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As More Wisconsinites Leave Home, Health Experts Warn Against Ending Social Distancing - WPR
Hope Kirwan
May 1, 2020
New data shows Wisconsinites might be growing less compliant with social distancing measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. But public health researchers say “quarantine fatigue” isn’t a reason to give up on the restrictions.
Song Gao, a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been aggregating cell phone data that shows how far Wisconsinites are traveling each day as a way to understand if residents are following the state’s “Safer At Home” order. Gao said residents’ mobility has been reduced significantly in the past month, especially in urban areas like Dane and Milwaukee counties.
But he has seen increased movement around Wisconsin starting last week
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“I think this is also linked with last week’s events. Like people started getting (outside) and also last Friday, they also had some protests outside the state Capitol,” Gao said.
The change follows a trend across the country, with cell phone data showing more people leaving their homes and becoming less strict about social distancing.
Amanda Simanek, professor of epidemiology at UW-Milwaukee, said there are many reasons why people might be less vigilant about staying home.
“We look to New York and we think, ‘That’s not happening here. We’re not maxed out of hospital capacity, so why is this important? Why do I need to be doing this?’ And obviously, there’s just the realistic fatigue of people working from home,” Simanek said. “I think those feelings of fatigue are natural. But what we have to remember is that part of the reason why things are going as well as they are is because of the social distancing.“
Simanek said people might be tempted to start bending the rules, especially if they’re young or healthy. She said those incidents can have a real impact on the continued spread of the disease within a community.
“What about the person who you grocery shopped next to? What about the coffee you snuck in with your neighbor? Those are those opportunities for the infection to spread and it may be that you’re fine due to that infection but others won’t be,” Simanek said. “It really defeats the purpose of these stringent social distancing measures that we’re taking.”
Oguzhan Alagoz, a UW-Madison engineering professor who specializes in modeling the spread of infectious diseases, said the impact of social distancing has been clear in his modeling of COVID-19, especially given the lack of a vaccine.
“The most important factor that affects my projections is the interactions, like how often do we have these interactions (between people). And with the social distancing, what we are essentially doing is reducing these interactions,” Alagoz said.
He said mobility data doesn’t show the complete picture, such as whether people are staying 6 feet apart or wearing a mask if they travel to public places. Alagoz said increased awareness about these practices is likely part of the reason the state did not see a spike in cases after the April 7 election.
“People were very aware of the disease and they were careful even if they went and did the in-person voting,” Alagoz said.
But Simanek warned the state shouldn’t completely lift the stay-at-home order even if people are becoming less compliant.
She said the state doesn’t have the capacity to track or treat a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases.
“We could lift social distancing measures but that doesn’t mean that we’re ready to deal with containing the outbreak and so it would not be wise to do that until we are,” Simanek said.
To help residents deal with quarantine fatigue, Simanek said state officials need to communicate that restrictions will not be in place forever. She said people need to understand the goals for dialing back social distancing and the concerns that come with each step.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Hope Kirwan


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Native American Leaders Meet In Milwaukee, Push For Climate Action - WPR
Chuck Quirmbach
October 18, 2017
Native American leaders meeting in Milwaukee this week at the convention of the National Congress of American Indians are asking the Trump administration to do more to combat climate change.
Tribal leaders speaking at the conference say recent wildfires and hurricanes that have destroyed housing and other resources are a sign of rising global temperatures, and that federal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is needed.
Their call for change comes days after the Trump administration signed a rule to rollback the Clean Power Plan, and months after the United States announced it would abandon the Paris Climate Agreement, an international agreement to reduce pollutants.
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Frustrated by the lack of action at the federal level, Jodi Gillette, former senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs in the Obama administration, said some tribes aren’t waiting for Washington.
One example being the low-carbon energy generation by the Forest County Potawatomi.
“They have 30 kilowatts of solar on top of their tribal building. They’re adding 5 megawatts of power to power their casino. And they’re piping in the biogas generation plant heat back into their water system to do their laundry,” Gillette told the convention Tuesday.
She also praised efforts by the Oneida, Ho-Chunk and Menominee tribes to reduce carbon emissions.
Interior Department official John Tahsuda said federal agencies are still trying to get their hands around the science of climate change.
“What is the science of it, what’s going on, because if we don’t understand the science, then we don’t know how to address it adequately,” Tahsuda said to the audience.
Also at the convention, tribes expressed support for greater tribal rights in the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is currently being renegotiated by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the agreement’s member countries.
Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada, said it’s not too late to add language affirming treaty rights, sovereignty and other tribal powers in the trade agreement.
When the NAFTA agreement took effect in 1994, Bellegarde said native nations across North America were largely left out.
“One of the things we’re trying to do as First Nations people back up in in our territory is to make sure that we’re not left out again. That we’re not forgotten again. That we’re not put to the side again,” Bellegarde said Tuesday.
Bellegarde said NAFTA policies come into play on issues like tariffs on timber sales, environmental protections and labor rights.
After Bellegarde’s remarks, the National Congress of American Indians voted in principle to support greater rights for First Nations people in the trade agreement talks, and will take up a formal resolution on the issue this week.
The convention runs for the remainder of the week.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

source: news-milwaukeenns

created: October 18, 2017

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Chuck Quirmbach


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Outgoing Milwaukee Police Head Accuses City Official Of Misconduct - WPR
Rachael Vasquez
February 14, 2018
Milwaukee’s outgoing police Chief Ed Flynn is leveling charges of misconduct against the head of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, MaryNell Regan, according to reporting from WISN-TV in Milwaukee.
Flynn is accusing Regan of trying to interfere with an internal investigation into a police captain.
Last year that captain asked to look at City Hall surveillance video, and gave shifting explanations when asked why.
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A surveillance image of the captain and Regan was then discovered during the investigation. Police found he was attempting to look at the footage for personal reasons that included Regan.
Flynn told the TV station Regan told him to stop the investigation or she would sue. She disputes that, saying she told Flynn it was inappropriate to investigate her.
Milwaukee Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton said he will investigate Flynn’s allegations.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

created: February 14, 2018

author: Rachael Vasquez


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Proposed Regional Bus Service For Foxconn Employees Meets Funding Questions - WPR
Ximena Conde
March 7, 2018
Some Milwaukee County officials are supporting a proposed bus service that could help transport more than 1,300 workers from Milwaukee and Racine to the planned Foxconn LCD screen factory. But moving forward would require buy-in from Racine County and the state.
The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission is proposing using $4.5 million left over from another county partnership to launch the bus service. The funds come from the sale of a Midwest Airlines hanger.
Under the plan, bus service would be focused on the start and end of Foxconn’s 12-hour shifts. The plan has three tiers of service, which can be scaled up or down based on worker demand.
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Theodore Lipscomb, chair of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, asked the planning commission to develop the proposal.
“We must do something, the idea that there could be 13,000 jobs just down the road and that we wouldn’t take action to link our citizens, is a tremendous missed opportunity,” Lipscomb said.
While Foxconn is expected to employ nearly 13,000, the proposed service line would likely serve no more than 1,300 workers.
SEWRPC Deputy Director Kevin Muhs, said the service would still need dedicated funding.
“Historically in the region, we have had multiple counties or communities that have paid to cross those county lines and so we’d expect something like that in this case as well,” he said.
But even if both counties and the state forgo individual claims to the $4.5 million, it’s unclear if the money from the hangar sale can be used for the bus service.
“While I appreciate that the Chairman shares my goal of helping people get to work, at first look, it does not appear the specifics in his proposal are legally allowed based on federal regulations of how the money from the hanger sale can be used,” said Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele in a statement.
And according to M.T. Boyle, Racine County Executive’s chief of staff, Wednesday was the first they had heard of the proposal through media reports.
“The proper allocation of proceeds from the sale and potential restrictions on the funds remain the subject of ongoing discussions,” Boyle said, adding that the county executive’s office is open to partnering with Milwaukee County for Foxconn-related programs.
Racine County established a transportation task force last week, looking at how to get workers to the planned factory. It has its first meeting later this month.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Ximena Conde


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Quarantine 'Magnifies' Depression, Mental Health Struggles During COVID-19 Crisis - WPR
Danielle Kaeding
May 13, 2020
Max Blaska has been struggling.
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, the 43-year-old Madison resident has suffered through days when he hasn’t been able to do anything. Blaska has been living with anxiety and depression since he was a child, and the COVID-19 crisis has flooded him with paralyzing thoughts.
“It’s a beast, I mean it wraps you in tangles in your brain, and depression and anxiety — I like to say it discolors your past. It makes your present miserable and it tries to rob you of your future,” Blaska said.
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It doesn’t help that he’s been furloughed from his retail job at Macy’s in Madison’s Hilldale Mall. Blaska, who lives alone, misses the interaction with others.
“So thoughts of loneliness that adds to depression or thoughts of me not having a job that adds to depression just magnifies with a quarantine because you’re isolated you’re by yourself,” he said.
Blaska is not the only one who’s struggling.
Many are trying to cope with stress, fear and anxiety stemming from the pandemic. One recent poll of 2,190 adults by NORC at the University of Chicago found the majority of Americans have felt anxious, depressed, lonely or hopeless in at least one of the last seven days the survey was conducted.
Organizations that work to connect people with mental health services in Wisconsin have been seeing a surge in calls for help.
From mid-March to mid-April, just under 19,000 calls were made to the 211 line operated by the private nonprofit IMPACT, Inc., which helps people in crisis in Milwaukee County and nine surrounding counties. More than a quarter of those calls were for health care or mental health services. It was the busiest period in the history of their call line.
“People aren’t normally in this situation, and they’re really not equipped to deal with it very well,” said Sue Beck-Riekkoff, IMPACT’s chief operating officer. “The other thing that I think is that people that have a pre-existing anxiety, depression or other mental health issue, are really feeling more acute symptoms.”
That’s what worries Beth Clay, executive director of Northeast Wisconsin (N.E.W.) Mental Health Connection in Appleton. She and community partners began tracking calls to crisis lines and law enforcement.
Now, they’re sounding the alarm after the number of calls from people — often young to middle-aged men — who were having suicidal thoughts or attempting suicide doubled in Outagamie and Winnebago counties from mid-March to mid-April.
She said the pandemic has created a perfect storm of risk factors for deaths by suicide.
“Because you’ve got physical isolation. You’ve got significant economic stress, decreased access to people’s normal natural supports, as well as whatever treatment supports they might have had in the past,” Clay said.
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Clay said a task force including partners from Outagamie, Winnebago and Calumet counties has been created that’s exploring ideas like mobile crisis teams with mental health professionals that would respond to those law enforcement calls. She worries the longer the pandemic goes on, the more difficult it can be for some people to bounce back.
Mental health providers have been able to set up telehealth sessions to provide treatment, but not everyone is able or willing to use them.
NorthLakes Community Clinic in northern Wisconsin has seen the number of patients seeking behavioral health services decline about 35 percent, said CEO Reba Rice. She said that’s declined even more among those seeking help to recover from alcohol or substance use.
“The statistics about alcohol purchase and consumption is pretty significant, and so we are very concerned about that,” said Rice.
Sales of alcoholic beverages increased more than 50 percent early on when the quarantine began and have been higher overall compared to last year, according to market research firm Nielsen.
Dr. Allison Allen, a clinical psychologist at the NorthLakes clinic in Ashland, said it’s a growing concern.
“The folks that are in recovery, especially in early recovery, were just especially vulnerable I think to the financial stresses and to the isolation and to the potential loss of the support they get from groups and because relapse for them can really literally be a life or death issue,” Allen said.
Some providers fear overdoses are increasing because people aren’t accessing mental health services, including Dr. Chris Eberlein, emergency medicine physician at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse.
“We have seen a 50 percent increase in overdose deaths since COVID has started in our county,” he said.
Eberlein said the county has already seen 12 overdose deaths so far this year compared to 2019 when the county saw 22 overdose deaths the entire year. But, health officials caution more research is needed on whether the deaths are linked to COVID-19. Al Bliss, a health educator with La Crosse County, said it’s possible people are relapsing more due to the pandemic.
“Information that I hear from behavioral health and from other counselors is that people are relapsing more. They are not aware of services being available,” he said. “They’re making changes in services, such as having virtual appointments. Certainly, in the beginning, there has not been the group support programs because of social distancing.”
In Milwaukee County, the number of suspected overdose deaths climbed to 160 in the first three months of this year. An official with the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said they are on pace to see a record number of overdoses this year. While exact causes aren’t yet known, officials say it could be due in part to lacking supports during the pandemic.
State health officials are tracking data on the number of deaths by suicide, drug or alcohol use, said Robin Matthies, trauma and resilient program manager with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. But, she said, they’re still compiling the data and don’t yet have a comprehensive picture on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Health officials also are being mindful of how they release that information so as not to further traumatize people.
“We don’t have those numbers that are perfectly designed for us to share out, but we do know the importance of people getting the help and support that they need,” said Matthies.
For more than a year, DHS has been working on an effort to connect the dots between drug and alcohol use and behavioral health in the hopes of addressing root issues. When COVID-19 hit, she said the agency rolled out its Resilient Wisconsin initiative early to provide online tools and resources that connect people to services and help them cope.
“One of the main things is self care and really making sure that you’re doing things for yourself that build up that more positive energy,” said Matthies. “So that might be like exercise. It could be meditation. It’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing.”
And, everyone’s struggles are unique.
Some may be coping with job loss or long work days in high stress sectors like health care. Others are dealing with isolation, boredom or fears about the virus.
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“It has to be OK that some days she’s just gonna sit on YouTube because I have to work,” said Sandoval. “And, although I would love to juggle all of these things and be present 100 percent, that’s not anyone’s reality right now. And, I have to be OK.”
Kids are also feeling the stress of the stay-at-home order, said Betsy Byler, a mental health counselor in Superior.
Byler, who sees around 25 clients each week, said her teens are struggling with missing out on sports or school milestones like prom and graduation. Some kids are acting out or doing things they wouldn’t normally do.
“They’re feeling that tension and the uncertainty. And, if their parent is out of work, and the finances are hurting it, I mean, like, it’s just, it’s different than cabin fever,” she said.
Byler said it’s important for people to give themselves a break and not compare their situation to others.
“We all get to experience our own level of loss, grief, whatever, and it doesn’t take away from someone else’s experience,” she said.
She said it’s also important for them to recognize that the quarantine and pandemic will end.
Until then, Max Blaska said he’s staying creative by working on a science fiction/thriller screenplay, as well as staying connected with family and friends.
“Isolating is the worst thing to do. But, when you’re depressed and anxious, it’s very hard to reach out,” said Blaska.
When others reach out, he said that can often make all the difference.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Danielle Kaeding


text:
Race, Gender Play Role In School Suspensions - WPR
Shamane Mills
May 16, 2017
The National Women’s Law Center is out with a report that says African-American girls in Wisconsin are almost 12 times more likely to be suspended from school than white girls.
Wisconsin has the highest school suspension ratio in the country when comparing black girls to white girls. Misbehavior isn’t always the reason, said Neena Chaudhry, director of education at the National Women’s Law Center. The center recently put out the report showing suspensions for girls of color by school district from 2013-14.
“Unfortunately, all of us have biases — implicit, explicit biases — but we’re also hearing from girls around the country that there are dress and hair code violations that are particularly pushing girls of color out of school,” she said.
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The center’s report recommends districts look at suspensions by race and examine their discipline policies.
The state Department of Public Instruction already works with districts to track achievement and discipline, said DPI spokesman Tom McCarthy.
“So there are districts like Milwaukee which have been flagged as having disproportionality issues,” McCarthy said. “We’re currently engaged in working with how to design systems that counter those trends.”
In Wisconsin, black girls are 9.7 percent of females enrolled in school,  but the center’s report shows they are 49.3 percent of girls suspended.
Wisconsin was one of 15 states where the ratio of black girls’ suspension compared to white girls’ surpassed the national 5.5 ratio.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Shamane Mills


text:
Report: Within 5 Years, African American Auto Deaths Double In Wisconsin - WPR
Corri Hess
February 24, 2020
The number of motor vehicle crashes and deaths in Wisconsin have increased far greater for African Americans than white and Hispanic residents, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
From 2013 to 2018, the motor vehicle crash fatality rate for black Wisconsinites more than doubled, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2013, 31 African Americans died from motor vehicle deaths. The worst year was in 2017, when 79 African Americans died, according to the CDC data used in the report.
In 2018, the last year CDC data was available, 63 African Americans living in Wisconsin died from motor vehicles.
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The problem is most prominent in Milwaukee County and the city in Milwaukee, home to two-thirds of the state’s African Americans.
In Milwaukee, fatalities increased 97 percent from 2013 to 2018. In the rest of the state, fatalities increased 3 percent during that time span, according to the Policy Forum.
The sharp increase in African American motor vehicle deaths is a new phenomenon, happening in only the last five years. Looking over the long term, black Wisconsinites were actually less likely to die in a motor vehicle crash, said Mark Sommerhauser, a policy researcher and lead author of the report.
“Our state’s African American residents have actually gone from being less likely to die in a motor vehicle crash to much more likely,” Sommerhauser said. “So many factors could be contributing to this. We just wanted to explore a few potential contributors.”
Some of the factors raised in the Policy Forum’s report include a decline in public transportation, particularly in Milwaukee County, and lack of driver’s education in public schools.
Transit ridership in Milwaukee County declined about 40 percent from 2008 to 2018, compared to a 6 percent decline nationally, according to the Federal Transit Administration’s National Transit database.
Another factor could be the state’s discontinued funding to school districts for driver’s education in 2004.
While driver’s education classes remained available to students for a fee, this may have contributed to an income-based gap in access to driver’s education, especially in districts like Milwaukee, according to the Policy Forum.
In 2016, Milwaukee Public Schools introduced free driver’s education program for high schoolers, with the only cost being a $35 fee to obtain a learner’s permit. But many of today’s drivers came of age before that program existed.
Reckless driving has also plagued Milwaukee. Since last year, the Milwaukee City-County Carjacking and Reckless Driving Taskforce has been looking at ways to combat the problem.
In October, after two sisters, ages 4 and 6, were killed by a reckless driver and their 10-year-old cousin was also injured, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and members of the Common Council asked Gov. Tony Evers for state resources to curb reckless driving.
Sommerhauser said the Policy Forum’s research can’t conclusively point to one cause or contributor as to why African Americans are dying from motor vehicle crashes, but said speeding is often a factor.
“That was one element of our research that I do think certainly does seem to dovetail with some of the trends we’ve seen and some of the concerns we’ve seen around reckless driving in the (Milwaukee) area,” Sommerhauser said.
Alder Michael Murphy, who heads the reckless driving taskforce, said after reading the Policy Forum report, he wants to redouble his efforts to try to change people’s behavior.
“The disproportionate impact on people of color, specifically African Americans, is just outlandish and shocking,” Murphy said.
The task force has made several recommendations including asking state lawmakers to increase criminal penalties for adults who engage in reckless driving or flee police; consider red-light cameras; more funding for driver’s education and more tools such as roundabouts, speed bumps and traffic signals.
Sommerhauser said the research shows the auto fatality numbers in Milwaukee and statewide have escalated.
“The good news is that city and county have put together a taskforce with recommendations,” he said. “There are a lot of them for our state and local policymakers to consider.”
Last week, the state Assembly adjourned for the year. The Senate is expected to do the same in March.
Murphy said the city-county taskforce will meet again in March and hopefully begin implementing changes in April.
The Policy Forum didn’t initially set out to look into African American auto deaths.
Last year, it looked at life expectancy in Wisconsin and found it has declined in recent years. While presenting that report to member organizations, public health experts at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee asked Policy Forum researchers if they could break down the mortality data by racial disparities.
“One of the things that really jumped out was the difference in accidental death rates between white Wisconsinites and black Wisconsinites,” Sommerhauser said. “We found a lot of what was driving the disparity was the increase in motor vehicle death rates. We see a lot of disparities on the basis of race, on the basis of health care outcomes. And when we went looking for one example of that, that’s how we found the topic we wrote about here.”
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

created: February 24, 2020

author: Corri Hess


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Report: Young Voters To Have Big Impact On Presidential Election In Wisconsin - WPR
Elizabeth Dohms-Harter
July 10, 2020
Wisconsin is the state where young voters will mostly likely have the strongest impact on the state’s 2020 presidential election, according to data analysis released by a Massachusetts research group.
The 2020 Election Youth Electoral Significance Index, produced by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at Tufts University in Massachusetts, predicts that voters ages 18 to 29 will have more influence on the presidential race in Wisconsin than in any other state. That’s due in part to a strong record of youth participation in the past, and to how close the election was in 2016.
“We’ve gathered and analyzed data from many different places and put them into a model, and Wisconsin came out No. 1. And it’s not surprising,” said Abby Kiesa, the center’s director of impact.
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Kiesa said she and others involved in civic engagement have known for a long time that young people are not apathetic, and in fact are engaging more than they have in the past. Since 2016, the number of young people who march and demonstrate increased from 5 to 27 percent, Kiesa said. The number of young people who are volunteering for political campaigns is skyrocketing, too.
But traditionally, younger generations don’t vote as often as older generations do.
“We have ongoing structural issues in our democracy with how our democracy includes or doesn’t include people new to it,” she said.
Organizations like CIRCLE and Leaders Igniting Transformation in Milwaukee, want to leverage young voters’ interest in politics to boost voter turnout. That’s important, Kiesa said, because representatives should reflect their constituency.
“We live in a diverse democracy, and we cannot be OK with an electorate that doesn’t represent the diversity of the United States. And it doesn’t,” she said.
The biggest challenge is access to voting, Kiesa said. Whether they’re not voting because of voter ID laws, unclear directions, or changes to laws and rules, LIT and other organizations are trying to make sure young people get informed on the election, are registered to vote and know how to request and turn in an absentee ballot.
Maya Neal is political strategy manager at LIT, which is a youth-led organization focusing on Black and brown voters. She said that her organization is also trying to encourage Black and brown people to get involved and help make decisions that will impact them.
“We are making sure that in everything that we do, we’re developing the next wave of Wisconsin leaders, activists, organizers and elected officials,” she said.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is among a few universities in the state making a push to help its students get out and vote by continuing its involvement in the nationwide All In Campus Democracy Challenge.
Kathy Cramer, a political science professor at UW-Madison who heads a campus organization charged with helping educate voters, said the university recently renewed its participation in the challenge, which it joined in 2016.
The challenge has about 1,000 higher education institutions from across the country competing to see who can get the highest voting rates and registrations.
Cramer said the competition fits well with the university’s mission to ensure that democracy persists.
“There is a feeling among a lot of students, regardless of where they’re from, that their voices aren’t heard in the political process,” she said. “Election season is a great time to step up and make sure that your voice is going to be heard.”
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Elizabeth Dohms-Harter


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Senate Republicans Vote To Keep Colin Kaepernick's Name Off Black History Month Resolution - WPR
Shawn Johnson
February 13, 2019
Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted Wednesday to remove former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick from a resolution recognizing Black History Month.
The move came over the protests of the chamber’s only two African-American lawmakers, including Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, who said the decision to exclude Kaepernick was emblematic of white privilege.
“The Wisconsin white Republicans are going to decide which forms of protest are acceptable,” Taylor said during one of several lengthy floor speeches.
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Kaepernick, who is originally from Milwaukee, was one name among many on a resolution honoring “people of African descent or African-Americans (who) have made measurable differences in their respective industries.”
Others on the final resolution include Lucien H. Palmer, the first African-American to be elected to the Wisconsin Assembly; Violette Neatley Anderson, the first African-American woman to practice law before the United States Supreme Court; and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Kaepernick was an NFL quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who rose to national fame in the last couple of years for his decision to sit, and later to take a knee during the national anthem. He has said he took the action to protest police brutality in African-American communities.
Kaepernick’s actions drew the ire of President Donald Trump, who pressured NFL owners to require players to stand during the anthem. Kaepernick, who is no longer playing in the NFL, has filed a lawsuit against the league, arguing owners colluded to keep him off the field.
Taylor challenged GOP lawmakers Wednesday in the Senate to explain their decision to exclude Kaepernick from the Black History Month resolution, but each senator declined.
“You object to a Negro having the audacity to speak up?” she asked. “What is it? I’d love to hear it from your mouth.”
Taylor said Kaepernick was drawing attention to an issue that was very real to her constituents.
“Doing what is right takes courage,” Taylor said. “Colin Kaepernick showed courage. Although he stood for inequality and injustice everywhere in this nation and police brutality that is real in this nation, he’s from a place that is the worst in the nation to be a black American.”
Taylor is one of only two African-Americans in the 33-member Wisconsin state Senate. The other, Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, called the decision to omit Kaepernick “insulting,” and “degrading.”
“Diversity is needed in this building on the other side,” Johnson said to Republicans.
While no Republicans spoke during Wednesday’s debate, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said Tuesday it was unfortunate the Legislative Black Caucus chose to include Kaepernick in their resolution, calling him a divisive figure.
“We’re in a new era, we’re trying to figure out ways to work together,” Vos said Tuesday. “We would hope they would have more consideration to say, let’s look at finding ways to work together, rather than always looking at ways to drive us apart.”
While the resolution passed the Senate with only Republican votes, the same resolution passed the Assembly on a 95-0 vote, although at least a couple Democratic representatives who voted for it initially said they’d changed their minds.
Rep. LaKeshia Myers, D-Milwaukee, was among the first to announce Tuesday she had asked the Assembly Chief Clerk to formally change her vote.
“The insistence that Colin Kaepernick’s name be removed from the Black History Month resolution was an exercise in white privilege and one that I cannot accept,” Myers said in a statement. “To agree to the watered down version of this resolution would mean supporting the suppression of the African-American’s fundamental right to protest injustice. That is something I cannot and will not do.”
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

created: February 13, 2019

author: Shawn Johnson


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Sherman Park Forum Includes Calls For Investment, Commitment - WPR
Chuck Quirmbach
August 17, 2017
A Milwaukee Common Council member representing the city’s Sherman Park neighborhood is urging businesses to re-invest in the area one year after violent protests broke out there following a police shooting.
The protests came after a Milwaukee police officer fatally shot Sylville Smith, an African-American man who fled while carrying a gun. The ensuing violence included physical damage to some area businesses.
One example, said Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey, is a bank that was heavily damaged but kept open a small office and recently announced it will build a bigger branch in the neighborhood. Rainey told a Milwaukee Press Club forum Wednesday that others in the private sector shouldn’t be afraid to come forward.
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“We’re all Milwaukeeans. If there’s any part of the city that’s not healthy, all of us are unhealthy,” Rainey said.
An African-American Milwaukee developer, JoAnne Sabir, said after renovation of the former bank building, 12 small businesses owned by African-Americans have agreed to lease space. The city of Milwaukee is proposing about $300,000 in financial assistance.
Also at the forum, a white resident of Sherman Park urged people around the state to visit and help the area. Laura Richard said her neighborhood needs equal opportunity after years of housing and transportation policies helped white residents leave for the suburbs.
“We don’t need white people to feel bad. But we do need white people to own their responsibility and engage,” Richard said. “It’s hard. It’s going to make us feel uncomfortable, and it’s going to face us with some pretty ugly truths in the mirror that’s being held up to us.”
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.


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State Lawmakers Propose Vaccination Bill Amid National Measles Outbreak - WPR
Shamane Mills
April 22, 2019
Compared to many other states, Wisconsin has strict rules on when pharmacists can give immunization shots. Pharmacists can’t administer vaccines to children younger than age 6 and they have to form a collaboration with a local physician.
A bill proposed by two rural lawmakers concerned about access to health care would allow trained pharmacists to give shots to younger children with a doctor’s prescription. A pharmacist could immunize all ages against any diseases on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Immunization schedule without a prescription.
“This is primarily about increasing access. We want to make sure that those who are qualified are able to administer vaccines. And ensure parents and patients have more choice and access in the marketplace,” said Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Rep. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewoc.
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Two thirds of the state’s counties are medically underserved, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Pharmacies say with their expanded hours and multiple locations they can provide preventative care people who might otherwise skip things like vaccines.
“Community pharmacists are just that,” said Ryan Bender, a pharmacist who works in Dane County.
“We are in the community. We see our patients on a monthly or even weekly basis, compared to the annual or semi-annual visits to a clinic. We are open later in the evening and on the weekends. More opportunities to see our patients means more opportunities to vaccinate our patients,” Bender told lawmakers at a public hearing Wednesday, April 17, before a joint meeting of the Assembly and Senate health committees.
According to America’s 2018 Health Rankings, Wisconsin doesn’t meet state and federal prevention goals on a number of vaccine-preventable diseases.
A similar bill was introduced last session but didn’t pass because of concerns over whether vaccines administered by pharmacists would be entered into the Wisconsin Immunization Registry. They would have to be recorded within seven days under Testin and Kurtz’ bill.
The push for expanding access to vaccinations comes as the country experiences a measles outbreak that has spread to 20 states. Since the first of the year, the CDC has confirmed more than 500 cases of the highly contagious disease.
Twenty-seven states allow pharmacists to vaccinate people of all ages, said Danielle Womack of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.


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State Schools Superintendent Candidates Face Off 1 Week Before Election - WPR
Ross Terrell
March 28, 2017
Wisconsin’s teacher shortage and the effect of President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would have on the state’s professional development were among the topics state schools superintendent candidates sparred over Tuesday in Milwaukee.
Incumbent Superintendent Tony Evers and challenger Lowell Holtz, a former district superintendent for Whitnall and Beloit schools, appeared together at a debate at Marquette University, a week before voters head to the polls.
Evers, who is seen as the more progressive candidate in the officially nonpartisan race, blamed the state’s shrinking teacher supply on Act 10, the controversial law required public sector employees to contribute to their benefits and eliminated most collective bargaining. Evers said a key to refilling the teacher pipeline is making sure high school students understand the importance of the profession.
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“We have to change the rhetoric,” Evers said. “We have to honor the profession. We have to make sure that our teachers are elevated in the right place. We have lost a generation of young people going into the profession. We can change that and I think we have to pay our teachers more.”
Holtz, who has courted conservative support, argued the GOP-backed Act 10 is not the problem. Instead, Holtz said the problem is teachers’ frustrations with the state’s evaluation system.
Holtz said teachers have told him the system takes too much time away from class preparation and that he didn’t have many reservations about President Trump’s proposed budget.
“The money that was put into the public school choice was tremendous,” Holtz said. “There was some for vouchers for choice, but a lot was public school choice. The thing that caught my eye was the reduction in the teacher training, and I have to see how that’s going to play out.”
Evers called the proposed $35 million cut to professional development for Wisconsin breathtaking.
He said Trump’s budget would increase spending in areas such as national security but on the backs of kids.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Ross Terrell


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STEM Students Of Color, The Old Fashioned, Catholic Church And LGBT Members - WPR
Nov 2 2017
After a bishop in Madison sent a letter informing clergy that they could deny Catholic funerals to LGBT members, a petition was circulated calling for his removal. We talk with a priest about how the Catholic church is navigating issues involving LGBT people in their congregations.  We also hear why promises of high salaries may not be enough to attract students of color to the fields of science and technology.  And we find out about some unique takes on Wisconsin’s favorite cocktail, the Old Fashioned.
Young students interested in STEM fields are often pitched that the careers are lucrative.
But a new study from Vanderbilt University suggests that for students of color, it’s not just about the money.
Researchers found African-American and Latinx students were most likely to go into science, technology, engineering and mathematics because of their interest in social justice issues.
“They are very passionate about the STEM itself,” said Ebony McGee, lead author of the study. “But they see it being intersectional with being able to do good in the world, either in their communities or in the larger global community.”
For the study, McGee interviewed 38 high-achieving black and Latinx STEM undergraduate students, asking for their life stories and what motivated them to enter STEM fields.
Some of the students’ stories were more traditional, such as wanting to make money for their family, said McGee, associate professor of education, diversity and STEM education at Vanderbilt.
“But we also saw folks wanting to do STEM to do things like market the injustices of police cameras in their communities and use the technology they’ve learned in order to talk about the ways in which their communities were surveillanced. Or to build technologies for autistic youth,” she said. “Or to do something that was much more community-centered, much more holistic in nature than we often think about what STEMmers actually want to go into in terms of their career trajectories.”
Many students were also interested in giving back, whether that was becoming a professor or starting a mentorship program for other students of color. Students spoke of how seeing other students of color in the hallways was like a “breath of relief.”
According to a U.S. Census Bureau report from 2013, black people only held 6 percent of STEM jobs, and Latinx held only 7 percent, even though they make up 11 and 15 percent of the total United States workforce, respectively.
Many of the surveyed students said they didn’t feel their goals matched up with the way STEM is often marketed.
McGee said the medical field has always been seen as a place for empathy and altruism. That’s not true with other STEM jobs, she said, where companies focus on innovation and power, not necessarily helping others. That doesn’t mean it can’t change.
“We can do these things when we talk about building power products or environmental engineering,” she said. “We can make those marketing campaigns happen similarly to how we’re doing in the biomedical field, if we just take the time to understand that these are the factors that really matter to many students, not just students of color.”
Although all of the surveyed students were considered high-achieving, over half said they were considering leaving STEM because they couldn’t reconcile that ideological conflict.
“So I think we could be losing out on, let’s say, flying around in cars,” McGee said. “Because in order to do that you need a diversity of thought, a diversity of background, a diversity of talent, in order to create diversity in technology and innovation.”
Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) have long been marketed as fields that bring high incomes and opportunities to create technology that will help the U.S. compete with other global superpowers. New research is suggesting that for students of color – especially Black and Latino students – pursuing STEM careers isn’t just about the money, it’s also about doing social good.
The brandy old-fashioned is a Wisconsin classic–and a Wausau reporter ventured around the state to find unique twists on the cocktail.
Let us know YOUR favorite old-fashioned in the state–at a bar, restaurant, supper club, or at home!  Comment below, or email ideas@wpr.org.
Last week, a document was leaked from the Madison Diocese outlining the how funeral rites would be issued for LGBTQ members of the church. In the memo, the church referred to public homosexual relationships as being “gravely contrary to the natural law” and allows the church to deny rites if there is concern that performing them could cause a scandal.  Since then, the Madison Diocese has been embroiled in controversy. We speak to Father James Martin SJ about the Catholic church’s fraught relationship with the LGBTQ community.
What do you think of the leaked memo? Do you think that the Catholic church is able to determine how it administers funeral rites? Or, do you think it’s time for the church to reevaluate its stance on the issue?
Call us at 1-800-642-1234 or email ideas@wpr.org. You can also tweet us @CentralTimeWPR or post on the Ideas Network Facebook page.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.


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Study: Black Voter Turnout In Wisconsin Plummets - WPR
The Associated Press
November 7, 2017
A new study says turnout among black voters in Wisconsin dropped about 19 percent between 2012 and 2016, more than four times the national decline.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the Center for American Progress, a liberal nonprofit, studied data from the U.S. Census, polls and state voter files.
Democratic State Rep. David Bowen of Milwaukee says the study confirms requiring photo identification to vote disproportionately hurts minority voter turnout. The requirement first went into effect during the 2016 presidential election.
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Courts have found minority voters are less likely to have a driver’s license or another form of ID that meets the requirement.
The study also found voter turnout for Hispanics and Asians dropped almost 6 percent in 2016. The turnout rate for those groups rose about 2 percent nationally.
© Copyright 2024 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

created: November 7, 2017

author: The Associated Press


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US DOJ Continues Fight On Urban Crime, Milwaukee Police Chief Says - WPR
Chuck Quirmbach
November 29, 2017
Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn says the Trump Administration seems committed to reducing violent crime in urban areas.
United States Department of Justice officials have been working with the City of Milwaukee for the last 18 months to reduce violent crime in the city’s Center Street corridor on the north side.
Flynn met with U.S. Justice Department officials Wednesday about the violent crime reduction plan.
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During a news conference, Flynn said that cooperation between the DOJ and the City of Milwaukee — and other urban communities — has continued despite the change in administration.
“I think what’s interesting, despite a lot of negative press coverage, is that we in the major cities, in some very thoughtful meetings with (Attorney) General Sessions, made it clear that our success in using federal assets to suppress violence in disadvantaged neighborhoods would not succeed if it were discerned or believed that the Justice Department was backing off holding police accountable for misconduct, or backing off reform efforts,” Flynn said.
While the cooperation remains, Sessions halted a federal review of the Milwaukee Police Department before it was completed. The review began during the Obama Administration.
A draft report of the DOJ’s review of the Milwaukee Police Department was obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in August.
Milwaukee town hall meetings on the report begin Thursday night.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

created: November 29, 2017


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UW-Madison Pre-College Prep Program Will Focus On Students Living In Madison And Milwaukee - WPR
Ross Terrell
June 6, 2017
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s pre-college prep program will be refocused to reach students living in Madison and Milwaukee, the university announced Monday.
Starting at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, students in Waukesha, Kenosha, Racine and other suburbs will no longer be eligible to apply.
About a year ago, a study found students in the Precollege Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence, or PEOPLE program, were 37 percent less likely to graduate in four years compared to other students.
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The changes will allow students in Milwaukee and Madison to apply for the program starting in eighth grade. The program is currently open to Madison sixth graders and Milwaukee ninth graders.
Gail Ford, the program’s pre-college assistant director, said the single entry point is key to the program’s success.
“We know that the research says that the earlier you work with students the better,” she said. “But we had to pick the sweet spot that would allow balance between when our resources would allow us to work with students because we know we want to service them through hopefully degree completion.”
She said the program’s impact can be seen daily.
“I see the students that are here as a result of our program how hard they work to be able to stay at this campus, how much they deeply care about their college education and really want to live the full Badger experience,” Ford said.
Ford said they will also start offering after school tutoring services in Milwaukee that were previously only available in Madison.
The changes are scheduled to take place in fall 2018.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.


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UW Study: Up To 23,000 Didn't Vote Because Of Voter ID Law - WPR
Rachael Vasquez and Chuck Quirmbach
September 26, 2017
Sites in 20 Wisconsin cities took part in National Voter Registration Day efforts Tuesday.
The event comes a day after a University of Wisconsin-Madison study showing the state’s voter ID law lowered turnout last year.
The study from UW-Madison estimates that up to 23,000 people in Dane and Milwaukee counties did not vote in November 2016 because of the state’s voter ID law.
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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that between 16,800 and 23,250 voters in two of the state’s most Democratic counties did not vote because of the law.
Shauntay Nelson of the group Wisconsin Voices says part of the problem was just confusion, and she says events like National Voter Registration Day can cut through that.
“Our intention is to partner with as many people as possible to educate individuals and to really begin to help them to understand that there really are avenues,” Nelson said.
Nelson recommends going to the My Vote Wisconsin website to register online. The League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County has been registering high schoolers to vote as they turn 18 and is also signing up newly sworn-in citizens.
The survey was mailed to 2,400 registered voters living in the two counties and who did not vote. Of those, 293 people returned questionnaires as part of the survey.
Only 7 percent said they believed they did not have the types of identification necessary under the law, and did not vote as a result. Many respondents said they did not vote for reasons unrelated to the voter ID law.
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell funded the study with county property taxes. McDonell is a Democratic opponent of the law.
African-Americans and low-income people were affected the most, according to the study. Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said he’s “furious to see that Jim Crow laws are alive and well.”
The governor’s office says the ID law has protected the “integrity of the voting process.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Scott Walker said confusion related to court decisions over the voter ID law may have reduced voter turnout last year.
“I think part of it’s the confusion you saw between the courts at one end, at one point saying it wasn’t legal, another time eventually saying it was legal,” Walker said. “My hope and expectation going forward would be that it would ultimately be a matter of once people know we want to make it easy to vote but hard to cheat, and as long as people know the rules well in advance.”
Wisconsin’s voter ID law from 2011 has seen a series of court challenges, appeals and decisions before it was used for the first time in a Wisconsin presidential election last year.
Some Democrats say Walker and other Republicans deliberately wanted to confuse people to keep citizens away from the ballot box.
Editor’s Note: This story was last updated at 5:11 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

created: September 26, 2017

author: Rachael Vasquez and Chuck Quirmbach


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Violent Crime Down In Milwaukee Overall, But Certain Neighborhoods Continue To Struggle - WPR
Corri Hess
April 3, 2019
Violent crime in Milwaukee has decreased during the first quarter of the year in many of the city’s neighborhoods.
There have been 18 homicides this year, down from 22 homicides last year during the first three months of 2018. Last year there were a total of 101 homicides in Milwaukee.
The city has had 74 non-fatal shootings so far this year, down 22 percent from the same time last year.
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Carjackings are also down 22 percent, according to the Milwaukee Police Department. So far this year, there have been 65 carjackings in Milwaukee, compared to 84 during the same time period last year.
Police Chief Alfonso Morales, who took over as the city’s top police officer in February 2018, said the reduction in crime has to do with the department’s three-prong approach: law enforcement, community outreach and research.
Last year MPD began working more closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Milwaukee District Attorney, state Department of Corrections and other law enforcement partners. The group meets weekly to discuss homicides and non-fatal shootings.
“Truly 10 percent of people are causing 60 to 80 percent of problems,” Morales said. “And we are even finding many of these individuals are involved in the domestic violence cases, drug trafficking and other types of violent crime. By bringing the law enforcement family together, we have more information that we can use to take care of the suspect or victim’s side of it.”
While the decline in crime is promising, Morales acknowledged not all neighborhoods are experiencing the same trend.
Twelve of Milwaukee’s 190 neighborhoods accounted for nearly half of the 476 non-fatal shootings in 2018. The same was true in 2017, when there were 558 non-fatal shootings.
Those neighborhoods are predominately located on the far south, west and north sides of Milwaukee. Many border Milwaukee’s 53206 zip code, where unemployment and poverty are widespread.
Of those 12 neighborhoods, five have the most number of crimes, Morales said. Those neighborhoods – North Division, Harambe, Arlington Heights, Lincoln Village and Garden Homes — will be the department’s top priority this year, Morales said.
“What you will find is there are a lot of problems that we are all aware of having to do with economics, employment, education and family issues,” Morales said. “We want to bring in community organizations, faith-based organizations and even different resources from city hall to address it.”
Morales is hoping that by getting the community more involved, more cases can be solved within in those neighborhoods.
A 2017 study by the Urban Institute found the majority of residents in high-crime, high-poverty areas have a negative view of the police. However, the study also found people were willing to work with law enforcement to make their communities safer.
“I can boast 70 to 80 percent clearance on homicides, but in those neighborhoods it’s 25 percent,” Morales said. “I need the support and community engagement to help us identify who the actual problem is and how to address it. Looking through community lenses can bring about a lot of ideas to change perception.”
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.


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Walker Administration Moves Closer To Drug Testing Food Stamp Recipients - WPR
Laurel White
October 13, 2017
Wisconsin has taken another step toward implementing drug testing for able-bodied, childless food stamp recipients.
The state Department of Health Services announced Friday that it has submitted its plans to Gov. Scott Walker’s office to create the new policy.
The department, which took public comment on the proposal through this fall, has also submitted an economic impact analysis and text of the proposed rule.
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The proposed change was approved by the Legislature and governor as part of the 2015-2017 state budget. The governor has argued it will create a healthier workforce in Wisconsin and help people get necessary treatment.
But some opponents say the state shouldn’t be able to move forward with drug testing without first getting a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the federal Food and Nutrition Act.
“Under that Act, they do not have the authority to drug test food share recipients without the permission of USDA,” said Vanessa Kuettel, lawyer at Legal Action of Wisconsin.
The Walker administration says it doesn’t need the waiver because another federal law gives it permission to do the drug testing.
According to state estimates, if the policy goes into effect, about 67,400 individuals are likely to be screened for drug use annually, with an estimated 2,100 requiring a drug test. Those tests are projected to cost the state about $101,500 a year.
An estimated 11 percent of tested individuals would require treatment, which would cost about $500,000 for the state’s Medicaid program, BadgerCare. Those who don’t have BadgerCare would receive services paid by private insurance or county human service agencies. Those who aren’t eligible for BadgerCare or have private insurance would receive services paid for by the state’s general fund.
Wisconsin already requires FoodShare recipients to participate in work training programs. That policy has reduced eligibility by about 76,000 and linked roughly 21,000 people with jobs, according to state numbers.
The state is in the application process for a federal waiver that would allow it to drug test Medicaid recipients as well.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

created: October 13, 2017

author: Laurel White


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What Benefits Do Immigrants In Wisconsin Qualify For? - WPR
Alexandra Hall
September 12, 2017
President Trump’s recent decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, has reignited a longstanding debate over how much immigration costs United States taxpayers. Critics often argue the amount spent on public benefits for non-citizens is too high, while supporters contend immigrants provide an economic boost for the country.
But in a state like Wisconsin, what benefits do immigrants actually receive?
In her role as the administrator for the Economic Assistance and Work Services Division of the Dane County Department of Human Services, Shawn Tessmann is on the front lines when it comes to administering benefits. At the Dane County Job Center in Madison, her staff of about 200 answer phone calls from people seeking public assistance.
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She says when it comes to determining what benefits immigrants qualify for, it can get complicated.
Shawn Tessmann, administrator for the Economic Assistance and Work Services Division of the Dane County Department of Human Services. Alexandra Hall/WPR
“Generally speaking, even legal immigrants, unless they have been here and had that qualified status for a minimum of five years, they generally will not qualify as adults for these benefit programs, even though their children might,” Tessmann said.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, or welfare reform law, created new restrictions on the federal benefits non-citizens can receive. Since then, states have created their own rules for who gets services.
In Wisconsin, some of the programs individuals and families in need can qualify for include: FoodShare, Wisconsin’s version of food stamps; WisconsinWorks or “W2,” temporary cash assistance — what most people think of as welfare; and BadgerCare Plus, Wisconsin’s health coverage for low-income residents, which is funded through Medicaid.
Most lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, in Wisconsin cannot receive FoodShare or W2 benefits until they have held lawful status for at least five years. There are exceptions, including for people with substantial work history or military service and for special visa holders, such as trafficking victims and victims of domestic abuse. BadgerCare Plus also covers immigrants in certain situations.
“People even without that five-year waiting period can still qualify for emergency medical care if something catastrophic happens. And pregnant women can also qualify for prenatal care,” Tessmann said.
Meanwhile, qualifying refugees and asylum seekers can access almost all safety net programs U.S. citizens do upon entry, but their access to benefits can be cut off after a certain period of time.
“They’re eligible for the same programs, they have all the rights, but also the same responsibilities as any other resident of the state or city they live in. They’re authorized to work immediately, and they’re actually expected to work as soon as possible,” explained Mary Flynn, program manager for Lutheran Social Services’ refugee department.
Prior to the changes in 1996, there were no overarching rules dictating the types of benefits immigrants in the country legally could qualify for. Green card holders and refugees generally qualified for the same programs as low-income U.S. citizens. Even prior to 1996, immigrants in the country illegally were ineligible for government assistance.
Questions about the costs and benefits of immigration are at the forefront of the national debate.
In August, the Trump administration endorsed the RAISE Act, a bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and David Perdue, R-Georgia, that aims to cut legal immigration by half over the next decade.
White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller told reporters at a West Wing press conference at the time that the proposal would protect workers, taxpayers and the U.S. economy.
“Every year we issue a million green cards to foreign nationals from all the countries of the world, but we do so without regard to whether that applicant has demonstrated the skill that can add to the U.S. economy, whether they can pay their own way or be reliant on welfare, or whether they’ll displace or take a job from an American worker,” Miller said.
A 2017 study by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on the economic and fiscal costs of immigration similarly compared how much immigrants pay in taxes to how much they use in government services.
“In general, immigrants are good for the federal bottom line. For state and local governments, the story is a little more mixed. And that’s largely because immigrants have more kids. And so as they grow up, those children will become workers and become part of the labor force, but in the short-term, they are expensive largely because of the cost of education,” said Kim Rueben, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who worked on the report.
But how much are benefits for immigrants costing taxpayers? It depends on the program and each individual’s immigration status.
According to Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services, the total cost of BadgerCare Plus Emergency and Prenatal Services in 2016 was $42.2 million, or 0.48 percent of the $8.8 billion total Medicaid costs last year.
And numbers from the state Department of Children and Families show that in the past five years, an estimated 3.83 percent of W2 funding went to refugees and immigrants in the country legally.
It’s unclear how much it costs to educate the children of immigrants in Wisconsin. Because public schools don’t demand information about a student’s immigration status at enrollment, data does not exist to show what percentage of students enrolled at public schools in the state are immigrants or reside in an immigrant household.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that all students are entitled to a free public education, regardless of immigration status. Rueben said it’s true that educating the children of immigrants costs taxpayers money in the short term. But looking at the bigger picture, she argues it’s a worthy investment, especially when those kids grow up.
“We also found in the report that the children of immigrants, that second generation, are actually the people who are giving the most in terms of paying taxes versus using services over the long run,” Rueben said.

created: September 12, 2017

author: Alexandra Hall


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Wisconsin Child Health Program Will Continue, Even As Federal CHIP Funding Expires - WPR
Brady Carlson
October 3, 2017
State health officials say the expiration of the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, won’t affect Wisconsin children and families in the near term.
The program provides health coverage to families that make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but don’t make enough to afford private insurance.
CHIP funded coverage for more than 171,000 children in Wisconsin during fiscal year 2016 through the BadgerCare Plus program, according to Medicaid statistics.
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The state Department of Health Services said in a statement Tuesday that Wisconsin has enough funding from CHIP to continue operating the BadgerCare Plus insurance program through April 2018.
After that, the state would pay for the coverage out of its general fund, a cost DHS estimates at $134 million through the end of the current state budget.
“Wisconsin will not allow children to fall through the cracks. This population will continue to be eligible for BadgerCare, if CHIP is not reauthorized, but it would create a significant hole in the state’s Medicaid budget,” the DHS statement reads.
Wisconsin child health advocates are among those calling on Congress to reauthorize CHIP. Congress let the funding lapse over the weekend while Republicans focused on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.
Congress usually reauthorizes the program’s funding with broad bipartisan support, said Dipesh Navsaria, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and vice president of the Wisconsin chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“I think to a certain extent we still expect that Congress will go ahead and reauthorize this,” Navsaria said. “However, so much of what has happened in the last few years in our federal government has not been the normal. So it’s hard to know what to expect.”
Navsaria said most states anticipated CHIP funds in their budgets, and that the longer Congress waits to reauthorize the program, the more they will act to head off additional health costs.
“States will start to say, ‘We don’t want to be on the hook for this, we can’t plan, we can’t budget,’” he said. “Therefore they may start to restrict re-enrollment or renewals, or those sorts of things. So it creates an immense amount of uncertainty.”
The Washington Post reports House lawmakers are now considering a two-year extension of CHIP funding.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

created: October 3, 2017

author: Brady Carlson


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Wisconsin Civil Rights Leader Vel Phillips Dies At Age 94 - WPR
WPR Staff
April 18, 2018
Civil rights pioneer and political trailblazer Vel Phillips died Tuesday at the age of 94.
Feb. 7, 1953, portrait of Vel Phillips. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society
Phillips’ life was a series of firsts as she broke gender and racial barriers.
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She was the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1951.
She was the first female and the first African-American elected to the Milwaukee Common Council in 1956, where she pushed city leaders to recognize the inequalities facing minorities in the city, including housing discrimination. She served on the council until 1971, when she became the first female judge in Milwaukee County.
“I just thought that I would have a chance to really make a difference,” Phillips told Wisconsin Public Television in it’s documentary, “Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams.”
Listen To Vel Phillips Speak About Becoming Judge
In 1958 she became the first African-American woman elected to the Democratic National Committee.
Then, in 1978, she became the first female and the first African-American elected to a statewide office in Wisconsin: secretary of state. She beat eight other primary candidates.
“My mother would always tell us if you really want it, don’t dream small dreams, dream big dreams,” Phillips said in the documentary.
Her son, Michael Phillips, told The Associated Press that she died in hospice care Tuesday.
Phillips helped lead efforts to create more housing rights in Milwaukee and remained politically active into her 90s. In 1962, Phillips introduced a fair-housing ordinance to the Milwaukee Common Council. It was rejected 18 to 1.
Phillips introduced the bill several times between 1962 and 1967, with her vote being the only one in favor. The proposal sparked a legislative battle and her voice on the common council served as one that represented people who she marched side-by-side with to fight for equal rights. In 1967, Phillips teamed up with the NAACP Youth Council and Fr. James Groppi in leading and marches for open housing that continued for 200 days.
Met by counter-protesters, bricks were thrown, racial slurs were shouted and police used tear gas during one march that led to the Milwaukee mayor to ban future marches. But protesters and Phillips defied the ban and continued to march, and Phillips — who received threats and hate-filled letters, and who even had a bullet fired into her kitchen — was eventually arrested.
“I felt nothing was going to stop us,” Phillips previously said of the marches.
While Phillips was petite, polite and charming, she wasn’t to be overlooked. Following years of votes against her ordinance and almost a year of marches, the council finally passed a fair housing law in April 1968.
Wisconsin Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said Tuesday that it was because of Phillips that her parents could buy a house on Capitol Drive in Milwaukee.
“She was to this day the only person of color that has been elected statewide office to a constitutional office in the state of Wisconsin,” Taylor said. “She was little, but she was mighty and she was persistent.”
Listen To Vel Phillips Speak About The Difficulty Of Passing The Ordinance
When Louis Butler was sworn in as Wisconsin’s first African-American Supreme Court Justice on Aug. 25, 2004, Phillips was in attendance and spoke to reporters afterward about the pressure of being first.
“Oh, it’s tremendous, it really is. It sounds so glamorous and wonderful, but it’s tough. It’s just tough. And when you’re a double-whammy like I was, the first woman and the first African-American, it’s not easy at all,” Phillips said. “There were many nights that you just cry yourself to sleep, but you keep going. It really makes you stronger. It makes you more dedicated, more committed, and it changes your whole perspective on things.
Vel Phillips, left, sitting at a table next to her husband, W. Dale Phillips. Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
I could never have done some of the things that political people are doing today. It was just so — it’s almost seductive. When people see you and believe in you and trust you and expect things of you. You just, you either fall by the wayside or your rise above it.”
Listen To Vel Phillips Speak About Louis Butler
Mordecai Lee, a political science professor at UW-Milwaukee, says Phillips was a role model that “wrote history” and helped open the doors for African-Americans.
“I think we have to understand that even though she was a very gracious and soft-spoken person, very pleasant to be around, that inside her she was steel,” Lee said.
Born as Velvalea Hartense Rodgers on Feb. 18, 1924 in Milwaukee, she went to North Division High School and graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC in 1946.
In 1947, she met and married her late husband, W. Dale Phillips, who was a lawyer. After graduating from Howard University, the couple moved to Milwaukee before both attending UW Law School, where the two became the first African-American couple to graduate from.
Then after graduation and before Phillips became a city leader, the two opened Phillips and Phillips Law Office.
W. Dale Phillips died April 14, 1988 from a heart attack, bringing Vel’s plans to run for Congress to an end.
But Vel never stopped pushing for equality and advocating for others because she believed civil rights were human rights.
She created the Vel Phillips Foundation to encourage access to higher education, and she was the honorary chairwoman of the congressional campaign for now U.S. Sen. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee.
On Wednesday, Moore called Phillips her “champion” who was there for her.
Vel Phillips was my friend & champion. She cheered me on through every victory in my life & taught me to always keep the faith. In these times of division, I draw strength from her unshakable spirit. Vel will live on forever in my heart & her beloved city, Milwaukee. #RestInPower pic.twitter.com/ES5lCDwEzV
Listen To Vel Phillips Speak About Being A Woman And African-American
Several members from Milwaukee’s Common Council gathered Wednesday in the Milwaukee City Hall Rotunda to remember Phillips. Among them was Alderwoman Milele Coggs who on Tuesday helped create a Vel Phillips Trailblazer Award.
“We decided to go ahead and do the award in the timing that we did because of a strong belief that people should get their flowers while they’re living,” Coggs said Wednesday.
Coggs said while Phillips died a few hours after the award was finalized, Phillips’ lessons will live on. Coggs recalled a time in 2008 when she was sworn in. She went to city hall with Phillips and learned she had her old office.
“She was in that office primarily because her white male counterparts did not want to office share with her … But she took pride in having that office to herself,” Coggs said. “It made me sit in that office for four years — the smallest office down here — with a little bit of pride, sharing that history and legacy with her.”
Phillips faced a lot of uphill battles, but she did so with grace, many people said Wednesday, including Taylor.
“(She) is a rose that grew out of the concrete, so to say, of Milwaukee that had nothing but class and grace but had to fight the racism that existed in this state, and was a trailblazer for so many,” Taylor said.
Gov. Scott Walker honored Phillips on Wednesday by remembering a moment in 2009, when Milwaukee County’s Children’s Court Center was renamed the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center. Walker was county executive at the time.
Our prayers to the family of Vel Phillips. In 2009, we named the children’s court center after her & I said: “It just made sense. She’s a living legend. A lot of people don’t become legends until years after they pass.” Thanks to Vel Phillips for a life well lived. pic.twitter.com/kJRnaFZvW1
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm tweeted Tuesday night his condolences to Phillips’ family, including her son Mike Phillips, who is a prosecutor in Milwaukee County.
Saddened to learn that Vel Phillips, Wisconsin’s first African-American judge and statewide official, passed away this evening. My deepest condolences to her family, including my colleague Assistant District Attorney Mike Phillips, who continues his mother’s work for justice.
On Wednesday morning, Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, sent a series of tweets, calling Phillips a “true pioneer and leader during the civil rights movement” who “fought to improve social and economic justice for underrepresented communities.”
It is with a heavy heart that I learned of the passing of Vel Phillips. My father worked for Vel when she served as Secretary of State, and I met her several times as a young girl. At the time, I had no idea how much of an icon and giant she was in terms of her accomplishments.
When asked why there aren’t more African-American’s holding statewide offices in Wisconsin, Lee said that’s a hard question to answer, but sees progress in Mahlon Mitchell, an African-American, running for governor.
“It’s really hard to know what the answer is, but when one person proves that it can be done that’s just such an enormous accomplishment. Now that there’s an African -American running in the Democratic primary for governor, I don’t even think it raises an eyebrow.”
Editor’s Note: This story was last updated at 5:08 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Chuck Quirmbach, Shawn Johnson, Laurel White, Brady Carlson, Rich Kremer and Andrea Anderson contributed to this report.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: WPR Staff


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Wisconsin Department Of Health Services Gets Input On Drug Testing For Food Stamp Applicants - WPR
Patty Murray
August 21, 2017
In the last budget, the state Legislature approved a measure requiring able-bodied adults with no dependents to be screened for illegal drug usage in order to receive state food assistance.
Wisconsin is now seeking a federal waiver to be able to implement the changes to the FoodShare program, beginning Nov. 1, 2018. The state Department of Health Services held a public hearing Monday in Green Bay which was sparsely attended. Two people gave testimony.
One of them was Vanessa Kuettel, a staff attorney for Legal Action of Wisconsin. She said the rule change violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure. Kuettel added that federal law already requires drug testing for benefit applicants who have been convicted of felony drug crimes within the last five years.
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“That would be individualized suspicion for the drug testing,” Kuettel told reporters. She said the Wisconsin rule goes beyond that standard and that, “this proposal here is talking about suspicion-less drug testing and that’s what’s going to have a negative impact on our clients because … it will then impeded their access to food.”
DHS’ Medicaid Director Michael Heifetz said some aspects of the rule change are still in question, including what kinds of drug tests will be conducted and what governmental entity will pay for them.
“The state will be paying for the drug tests, the federal government may help us with that,” he said. “Much of the FSET (Food Share Employment and Training Program) is funded by the federal government but that’ll be an ongoing conversation.”
Heifetz added that not everyone will be tested unless they fail a questionnaire assessment upon application.
“We’re going to use scientifically validated testing processes,” he said. “There are numerous statistically valid mechanisms to use for the screening process as well as for the testing process if necessary.”
The other person offering testimony Monday was Shawn Tessmann from the Dane County Department of Human Services. Tessmann also oversees the FoodShare program in eight southcentral Wisconsin counties.
She said the rule change will generate thousands of calls from confused participants.
“Good customer service and basic decency are going to compel my staff to do their best to answer questions,” Tessmann said. “How will our consortium of counties be reimbursed for the additional calls and time on the calls explaining these new requirements?”
Tessmann said she will probably have to hire at least one more full-time staff member to handle the influx.
DHS will take written or e-mailed comments until Monday, Aug. 28.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Patty Murray


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Wisconsin Elections Head Says Reduced Staff Poses Risks - WPR
The Associated Press
November 17, 2017
The head of Wisconsin’s Elections Commission says a 28 percent reduction in staff weakens security of the state’s voting systems at a time when concerns about Russian interference in elections is forcing officials to make additional safeguards.
The commission wants the Legislature to approve hiring three additional staff members, with two of them focusing on election security issues. A third position would focus on educating voters about such things as Wisconsin’s voter identification law.
The commission plans to vote Monday on the recommendation to ask for money to hire the staff. It comes after Gov. Scott Walker signed a state budget that cut six positions. Michael Haas, the Elections Division administrator, says current staffing “poses a significant obstacle to successfully administering elections.”
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The vote on requesting more staff comes at the same time the commission is implementing a new election security plan.
Editor’s note: This story will be updated.
© Copyright 2024 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

created: November 17, 2017


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Wisconsin Farmers Markets Could Lose Ability To Process SNAP Benefits - WPR
Hope Kirwan
July 13, 2018
Some Wisconsin farmers markets could lose the ability to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by the end of the month.
Software company Novo Dia Group recently announced it was discontinuing its Mobile Market+ app by July 31. Many United States farmers markets use the program to process SNAP benefits by swiping an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card with a device on an iPhone or iPad.
Most markets are able to purchase the service through a program paid for by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A two- to three-year contract for processing services costs between $2,500 and $3,500, said Ben Feldman from the Farmers Market Coalition. The coalition administered the USDA program from 2015 until the end of last year. Feldman said without it, most markets couldn’t afford the equipment or software.
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In an interview with The Washington Post, Novo Dia’s president said small profits and changes made by the USDA’s new contractor for the farmers market program, Financial Transaction Management, meant the software wasn’t sustainable.
The company’s quick deadline has left many markets across the U.S., including in Wisconsin, scrambling to find another option.
Kristin Krokowski, director of the Wisconsin Farmers Market Association, said 18 markets in Wisconsin currently use the Mobile Market+ app, about 38 percent of the markets that accept EBT payments in the state.
“It only works on iOS devices, Apple devices. Their setup is very specific so they can’t transfer what they already have to use a different system,” Krokowski said. “They’re actually going to have to either figure out how to buy a handheld device that takes the EBT cards or they’re going to have to rent one of those.”
Krokowski said the devices cost between $600 and $900, require a service contract and often have a per-swipe fee.
“Farmers markets are small and scrappy or tend to be and often don’t have extra money in the budget for this type of purchase,” said Erica Anderson, a food security specialist with the Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin.
She works with 10 markets in Dane County that accept SNAP benefits and runs a program called Double Dollars that matches benefits spent at the markets.
Anderson said the transition is coming at peak season for farmers markets.
“Once a lot of the summer produce is available — tomatoes, peppers, broccoli — all of those wonderful things, a lot more people start shopping at the farmers market. And so this hits Wisconsin at a really inopportune time,” Anderson said.
Krokowski said many farmers markets have invested in marketing and a social media campaign this year to encourage more SNAP recipients to shop at their markets.
“The communication (from Novo Dia) on this hasn’t been very good and there are markets that still don’t know that their service is ending,” Krokowski said.
Feldman said he believes the transition between his organization and Financial Transaction Management could have gone more smoothly in order to prevent a gap in services.
“The fact that Novo Dia was going out of business, that blow would be lessened by the ability of markets to receive equipment through the federal program. Unfortunately, that program is not up and running yet and that obviously is a problem for our industry,” Feldman said.
Anderson said she’s hoping the USDA may be able to approve an alternative for markets that are affected.
“There are ways to process paper vouchers offline, I’m wondering if that could be a solution. I’m wondering if farmers markets could support each other with existing equipment,” Anderson said.
But she said that depends on how flexible the agency can be in authorizing EBT payments.
Financial Transaction Management did not return a request for comment by deadline.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Hope Kirwan


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Wisconsin Housing Advocates Have Mixed Reactions To Possible Obama-Era Fair Housing Rule Changes - WPR
Ximena Conde
August 20, 2018
United States federal housing officials are looking to change a 2015 rule that aims to identify and tackle obstacles to fair housing. Some Wisconsin housing advocates have raised concerns about what changes could mean for desegregation efforts, while others are open to improvements.
The 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule required municipalities and housing authorities receiving U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds to identify loopholes that allowed housing discrimination. It also asked them to take action to come up with plans to eliminate historic patterns of segregation.
Municipalities and housing agencies would do so through Assessments of Fair Housing. HUD would provide integration and segregation data it had for municipalities and agencies to use in their analyses.
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But the rule’s standing has been in a state of flux since January, when HUD suspended enforcement. In May, the agency got rid of a computer tool meant to help with the assessment and last Monday, HUD Secretary Ben Carson announced his intention to change the rule.
HUD’s new goals, according to the agency, include changing the rule to more efficiently use department resources and reduce the regulatory burden of entities that use HUD funds.
In Wisconsin, some housing officials said they welcomed ways to strengthen the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which aimed to prevent housing discrimination. But they also said the rollout of the new rule came with burdensome data collection requirements and no additional funding.
Ken Barbeau, director of community programs and services with the Housing Authority of the city of Milwaukee, said some of the mapping tools eventually rolled out by HUD were also difficult to learn.
“Obviously, there were improvements that needed to be done in fair housing. One has to weigh that against the amount of effort and burden that placed on especially those small housing authorities in rural areas,” Barbeau said, adding he’s open to improvements.
Sarah Boss, executive director of the Walworth County Housing Authority, an agency with five employees tasked to help more than 300 families, expressed similar concerns about administrative requirements.
“I know from our perspective, processing and compiling that information and that plan was definitely an administrative burden,” Boss said. “A lot of time there’s also a cost associated with that evaluation of information.”
But Boss also said she supports the rule’s intent to prevent housing discrimination.
Other Wisconsin housing advocates worry opening up the rule to changes could result in weakening efforts to eliminate housing segregation and other discriminatory practices.
Kori Schneider-Peragine with the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council said the rule allows counties to ask cities about particular zoning rules, which could be impediments to fair housing for example zoning that doesn’t allow for multi-family housing.
Schneider-Peragine said the rule would have the county ask the city to see what it could do.
“Because (zoning) has a disparate impact on persons of color or persons with disabilities,” Schneider-Peragine said. “So when you take away that Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing it takes away any kind of obligation for the communities to take those kinds of steps.”
People can weigh in on changes by mail or online.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.


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Wisconsin Receives Grant To Improve Infant And Toddler Care - WPR
Phoebe Petrovic
April 25, 2019
Early childhood education advocates and experts will soon team up with community leaders to devise policy recommendations aimed at improving the availability and quality of infant and toddler care in Wisconsin, thanks to a new planning grant.
Wisconsin is one of 11 states awarded $100,000 by the Pritzker Children’s Initiative to “develop an ambitious prenatal-to-age-three policy agenda and action plan,” according to a press release.
“I’ve said all along, what’s best for our kids is what’s best for the state,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “Investments in early childhood education return their value to the kids we serve, the adults working on their behalf and the economy as a whole.”
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Ruth Schmidt, executive director of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, which submitted the proposal, said she expects the coalition to develop “very tight” policy recommendations over the course of nine months, and to later apply for a $1 million implementation grant from the same source.
“It allows us to actually dig into community concerns and parent concerns as a way to inform policy,” said Schmidt. “If we didn’t have that money, our ability to work that network and do that would be greatly limited.”
Child care is in “crisis,” Schmidt said.
Parents have difficulty finding child care centers — over 54 percent of Wisconsinites live in a child care desert — and centers have difficulty finding and retaining staff.
Some agencies have tried to partner with organizations in and outside of child care to solve these problems, but their efforts are often small-scale and regional. The Pritzker grant will allow for deeper and wider collaboration aimed at addressing these issues at the state level, according to Schmidt.
“This isn’t about just expanding care. It has to be high-quality care,” she said. “It really just puts us on this course and moves us forward with finally tackling this issue as a state.”
While the planning grant’s dollar amount is small, Schmidt said it provides access to resources, consultation and assistance from key national groups, such as the National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers and the Build Initiative.
Schmidt said she’s planning to use this opportunity to bring together “unlikely allies” not typically consulted or considered in discussions about child care. Representatives from health care, faith, workforce development and anti-poverty programs, along with elected government, will contribute to planning.
It also allows early childhood education leaders to bring together state and local organizations outside of child care to contribute and problem-solve. Representatives and advocates in elected government, health care, low income assistance, workforce development and religion will come to the table.
“We’ve got all these people who don’t work in early childhood, it’s not their world,” said Schmidt.
She said that’s important because their perspectives will help better inform their policy considerations.
Along with Wisconsin, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington received the planning grant. In total, 42 states plus the District of Columbia applied.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

author: Phoebe Petrovic