CUMU Conference 2017

Engaging in sustainable policy and systems change in Milwaukee, WI, one of the most segregated and impoverished central city areas in America, requires strong partnerships based on trust. This session will describe the growth, trials and successes of a decade-long partnership between Marquette University, Milwaukee Public Schools, Medical College of Wisconsin, United Neighborhood Centers of Milwaukee (UNCOM) and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee (BGCGM), focused on policy and systems change to enhance community wellness in Milwaukee’s central city. It will highlight the use of neighborhood level cultivation of partners and train-the-trainer model capacity building via Community Engaged Research (CEnR), resulting in successful creation and adoption of novel wellness policy focused on nutrition, vending, physical activity, built environment and curriculum for UNCOM sites, serving over 50,000 youth and families in Milwaukee. The use of this success to develop grant-funded systems change in Milwaukee Public Schools through development of a novel support system for students struggling with wellness using the Response to Intervention (RtI) system applied to physical education programming will also be discussed. Central threads of both programs include bi-directional communication and community driven policies and programming, with unique dual focus on both the segregation present and considerable ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic diversity present in Milwaukee’s central city. Discussion and exchange of best practices and novel applications/ideas will follow.