About the Basic Needs Giving Partnership

The Basic Needs Giving Partnership was established in 2007 to address the root causes of poverty in Northeast Wisconsin. Funding for the grants is generated by the annual U.S. Venture Open. A grantmaking match from the J. J. Keller Foundation, Oshkosh Corporation, ThedaCare & Thrivent Foundation lead this effort.

Basic Needs Giving Partnership Committee

Every year, the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation distributes a portion of these funds in grants, and the J. J. Keller Foundation matches the grantmaking budget for additional grantmaking into the local community. The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, one of three area community foundations to receive funds, is responsible for determining how the funds will be distributed.

Spring 2020 collaborations funded by the Basic Needs Giving Partnership

PLANNING GRANTS:

• Spanish Health Navigator
  Lead org: Casa ALBA Melanie, Hispanic Community Resource Center
  Collaborators: Aging & Disability Resource Center; Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
  Description: This partnership will pilot a Spanish Health Care Navigator program to help Hispanic patients navigate the clinical care, community health and health insurance systems in order to improve access and health outcomes. While the range of services vary, personalized assistance with complicated issues will help remove logistical barriers and provide informed guidance, connecting Hispanic community members to the care and services they need. 
• Certified Peer Specialist and Housing Continuum    
  Lead org: Options for Independent Living  
  Collaborators: NEWCAP
  Description: Many people experiencing homelessness are also suffering from mental health or substance abuse disorders. The collaborators will pilot a program connecting Options' Certified Peer Specialists to people with mental health and substance use issues in NEWCAP's Permanent Supportive Housing Program to determine the effectiveness of this approach and the resources needed to expand this service to other people who are housing insecure or experiencing homelessness. This person-centered model could yield results that can be replicated across the housing continuum of care and within the community.
• Hungry to Learn
  Lead org: Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Educational Foundation
  Collaborators: Paul's Pantry
  Description: This work is focused on aligning systems to address the growing number of students who can't afford basic necessities, like food, which can derail the education required for a career that offers a family-sustaining wage. The goal of this project is to develop a plan for reducing food insecurities among NWTC's neediest students and increase the number of clients from Paul's Pantry coming to the college through improved collaboration and targeted strategies.
• Business Enterprise Center
  Lead org: Green Bay Area Public Schools
  Collaborators: Aging & Disability Resource Center; Options for Independent Living
  Description: With a goal of developing a Business Enterprise Center for students with disabilities and their typically developing peers, the school district will partner with the ADRC and Options on their unique collaboration around Durable Medical Equipment. The business model could prepare students for future careers and provide durable medical equipment to individuals who cannot otherwise afford it.
• Racism and Its Impacts on Health: A Collaborative Community Study
  Lead org: YWCA of Greater Green Bay
  Collaborators:  Brown County Health & Human Services    
  Description: In 2018, the Wisconsin Public Health Association declared racism a public health crisis in Wisconsin. The YWCA and Brown County Public Health are partnering to explore racism's impact on health and well-being in our community. Community members will participate in focus group sessions to look at perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs related to racism and well-being. The project will be included in Brown County's Community Health Assessment and will inform the Community Health Improvement Plan.
• Resident Services Program
  Lead org: NeighborWorks
  Collaborators:  NEWCAP
  Description: People who find a home through NeighborWorks Green Bay have often struggled with some of life's toughest challenges, from job loss and illness to substance abuse, trauma, and isolation -- barriers facing residents as they work to create a stable life. Creating a Resident Services program using affordable housing to connect families and individuals to services that increase their housing stability and provide opportunities for asset building can lead to greater self-sufficiency and break the cycle of poverty.

MULTI-YEAR IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS:

• Accessible Mental Wellness Initiative: Resident Therapist for Long-Term Care of Clients in Need
  Lead org: Foundations Health & Wholeness
  Collaborators: Freedom House, House of Hope, Micah Center, N.E.W. Community Clinic, New Community Shelter
  Description: This project gives access, dignity, and hope to Brown County community members who experience homelessness, are unstably housed or cannot otherwise afford mental health care. This is a special project of a robust collaboration by multiple nonprofit organizations committed to justice and mental health care for all. This project shifts from inviting therapists into homeless shelters and other social service organizations to now inviting the clients of those homeless shelters to receive a full array of long-term mental health, addiction therapy, and psycho-education at the main clinic. This project hires a resident therapist who is dedicated to address these unique well-being challenges. Additional capacity means more ability to help more people address mental illness and addiction, get out of homelessness, and stay stable.
• Turbo Go Centers
  Lead org: Green Bay Area Public Schools
  Collaborators: UW-Green Bay; Boys & Girls Club of Greater Green Bay; Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
  Description: This grant would create a space for academic, college and career planning in an age- and culturally appropriate manner at targeted Green Bay middle schools with the highest concentration of free and reduced-price lunch. Turbo Go Centers would be established in three middle schools to provide integrated career and academic planning to students, engage parents and serve as a designated area for community programming focused on helping underrepresented and marginalized students succeed academically and plan for their future. 
• House of Hope Youth Shelter
  Lead org: House of Hope Green Bay
  Collaborators: Foundations Health & Wholeness; N.E.W. Community Clinic; Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin
  Description: House of Hope would open a licensed facility in Brown County to provide shelter and supportive services for pregnant and parenting youth, including minors and their children. These services would be provided on a voluntary basis and would fill the gap for youth not receiving services from the foster care or the juvenile justice system. These youth are faced with nearly insurmountable barriers, including limited education, lack of access to prenatal care and safe, stable shelter and have significant experience with abuse and neglect. House of Hope would provide safe, stable shelter and access to necessary services to help youth and their children establish self-sufficiency and allow young families to remain intact. 
• Offender Education and Workforce Training Program
  Lead org: New Beginnings 
  Collaborators: Oconto County Department of Health & Human Services, Sheriff's Department, Law Enforcement Center and Department of Child Protection
  Description: This program will build on workforce development programming within the Oconto County Law Enforcement Center by supporting the whole person and addressing psychological barriers as well as educational challenges. It will provide inmates with education, soft-skills training, cognitive intervention, budgeting skills and connections to county resources and establish relationships that will continue post-release. 
• The Farmory    
  Lead org: Urban Partnership Community Development Corporation aka The Farmory
  Collaborators: UW-Green Bay; NeighborWorks; NWTC Sustainable Agriculture; Green Bay Area Public Schools; West De Pere High School; E-Hub Urban Hope
  Description: This project will strengthen and expand the programs of the aquaponics farm and fish hatchery that build the economic self-sufficiency of residents. This grant provides the capacity to reach traditionally underserved groups in the low-income neighborhood where the facility is located where residents seek jobs with livable wages that increase their financial self-sufficiency. The Volunteer and Service Learning will provide individuals with defined work experience. The Education Partnership program bridges the school-to-career pipeline with real-world applications in the agriculture technology sector. Partnerships provide students with field trips, job shadows, externships and internships, and use The Farmory as a living classroom.
• Blacktivity: Engaging Black Youth in Health and Wellness
  Lead org: We All Rise: African American Resource Center
  Collaborators: YWCA Greater Green Bay
  Description: We All Rise: African American Resource Center works to establish safe and unapologetic spaces where Black youth and families can learn their history, increase their self-advocacy and become more positive participants in healthy relationships. Blacktivity will build on current programming and take the youth from the classroom to the community. The center established equity in its classroom work, and with the knowledge and skills that youth have gained they have identified the next step in addressing social determinants of health: strategically engaging with community partners to increase youth activism. Blacktivity is getting youth engaged in community art shows, farmers markets, swimming lessons, yoga classes, and ensuring that they have been paired with a mentor to support/monitor their progression.

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