announced on Friday that it has awarded five grants of $10,000 to Wisconsin projects supporting housing and economic development.

These grants also were awarded to projects supporting housing literacy, community investment and financial and cyber literacy in Wisconsin.

“Affordable housing and housing literacy are acute needs for individuals and families in our state and are critical drivers for our economy’s workforce needs,” WBA President and CEO Rose Oswald Poels said. “We are proud to offer this inaugural grant opportunity, which showcases the partnership of Wisconsin banks and non-profit organizations to strengthen programming that empowers Wisconsinites to become financially capable, promotes homeownership, and builds wealth that can be passed on to future generations.”

Projects awarded the grants include:

• Community First Bank in Boscobel – The bank plans to develop and distribute educational resources throughout southwest and south-central Wisconsin, with a focus on current and prospective homeowners in rural areas. WBA says resources could include video content on credit repair strategies and steps to homeownership.
• Peoples State Bank in Prairie du Chien – In partnership with Couleecap, Inc., a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) counseling agency, the bank plans to provide a three-part community education series and one-to-one counseling sessions.

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WATERSMEET, Mich. (WLUC) – The Wisconsin Indigenous Riders will be starting the 4th annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous People and Opioid Awareness ride Friday.

“This’s Gene Cloud Jr. and he’s from the Black River Falls area, Ho-chunk tribe,” Bruce LaMere said. “So, we did reach out to the family and ask if we could carry their name in remembrance, and they said yes.”

Wisconsin Indigenous Riders President Bruce LaMere shows a ribbon of one of the people the ride will be remembering.

The riders came together at the Northern Waters Casino Resort today to raise money for the Indigenous communities they will visit. They will head out tomorrow to start delivering the money to local search teams for their effort to find missing people.

Tonight, speaker Linda Cobe talked about her experiences in an Indigenous boarding school and being forced away from her community at a young age at the event.

She says she sees a connection between her story and the cause of the riders.

“I wanted to tie that into how it all relates to the MMIW, the trauma and violence that our people have always experienced since colonization,” Cobe said.

Tribal Progressive band Waawiyeyaa also performed for the riders.

Band member and rider Danny Garceau says learning about the Indigenous experience by visiting native communities has left an impact.

“It’s a very powerful ride, its medicine itself too,” Garceau said. “Visiting the different reservations, hearing the stories and talking circles, it’s good medicine itself.”

Riders will take off Friday at nine in the morning at the Northern Waters Casino Resort.

Almost a dozen native nations will be represented during the ride.

Copyright 2024 WLUC. All rights reserved.

GREEN BAY – The Medical College of Wisconsin is turning its attention to hypertension, childhood behavioral health, and the well-being of the state’s health care workers.

At a news conference Thursday at Lambeau Field, the Medical College of Wisconsin announced it will be investing $50 million as part of the MCW’s Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment into the three areas to improve them statewide over the next five to 10 years.

The three health-related issues were determined to be priorities based on state data and 18 months of focus groups, surveys, and discussions with health care workers and community partners, said Jesse Ehrenfeld, director of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment.

Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin was established by MCW to steward funds from Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin. Since 2004, the endowment has invested $338 million into 643 projects statewide including the creation of the MCW Green Bay and Wausau campuses. La Crosse, Racine, Winnebago, Brown, and Marathon counties have the most projects of at least nine funded by AHW.

It’s unclear what activities or specific projects will be supported by the $50 million invested into the three areas, but the investment is meant to “move the needle” on improving residents’ health in the three areas and expands research, said Joseph Kerschner, MCW dean of the School of Medicine, provost and executive vice president.

High blood pressure

About 1.3 million Wisconsinites have hypertension, and about half of them don’t have it under control, according to data from the state Department of Health Services. About one in six people who have it don’t know they have high blood pressure.

Ehrenfeld said access to care and home blood pressure monitors is important to helping people lower their blood pressure.

Health workforce well-being

Health care workers in the state are still dealing with levels of burnout especially after the pandemic. The Wisconsin Hospital Association described the state’s health care workforce as “critical but stable” in its 2024 Health Care Workforce Report. In 2022, staffing vacancy rates in hospitals was 9.9%, according to the report.

With many workers heading to retirement, Ehrenfield said the endowment decided to prioritize reducing burnout and improving well-being at hospitals to improve the state’s physician shortage. Many health care workers don’t reach out for mental health or substance abuse support because they are afraid of being reprimanded by a medical board or losing their license, Ehrenfield said.

“We need to reduce that stigma,” he said. “They need to be well themselves to take care of others.

Childhood behavioral health

Over half of Wisconsin early care and education professionals reported an increase in challenging behaviors, according to a 2021 survey and are leading to childhood expulsions.

Ehrenfield said the funding will go toward creating more “support systems” around the state and continue the work of a previously AHW behavioral health project.

More: Family circles, robust resource databases, peer-support: what 8 years of mental health progress looks like

Contact Benita Mathew at bmathew@gannett.com.