In alignment with our commitment to enhancing public health, Waukesha County proudly announces the allocation of Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) awards to seven distinguished community agencies.

Through the CHIP process, we are distributing $300,000 to support these agencies in advancing work within key priority areas: mental health, healthy aging, and substance use. This funding is particularly significant as CHIP initiatives are typically unfunded, providing our teams and community partners a unique opportunity to broaden their impact and drive system-level change.

By bolstering the effectiveness of this CHIP cycle, we are fostering more vital collaboration and making meaningful strides toward improved community health.
 

The recipients of these awards are:

• City of Waukesha Parks, Recreation, and Forestry: Offer no-cost Ballroom Basics training to develop a pool of instructors, and free Ballroom Basis classes to improve balance and decrease falls.
• Eras Senior Network: Increase social connections through their Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, weekly phone calls and visits, transportation services, and seasonal yard clean up with students.
• The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System: Decrease falls by making classes more available through an increases in the number of locations offering StrongBodies and an increase in the number of instructors.
• La Casa de Esperanza: Increase social connections through Seniors and Scholars Program. Middle school students will be paired with seniors to conduct podcast interviews, have a monthly “grandparents lunch”, enjoy quarterly game days, a trip to the zoo, and participate in other activities.
• Aurora Health Care: Support the Waukesha County Falls Prevention Coalition by increasing membership in the coalition, promote community wide awareness and access to fall screening through resource distribution and participation in community events. They will also educate and train the healthcare workforce on evidence-based strategies to prevent falls.
• Wisconsin Community Services: Hire and support a fulltime certified peer specialist to offer a continuum of care for adults with opioid use disorder who complete Drug Treatment Court, Waukesha County CPS programming, DOC supervision, those involved with the Day Report Center, and self-referred, recently released individuals. They will also educate 12 community organizations about certified peer specialists and reduce overdoses of individuals receiving peer services.
• NAMI: Enhance outreach and educational impact within schools through Ending the Silence expansion, increase capacity of the Lighthouse project which helps link families to resources, and promote 9-8-8 through a marketing campaign.