With the help of Marquette University Men’s Basketball player David Joplin, the RISE Drug Free MKE coalition is encouraging teens and adults to set clear boundaries around their substance use. For teens and young adults, that means setting boundaries so that they do not drink, vape, or consume other drugs—all of which will enable them to focus on achieving their dreams. For adults ages 21 and up, that means setting healthy limits around substance use—including living substance free—so that they can thrive personally, in their careers, and in their relationships.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Milwaukee County-based organizations are inviting community members to the Discover Wellness Walk, a family-friendly event that will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday, May 18, in Cathedral Square Park, 520 E. Wells St., Milwaukee.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced $800,000 in ARPA funding for six community organizations that support kids and parents and those who work with them. Community Advocates Public Policy Institute issued the competitive RFP earlier this year and convened an independent review panel to select the awardees.
In Wisconsin, we recognize April as Family Strengthening Month as a reminder to prioritize our relationships with loved ones and invest in their well-being.
Community Advocates Public Policy Institute invites proposals from not-for-profit organizations or government entities servicing Milwaukee County to provide programming and services directed toward early childhood. Funding is made available through the Milwaukee County DHHS Children Youth & Family Services (CYFS).
For a limited time, Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line is offering four times the amount of smoking cessation medication they normally provide for free. Learn more by reading this blog post and visiting WIQuitLine.org.
The Keep Your Meds Safe initiative will make medication lock boxes and drug deactivation pouches available for free to the public. The initiative will encourage individuals and families to safeguard medications by following three simple steps.
Community Advocates Public Policy Institute and the City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance also support the FDA’s action. This reflects the reality that tobacco use remains the number one cause of death in Wisconsin, and the tobacco industry uses flavors to target youth and vulnerable communities.
The Milwaukee County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (MCSAP) is inviting all community members to a memorial event to mark International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31. Last year, Milwaukee County experienced a record high of 546 people who lost their lives to overdose, with more than 1,500 lost in Wisconsin, up from 1,200 in 2019. The availability of the ultra-potent synthetic opioid fentanyl along with a socially isolating pandemic likely contributed to the high number of fatal overdoses.
Today, on September 15, Community Advocates Public Policy Institute in partnership with Connected Health Solutions, ArtWorks for Milwaukee, and Milwaukee County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (MCSAP) are releasing the video “My New Friends,” produced with young people in the city of Milwaukee to raise awareness of drug misuse.
“The new moratorium will help our clients avoid homelessness, but it’s important for renters to know that they must continue paying rent and that rent assistance is available,” Andi Elliott, CEO of Community Advocates, said. “Applying for that assistance is required to avoid being evicted for non-payment of rent, and help is only a click or a call away.”
We joined with partnering organizations to write to Wisconsin's Congressional delegation about need to pass another relief package that addresses effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated health and economic crises on struggling Wisconsinites.
“Senator Baldwin has crafted two bills that would provide immediate relief to employers and out-of-work individuals impacted by the coronavirus epidemic, while also setting the foundation for a long-term solution to persistent racial and ethnic disparities in employment and generational poverty,” said Julie Kerksick, Senior Policy Advocate at Community Advocates Public Policy Institute.
Most of the products purchased were cheap, flavored cigarillos. This type of tobacco product enjoys a lower tax rate than traditional cigarettes while still packing the same punch as a pack of cigarettes.
We write to you as organizations involved in rental housing, including landlords, tenant advocates, legal and social service providers, and mediators, with urgency about the large number of Wisconsinites facing housing insecurity today and over the next year or longer.
Today, the Community Advocates Public Policy Institute is releasing a new report, Home Is Where Our Health Is: Policies to Improve the Health of Renters in Milwaukee and Beyond, in partnership with Human Impact Partners, the lead researchers on the report, and academic partners Geoffrey Swain, M.D., and Marah Curtis, PhD, at the University of Wisconsin.
You’re invited to a cheeky campaign launching in Milwaukee, part of a national effort to clean up our streets and beaches and encourage smokers to kick the habit. Dubbed Hold On to Your Butt MKE, the effort includes the installation of cigarette butt receptacles at local beaches and high-impact areas as well as raising awareness of the impact of cigarette litter on our beaches, waterways, and plant life.
Las promotoras de salud comunitarias aplauden la decisión de Mexican Fiesta de crear espacios libres de humo alrededor de sus ocho escenarios y en el Área de los Niños en la celebración de este año, una forma de atraer a las familias y los asistentes que desean respirar aire limpio mientras disfrutan del entretenimiento de la fiesta.
Community health advocates applaud Mexican Fiesta’s decision to create smoke-free spaces around its eight stages and in the Children’s Area at this year’s celebration, a way to appeal to families and attendees who want to breathe clean air while enjoying the fiesta’s entertainment.
A whopping 86% surveyed in Milwaukee want to enjoy smoke- and vape-free outdoor festivals, such as Summerfest, Irish Fest, Jazz in the Park, and PrideFest, which would help smokers cut down or finally quit smoking. “Milwaukeeans say they want smoke-free and vape-free festivals. Let’s listen to them,” said Anneke Mohr of the City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance.
Community Advocates is among the dozens of health care providers and organizations that want to see Wisconsin allow dental therapists practice to help alleviate the oral health crisis in Wisconsin.
One in four tobacco retailers in the City of Milwaukee sold tobacco or nicotine products to underage youth during 2018 compliance checks, according to newly released data from Wisconsin Wins. During the Wisconsin Wins compliance checks, minors attempt to purchase tobacco or nicotine products, including cheap, flavored cigarillos, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or single cigarettes.
Community Advocates strongly supports the ELEVATE Act, legislation introduced this week by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon to create a federal transitional jobs program and put in place other job-creating measures.
The PSA notes, "During the holiday season, there is an increase in drug use, alcohol use, and overdoses. Maybe the best gift you can give someone is support."
“Over the years we have seen how a steady job has the power to change an individual worker’s immediate and long-term circumstances,” said the Collaborative’s facilitator, Conor Williams, of Community Advocates Public Policy Institute.
“We are excited about connecting with Marquette students and neighbors so that they become aware of the dangers of prescription drug abuse and can play a part in ending the drug epidemic that has destroyed too many lives,” said Deavon Collins.
As part of the International Overdose Awareness Day initiative, MCSAP will provide resources and information about the dangers of prescription drug misuse, as well as purple and silver paper to be made into origami cranes.
“Milwaukee residents are enjoying more smoke-free events and outdoor spaces each year,” says Anneke Mohr, coordinator for the City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance.
Members of the 53206 Drug-Free Communities Project coalition welcome the Milwaukee Common Council’s vote against renewing the liquor license of S&S Liquor, which has contributed to longstanding safety issues in the Amani neighborhood.
This nonpartisan candidate forum is co-sponsored by the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, Community Advocates Public Policy Institute, and the City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance.
The City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance has noted the popularity of fruit- and candy-flavored tobacco products intended to appeal to young people so that that they will become lifelong smokers.
“It may sound appealing to ‘reform public benefits,’ but when you look at the details you’ll find these bills will do more harm than good,” said Andi Elliott, CEO of Community Advocates.
We support proven, effective solutions to help individuals and families escape poverty, not costly, unproven, punitive, ineffective measures.
Community Advocates Public Policy Institute’s “Healthy Housing Initiative” was selected to receive $1 million from the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health
“The ACA is once again proving its resilience."
“We are so glad that WISCAP is recognizing David for his decades of work advocating for Wisconsinites who need a helping hand,” said Community Advocates Chief Executive Officer Andi Elliott.
“We encourage community members to join us as we recognize the thousands of lives impacted by overdose and to raise awareness of how overdoses can be prevented in the future,” said Rachael Cooper, MCSAP Opiate Workgroup Chair.
“Stories like these are disturbing to their core and show the incredible dangers that youth face in Copper Lake and Lincoln Hills," said Jeffery Roman, founding member of Youth Justice Milwaukee.
We request that you vote “no” on this bill and develop a bipartisan bill that leaves Medicaid alone and addresses our real needs: stabilizing the marketplace and improving affordability.
“Studies have shown that youth prisons do not lead to safer communities," said YJM's Jeffery Roman. "Instead they traumatize already vulnerable kids by taking them away from their families and homes."
The campaign -- which relies heavily on using social media platforms -- includes messages and images created by local youth, aimed at deterring their peers from smoking marijuana and using drugs.
If President Trump, Republican leaders in Congress, and the Walker Administration can implement their proposed changes to the Medicaid program, the longstanding health care program will be utterly transformed, posing tough questions for state policymakers.
The City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance applauds PrideFest Milwaukee’s inclusion of three nonsmoking areas on the festival grounds.
The Community Advocates Public Policy Institute supports the package of bills proposed today by State Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) and State Representative Daniel Riemer (D-Milwaukee) as a necessary “first response” to protect Wisconsinites.
This waiver will dramatically increase administrative costs for taxpayers, and reduce enrollment in BadgerCare by this vulnerable childless adult population.
The state seeks to add drug testing requirements, time limits on coverage, co-pays, and premium payments to a health care program intended for the most vulnerable Wisconsinites.
The Milwaukee County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (MCSAP) urges Milwaukeeans to get rid of unwanted drugs during the April 29 Drug Take-Back events sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives may rush to try to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA), an insufficient replacement to the Affordable Care Act.
