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.
Overwhelming Bipartisan Support for Coronavirus Aid Package, Just Not From Wisconsin
Congress has passed an emergency aid package that provides help directly to people affected by the coronavirus, as well as to states struggling to deal with the health and economic damage inflicted by the illness. The legislation received overwhelming bipartisan...
State Lawmakers Block Local Governments from Effectively Addressing Health Crisis
Communities across the country are scrambling to mitigate the harm done by the coronavirus. But local governments in Wisconsin are finding that the state government has tied their hands by blocking several steps that communities could take to protect the health and...
Ensuring Protections for the Few Often Benefits the Many
Paid Sick Leave and its Importance in Stemming the Coronavirus As we think about strategies to mitigate the deadly spread of the coronavirus, we have to take a close look at the large gaps in access to sick leave and health insurance. Rarely are there such stark...
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.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Research & Publications
Early Care & Education: Supporting Wisconsin Families During Children’s Early Years
Regardless of race, place, or income, every child in Wisconsin deserves a strong start in life. This early foundation plays a critical role in life-long health and wellness. But systemic racism and poverty destabilizes families and communities and creates unhealthy conditions and barriers that harm children in their early development. This process of destabilization not only prevents children from having a strong start but can persist over the course of their lives.
Q&A: Insurance Coverage for Pre-existing Conditions
Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been in place for several years, most Americans take it for granted that their health insurance policy will cover the medical care they need. We no longer worry that the insurance company will deny coverage to treat health...
Stabilizing the Affordable Care Act Requires Defending It, Not Just a Reinsurance Plan
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is under continued attack from the Trump administration, and the latest assault threatens coverage of preexisting conditions and the viability of the subsidized health insurance Marketplace—unless states intervene to protect their...
Who’s Paying for the Trump Administration’s Non-Stop Sabotage of the ACA?
President Trump recently declared “Obamacare dead,” yet despite numerous attacks from his administration and opponents in Congress, the Affordable Care Act keeps on ticking. It seems Trump can’t kill the ACA, but he is making it more and more expensive. The acts of...
Sabotage Watch: Proposed Changes to the Affordable Care Act Insurance Marketplace Will Harm Many Wisconsinites
Written by Jon Peacock, Research Director and William Parke-Sutherland, Health Policy Outreach Coordinator PDF of this report During the past year, Congress and the Trump administration have tried multiple times to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Those...
The Affordable Care Act Marketplace is Especially Important in Rural Wisconsin
William Parke-Sutherland, Health Policy Outreach Coordinator The subsidized health insurance Marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to be important for people across our state, but especially so for those in rural areas. During the 2018...
ACA Opponents Attack and Embrace the Marketplace and Consumer Protections
Many portions of the Affordable Care Act are very popular, and the law has survived multiple repeal efforts by Congress and President Trump. Despite this, the ACA is still very vulnerable to sabotage. The Trump administration has actively engaged in that sabotage, as...
Share your Story
What would ensuring health in your community look like?
Join our mailing list below to receive powerful analysis and ways to get involved sent straight to your inbox.
Sign up for Emails
Your address helps us identify your legislators and the most relevant messages to send you.