First Round Complete: Fueling Change in Wisconsin’s School Food System

Disinvestment in School Meals

Every child in Wisconsin deserves nourishing food at school. However, decades of disinvestment—stemming from racism and discrimination—have left our children with few healthy and culturally diverse options while they’re trying to learn.

Read more about what youth in Wisconsin have to say about school meals in our report, Wisconsin Youth Conversations.

To help eliminate these disparities, earlier this year we announced a grant opportunity of up to $250,000 to build pathways for local and nutritious food to reach more schools across Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana — especially in areas that don’t have equitable access to resources.

“This effort will help address health disparities among people of color who experience higher rates of poverty and food insecurity than majority populations which translates to higher risk of disease outcome. Nutritional health is so important because how we eat affects how we think and feel; this determines the trajectory of our life and how long we live to enjoy it,” shared Bridgett Wilder of Perseverance Health in Milwaukee.

First Round Complete

We’re so excited to announce that in the first round of grants (due April 30), we received 67 applicants! And, Wisconsin had the most of any state:

Illinois: 16

Indiana: 13

Michigan: 17

Wisconsin: 19

Out of State: 2

Thank you to everyone that took the time to consider and apply. Our goal is to support communities in providing nourishing food for our kids, and with so many great applications, making a decision will be incredibly hard.

The awards will be announced by June 30. Partnerships and coalitions across Wisconsin submitted some awesome innovative projects. Fingers crossed!

Testimony: End Juvenile Life Without Parole in Wisconsin

by Carte'cia Weaver | Feb 13, 2024

Kids Forward supports SB801/AB845, which would eliminate juvenile life without parole. This critical advancement towards a more developmentally appropriate juvenile justice system will reduce and repair harm, decrease racial disparities, increase child and family wellbeing, and increase opportunities for community-based alternatives to incarceration.

Community Explainer: Rich Get Richer Under Proposed Tax Plan

by Emily Miota | Feb 12, 2024

Four tax proposals are making their way through the state legislature now, which would line the wallets of Wisconsin’s wealthy & overwhelmingly white. We anticipate them getting to the Governor’s desk by the end of the month.

Rich Get Richer under Proposed Tax Plan

by William Parke Sutherland | Feb 9, 2024

From Racine to Rhinelander, everyone in Wisconsin deserves the freedom to make a good living and care for our families. However, the tax plan proposed by Republican legislative leadership would further rig the rules in favor of the wealthiest and make Wisconsin’s glaring racial disparities even worse. The four proposals leave everyday families even further behind because none of these tax proposals effectively target families who are struggling to make ends meet.

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First Round Complete: Fueling Change in Wisconsin’s School Food System

Disinvestment in School Meals