The Children’s Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Midtown and Next Door Pediatrics Primary Care clinics
• Exploring opportunities to partner with Feeding America to provide Children’s Wisconsin 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
• Chorus Community Health Plans 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