Medical College Grant Makes Developmental Screenings Accessible to Milwaukee Youth
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United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County

Medical College Grant Makes Developmental Screenings Accessible to Milwaukee Youth

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December 14, 2015

Written by Tim Coughlin, United Way Milwaukee Succeeds Staffer

One of Milwaukee Succeeds four priorities for Goal 1 (the Kindergarten Readiness Partnership) is to make developmental screenings as universal as immunizations are for children in Milwaukee.

Developmental screenings are critical to engage parents in understanding the stages of typical development for their children and to detect developmental delays in order to intervene early. 

Did you know only about one in three Milwaukee children get a developmental screening despite evidence that early intervention helps children and offers a 13-fold cost savings over delayed treatment?

We are excited to announce that Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin awarded $300,000 over the next two years to help ensure children have access to early intervention developmental screenings and build a support network for children, parents, and professionals. This is an important initiative toward ensuring all families have access to developmental screening for their children.

Milwaukee Succeeds’ Parent Education & Support Network (PESN) will promote early developmental screenings for the 47,000 children under age 6 living in the City of Milwaukee. PESN will increase the number of children participating in developmental screenings by expanding the number of trained and qualified screeners in clinics and childcare centers. In addition, PESN will educate and engage parents in understanding and supporting their child’s development and unmet needs.

United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, as the lead agency for the Kindergarten Readiness Partnership, will manage this grant in partnership with Medical College of Wisconsin Institute for Health and Society. John Meurer, MD, MBA, Professor and Director of the Institute for Health and Society, will be the Primary Investigator for this project bringing expertise in designing and evaluating systems improvement.

We have experienced a great collective commitment throughout the community to promote developmental screening. Our PESN project partners include: Aurora Health Care, Children’s Hospital and Health System, City of Milwaukee Health Department, Head Start programs (Acelero Learning, Bruce Guadalupe, Milwaukee Public Schools, and Next Door), Milwaukee County Birth to 3, Milwaukee School of Engineering, SET Ministry, Inc., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and others.

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