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.
Systemic Solutions Required to Address Pandemic’s Devastating Impact on Children and Families
It has been an unimaginable past twelve months since the nation and the state of Wisconsin came to a standstill to begin what would be the worst crisis to hit the country in over a hundred years. COVID-19 has killed over 540,000 Americans and over 7,000 Wisconsinites....
Governor’s Proposed Budget for Health Care
Governor Evers has proposed an ambitious budget for health care that increases access to care and coverage by expanding BadgerCare, increases funding for hospitals and other providers, invests in maternal and infant health and health equity, and provides more support...
Recent Poverty Guidelines Shed Light on Health Policy Debates
The new federal poverty guidelines, which are adjusted for inflation each January, provide an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by low-income families, and they help illustrate why state and federal policymakers ought to help more Americans gain access to...
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
Language Access in Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s diversity is one of our greatest strengths. But when children and their families face language access barriers, they are often excluded from critical information and services, which can hinder their development and well-being.
Without Bipartisan Cooperation, Wisconsin Could Be One of the Hardest Hit States during the Next Covid-19 Surge
The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll across America, and public health experts say a much larger surge in infections and deaths is likely this fall if people don’t take the threat more seriously. Considering that other developed nations have done a far better...
Following Federal Deregulation, 100,000 Wisconsinites Have Junk Insurance
A report from the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce found that enrollment in short-term health insurance plans increased about 27 percent from 2018 to 2019, and Wisconsin is among the ten states with the highest enrollment. Short-term plans do...
Trump Administration’s Latest ACA Sabotage Threatens Transgender Rights
Since its passage, opponents have tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and failed. President Trump’s administration has taken many steps toward undermining the health law that brought access to health insurance for 22 million people. The ACA worked to reduce racial...
Progress Amidst the Crisis
Last month, we shared some of the ways that youth in custody and the staff who serve them are more vulnerable to COVID-19. We also urged Wisconsin officials and administrators to follow guidelines from Youth Correctional Leaders for Justice to reduce the risk of...
People in Wisconsin Won’t Count if we Don’t Count All People in Wisconsin
Wisconsinites have experienced years of redistricting, maps analyzed in private meetings, and fingers pointed over gerrymandering. All of this leaves a bad taste over how some Wisconsinites are represented in our government. While the federal courts have delayed the...
Amid COVID-19 Pandemic Trump Administration Still Suing to Repeal the Affordable Care Act
Despite once-in-a-generation challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration and 18 states are still asking the US Supreme Court to rule that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional and entirely repeal the decade old health law. Kids...
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