Ensure Health
No matter where we live or what we look like, we all deserve to live safe and healthy lives. However, over decades, Wisconsin lawmakers have chosen the wealthy few over our communities. This has resulted in unprecedented disparities in education, income, housing and more—the social determinants of our communities’ health. And, some lawmakers have chosen to play politics instead of providing the health care that our communities desperately need. When we work together and address the root causes of health inequities, we give everyone the opportunity to live happier, healthier lives.
With partners at the Noble Community Health Center’s Children’s Health Day, August 2024, in Wautoma.
Badgercare vs Medicaid
Medicaid provides health insurance for more than one million people in Wisconsin. BadgerCare, one of several Medicaid programs, is health insurance for kids, parents, and adults with low incomes who typically don’t have access to coverage through their job. Medicaid also offers long term care for people with disabilities and older adults who need support to stay independent in their communities.
Learn more about Medicaid vs BadgerCare here.
Advocating for Health Care Coverage for All Wisconsin Residents
Physical and mental health care is a human right and access to care is essential for a just society. No matter someone’s race, how much money they make, or where they were born we all deserve comprehensive, affordable, quality health care. We are working for that future, but we know we have a long way to go.
Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act provides health care for one in four people living in Wisconsin. Through community and partner informed research, data-analysis, advocacy, and education we work to strengthen, protect, and improve Medicaid and access to affordable health coverage and care.
We team up with providers, patients, workers, advocates, and other stakeholders to push for policies such as extending postpartum Medicaid coverage, fully expanding Medicaid, and making it easier for people to get the care they need Medicaid and insurance providers covering care provided by doulas, community health workers, and other trusted sources of care close to communities.
Sharing personal stories that we can bring to the state capital is one of the most powerful ways to join the fight for a just healthcare system.
COVID-19 Means Greater Anxiety for Youth Who are Incarcerated
While we all adjust to Governor Evers’ Safer at Home Order, we must cope with the daily restrictions on our movement and increased anxiety about the safety of our families, friends, and colleagues. At the same time, there are hundreds of confined youth in our juvenile...
Without the Affordable Care Act, the COVID-19 Pandemic Would Likely be Worse
As states across the country attempt to mitigate the public health crisis brought on by COVID-19, it’s clear the Affordable Care Act’s coverage gains and consumer protections are crucial. Without the ACA in place 20 million more people would not have access to health...
Voting while complying with Wisconsin’s Safer at Home Orders
As Wisconsin enters a period of enforcement of the Safer at Home Order, it is critical to understand the impact this will have on our state’s primary election. As of now, the April 7 Spring Election and Presidential Preference Primary is occurring as scheduled....
Healthy Food & Active Kids
Nourishing food and safe, inviting physical activity are a basic need for every child in Wisconsin. But, some lawmakers choose to line the pocketbooks of Wisconsin’s wealthy few instead of reinvesting our tax dollars back into our communities. Both Wisconsin’s urban and rural communities are too often in food deserts where healthy food is expensive and hard to access. Many communities and neighborhoods don’t have safe, inviting playgrounds and outdoor spaces. Mental health is suffering.
Kids Forward helps lead two statewide coalitions that work to improve nutrition security and physical activity, as well as opportunities for outdoor learning and play. Learning where our food comes from: gardening and cooking are essential as we “Grow Healthy Kids”.
Together we have developed resources and trainings, provided financial support, and partnered with state agencies and local organizations to get kids outside and eating locally grown food.
Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub
We have partnered with the USDA and Illinois Public Health Institute to launch the Lake Michigan School Food Systems Innovation Hub. We’re funding collaborations with farmers, food suppliers, food service directors, community-based program leaders and more to strengthen the K-12 food supply chain.
Healthy Early
A statewide, cross-sector partnership, Healthy Early is working to create equitable opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity for Wisconsin kids and families. Kids Forward currently serves as a convener for the coalition.
To learn more, contact Daithi Wolfe.
Healthy Early leaders at their first in-person retreat in April 2024.
Improving Language Access in Wisconsin
In 2024, Kids Forward and the Multicultural Coalition launched our Language Access Awareness Campaign. This partnership grew out of a need to address language barriers not only at the direct service level, but also at the systems and policy level. To ensure families can access services and meet their basic needs, communities must work collectively to provide meaningful language access services up front, not just translations by request.
Wisconsin currently does not have a statewide language access plan, although some counties and state agencies have prepared their own. Now is the time for local and state governments to get proactive about creating robust language plans and ensuring that all families, regardless of language, can access the critical resources they need. Contact your legislators and Governor Tony Evers to ask them to support the implementation of a statewide language access plan.
To learn more, contact Amanda Martinez.
With the Multicultural Coalition Inc, in October 2024 we brought together advocates and service providers in the Fox Valley to share challenges and solutions around language access.
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Research & Publications
Early Care & Education in the Fox Valley
Every child deserves a solid foundation in life, regardless of income. Affordable and accessible early care and education ensures that parents can get to work and sets children up for a strong start. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how child care is critical for children and families and why early care and education providers are an essential part of our local communities and a thriving economy.
Expanding BadgerCare is a Win-Win for Wisconsin
Too many Wisconsinites do not have access to quality, affordable health care. However, Wisconsin can significantly reduce that problem and save money at the same time by using available federal funding to make more low-income adults eligible for BadgerCare. The...
5 Reasons Wisconsin Needs to Expand BadgerCare Now
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) brought insurance coverage to many, but too many Wisconsinites still do not have access to quality, affordable health care. Wisconsin could significantly reduce that problem and save hundreds of millions of dollars at the same time by...
Four Charts About Health Care You Need to See
New figures released last month by the Census Bureau show that an unacceptable number of Wisconsinites, including children, are living without health insurance. Every kid and every family deserves affordable insurance so that they can get needed care without having to...
Five Charts that Tell the Story of Poverty in Wisconsin
New figures released last week by the Census Bureau show that an unacceptable number of Wisconsinites, including children, are living in poverty. Here are five charts drawn from the data that describe the number of Wisconsin residents who have incomes too low to meet...
Four Key Steps to Protecting Wisconsinites’ Access to Insurance
New Census data released today shows that the number of Wisconsinites who don’t have health insurance ticked up last year. The number is still much lower than in 2013 before major pieces of the Affordable Care Act were put in place. About 208,000 fewer Wisconsin...
Lawsuit Poses Latest Threat to Coverage for Pre-existing Conditions
Do you or someone you know have anxiety, depression, cancer, asthma, diabetes, heart disease? These are some of the most common pre-existing conditions, which prior to 2014 insurance companies could refuse to cover. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurance...
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