AHW Releases 2019 Annual Report

June 29, 2020, Posted by AHW Endowment

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment is pleased to share our 2018-2019 Annual Report, highlighting our work as we concluded our 2014-2018 Five-Year Plan and initiated the strategic work identified in our 2019-2023 Five-Year Plan.

During the 2019 fiscal year, we continued our high-impact investments and initiatives, including:

• The award of $14.9 million to MCW-led initiatives supporting new scientific discovery, innovative education programs, and health care and public health workforce development
• The award of $3.7 million to community-led initiatives that are weaving better health into the fabric of Wisconsin communities through health improvement projects, community-academic partnerships, and capacity-building efforts that reach statewide
• The continuation of the community-led projects under our Advancing Behavioral Health Initiative, an innovative eight-year, $20 million commitment to impacting mental and behavioral health needs of communities across Wisconsin
• A $1.6 million investment into reducing cancer disparities by supporting community and MCW academic partners in an innovative effort to identify strategies that cut across community, research, and education to impact how we understand and approach breast and lung cancers in Wisconsin

Alongside these grant awards, we furthered our capacity-building programming aimed at building the skills of those working to improve health statewide.

In the first six months of 2019, we also began to shape our investment strategies for the years ahead, identifying four pathways to guide our funding awards and committing to advancing three health priorities in Wisconsin – heart health, healthy minds, and cancer. Over the years ahead, we will direct our investments heavily toward these areas. Alongside these issues, we will accelerate opportunity, innovation, and collaboration by responding to research- and community-identified health issues.

The path forward will push us to develop new ways of working statewide. Yet our focus on the health of Wisconsin residents will remain steadfast. From basic science to policy and systems change – from cells to society – we are propelling the most promising work and ideas for a healthier Wisconsin today, and for generations to come.