Green Bay Packers Foundation awards $300,000 in grants to Milwaukee organizations

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Green Bay Packers Foundation is promising to help two local non-profits in Milwaukee raise money. 

The team announced two matching grants Tuesday, both worth $150,000

Fellowship Open and Milwaukee Health Care Partnership will receive the grants to help with fundraising. Both organizations will have to raise an additional $150,000 in order to secure the donation.

Fellowship Open will direct their grant toward MKE Fellows, which will help build the capacity and long-term sustainability of the program by establishing three critical positions – executive director, internship coordinator and student mentor coordinator. These positions will exponentially strengthen MKE Fellows’ organizational infrastructure, providing the increased capacity necessary to serve young men and profoundly impact Wisconsin’s black community.

With the addition of these positions, MKE Fellows anticipates serving at least 200 academically talented African-American young men annually by 2021.

Milwaukee Health Care Partnership will direct their grant toward the development and implementation of the Housing is Health program to secure sustainable housing and provide care navigation for homeless and precariously housed patients cared for in Milwaukee’s high traffic/high need emergency departments.

The Housing is Health project is a two-year demonstration project that will provide for Milwaukee County Housing Division navigators who will partner with ER care coordination staff to identify, assess, coach and place homeless patients in supportive housing. This navigation will also link patients with ongoing social, mental health and substance use resources, with the goal of achieving long-term housing stability. The grant will additionally help underwrite more than $100,000 in housing subsidies, such as rent, utilities and furniture.

Both are goals the Packers support. 

"We are just heading into our 101st season and we wouldn't be here without the support of our communities, certainly Green Bay but also Milwaukee has been so supportive of the Packers," says Green Bay Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy. 

Milwaukee has received more than 500 grants from the Packers Foundation since 2006. 

MKE Fellows is a powerful initiative offering support to academically talented African-American young men in Wisconsin to ensure that they graduate from college prepared for career success. The organization’s core pillars include internship and job experiences, mentorship, career and professional development, scholarship opportunities and civic engagement. Learn more at https://www.mkefellows.com/.

Established in 2007, the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership is a public/private consortium dedicated to improving health care for low-income, underserved populations in Milwaukee County, with the aim of improving health outcomes, reducing disparities and lowering the total cost of care. Learn more at https://mkehcp.org/.

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