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On August 23, 2020, Kenosha experienced a tragedy with the shooting of father of three Jacob Blake at the hands of a police officer, followed by civil unrest with racial undertones. The incident has had a major impact on the Kenosha community and has highlighted the issues of institutional racism, discrimination and health disparities. The Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF) remains deeply concerned along with many others at what appears to be the ongoing inhumanity against people of color across this nation.
Our hearts go out to the Blake family and our LIHF team is committed to addressing systemic racism across our priority communities: Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha. LIHF cares about African American families and their ability to thrive. Our mission is to address inequities in African American birth outcomes in Southeastern Wisconsin through capacity building with organizations serving African Americans and facilitating systems change using innovative, community-driven asset and evidence-based strategies to improve healthcare and social support. In particular, we are focusing on chronic stress due to racism and social discrimination, a key driver of poor birth outcomes among African American mothers and babies. LIHF is here for the Kenosha community and will continue to work with our community partners throughout our priority communities to educate and bring awareness to racism. We encourage the community to join our Addressing Systemic Racism webinar series each month in an effort to work together on building a strong, anti-racist community. We addressed historical trauma during the first webinar in the series and we plan to offer the community more sessions on historical trauma to understand how it adversely impacts life today. Two years ago, the community helped LIHF develop a campaign to address the mental health of our mothers. Called “Strong Moms Covered by Strong Villages,” we plan on relaunching the campaign in the upcoming months to help reduce the stigma around mental health and offer resources to the community. We will continue to use our voices to drive change, and we support the efforts of all those who are peacefully fighting for equity and the end of systemic racism in our communities. To learn more about LIHF, please go to our website https://lihf.wisc.edu/. Respectfully, Gina Green-Harris, Director of the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF) and the entire LIHF Team
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Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families Announces New PartnershipPosted on August 12, 2019
The Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families, with continued support from the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), is pleased to announce that it will continue and enhance its work in Southeastern Wisconsin to improve birth outcomes for African American families. The Lifecourse Initiative is expanding to include a new partnership with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (PHI). The Lifecourse Initiative is using a new grant totaling $970,000 from the Wisconsin Partnership Program to build the strategic initiative’s infrastructure, pilot community capacity-building strategies, and increase awareness of strategies to reduce black-white disparities in birth outcomes for African American women, with a priority area of chronic stress. The work will take place over the next 18 months. The Initiative continues to be led by Gina Green-Harris, MBA, director of the Lifecourse Initiative, and brings the new addition of Sheri Johnson, PhD, director of the PHI at the UW SMPH, who serves as the academic partner. Read the recent press release. |
Location1020 N 12th Street
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