Childrens and the community

Nourishing Partners Program

Children’s Wisconsin’s Nourishing Partners Program was developed to combat food insecurity in the communities we serve. For many children and families challenges like food insecurity, financial strain, housing instability, and unmet transportation needs are the primary drivers of achieving optimal health. Addressing food insecurity and other social needs (sometimes called social determinants of health) are a critical part of supporting the physical, emotional, and social well-being of children and families. Addressing all aspects of a child’s health is critical to helping us achieve our vision of the children of Wisconsin being the healthiest in the nation.

The Nourishing Partners Program includes a variety of initiatives supported by Children’s Wisconsin in partnership with community based organizations, volunteers, and donors to address food insecurity in the communities we serve.

These include:

Screening families for food insecurity in our Emergency Department and providing follow-up outreach and connection to Children’s and community based services and resources for food insecurity
Partnering with Upstart Kitchen, a community based organization in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood to distribute healthy meals to families at Children’s Midtown and Next Door Pediatrics Primary Care clinics
Exploring opportunities to partner with Feeding America to provide Children’s employees and providers education on food insecurity and advocacy, and to have outreach specialists onsite at select Primary Care locations to support SNAP/Foodshare benefits navigation
Children’s Health Alliance Food Insecurity and Health cross-sector collaborative is supporting shared learning and voice of families and community about how to better support connections to food pantries and health systems. Current participants include Children’s Wisconsin, Friedens Food Pantries, Feeding America and Salvation Army with evaluation support from Data You Can Use
Children’s Community Health Plan offers families support for connection to resources and offers direct services like Mom’s Meals and a smartphone app “Foodsmart” which gives families direct connection to a nutritionist and grocery home delivery with recipes and price shopping for lowest cost nutritious options
Partnering with Wisconsin Restaurant Association’s Milwaukee Kitchen Cabinet, local health insurance companies, corporations, and individual donors to support funding for food insecurity related efforts and foster collaboration to build capacity for community based organizations

What is food insecurity?

Families are food insecure when they lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life. Access challenges may be related to financial challenges but may also be caused by physical or logistical challenges in accessing or cooking nutritious food.

What is the impact of food insecurity on kids and families?

Children who live in households that are food insecure are likely to be sick more often, recover from illness more slowly and to be hospitalized more frequently. Lack of adequate healthy food can impair a child’s ability to concentrate and perform well in school and is linked to higher levels of behavioral and emotional problems from preschool through adolescence.

In the case of very low food security, reductions in food amount or quality or disrupted eating patterns may lead to poorer weight outcomes and immune system concerns. Even when children do not experience reduced food intake, they may have poorer nutrition or eat lower-quality food because food insecure households are more likely to have tight budget constraints and purchase less expensive, energy-dense foods. The stress produced by food insecurity can impact mental health outcomes, causing anxiety and depression. Children in food insecure homes face probabilities of delayed or missed preventive health care that are between 2 to 3 times higher than they would have been had they been food secure.

How many families are food insecure?

It is estimated in the US that around 50 million people (15.6% of the total US population), including 17 million children (23.1% of the US pediatric population), are food insecure. Closer to home, more than twenty percent of children in Wisconsin experience food insecurity. Food insecurity is much more common among households that have poor or low income, are headed by a single parent, have lower education levels, or are predominantly Black and Hispanic. In fact, the disparity in food security between Black and White households in Wisconsin is among the largest in the country (Wisconsin Food Security Project, 2020). In the city of Milwaukee, 27.4% of people – 39.8% of children – live below the federal poverty line, and in 2019, over 41% of children in Milwaukee County received FoodShare (Wisconsin’s version of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP) and 82% of Milwaukee’s public school students were determined to be economically disadvantaged.

Impact reports

Coming August, 2022

Current programs/partnerships

ED/FRC/Daniel M Soref: Screening families for food insecurity in our Emergency Department and providing follow-up outreach and connection to Children’s and community based services and resources for food insecurity via the Daniel M. Soref Center.

Upstart Kitchen Meal Distribution: A community based organization in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood that distributes healthy meals to families at Children’s Midtown and Next Door Pediatrics Primary Care clinics a few times each month.

Milwaukee Kitchen Cabinet/Do Good With Food: Get intel from Stef Ahrens, Partnership with Restaurant Association’s Milwaukee Kitchen Cabinet, local health insurance companies, corporations, and individual donors to support funding for food insecurity related efforts and foster collaboration to build capacity for community based organizations

Friedens and Feeding America: Exploring opportunities to partner to provide Children’s employees and providers education on food insecurity and advocacy and to have outreach specialists onsite at select Primary Care locations to support SNAP/Foodshare benefits navigation.

Children’s Health Alliance of WI Medical Home Initiative: A cross-sector collaborative supporting shared learning and voice of families and community about how to better support connections to food pantries and health systems. Current participants include Children’s Wisconsin, Friedens Food Pantries, Feeding America and Salvation Army with evaluation support from Data You Can Use.

Children’s Community Health Plan offers families support for connection to resources and offers direct services like Mom’s Meals and a smartphone app “Foodsmart” which gives families direct connection to a nutritionist and grocery home delivery with recipes and price shopping for lowest cost nutritious options.

Sponsorship/Support

Thank you to our sponsors and supporters for their help with the program.

Nourishing partners program sponsors and supporters

Children’s Wisconsin partners with community based organizations, volunteers and donors to address food insecurity in the communities we serve. We also play a role in advocating for the patients/families we see in our ER, hospital and clinics as we continue to strive to have the healthiest kids in the nation. The nourishing partners program impact helps to improve better health outcomes and removing barriers families experience to achieving optimal health goals. If you would like to donate, click the donate button below. Make sure you put "Nourishing Partners Program" when choosing where you want your donation to go.

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