400+ women from Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County gathered Wednesday for United Way’s Women’s Leadership Bruncheon at the Pfister Hotel. The event was sponsored by Aurora Health Care. View the photos from the event.
Since the launch of the Women’s Leadership program, the 2,000 local women involved have raised over $100 million. The majority of those funds have been invested in proven, evidence-based programming that is helping thousands of young people in our community through programs like Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Healthy Birth Outcomes.
Highlights from the event included Mayor Tom Barrett announcing the 2014 numbers on Infant Mortality. The data showed decreases in all categories. Mayor Barrett is calling for a redoubling of community-wide efforts to help prevent premature births in the city. Visit our News page for all the coverage. The Mayor also shared why collaborating with United Way is critical to making that happen.
“From time to time I talk to mayors and other leaders around the country and they’ve notice the work that has been done here, particularly as it relates to reducing teen pregnancy. They ask me ‘what is the secret recipe?’ and I tell them “get United Way involved” because here we have a United Way that has chosen to get involved in issues that are incredibly relevant to the physical health, the mental health, the economic health of this city. We’ve seen success reducing the teen pregnancy rate and infant mortality in a large part because United Way has a women’s leadership council that is committing to these issues. These are relevant to all of us who care about children, who care about families.” – Mayor Barrett said.
Bevan Baker and Betsy Brenner, Co-Chairs of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Committee shared some exciting news about Healthy Birth Outcomes. The Bridgespan Group - a nonprofit advisor and resource for mission-driven organizations and philanthropists featured United Way’s work in their latest publication “Needle-Moving Community Collaboratives Revisited: Profiles in Persistence and Progress” View the report.
Those who attended the brunch, were also introduced to United Way’s Community Health Ambassadors and got to see the impactful work they are doing in our community right now. Watch the video.
The event wrapped up with an engaging panel discussion moderated by Lynn Sprangers, VP of Community Impact at Mount Mary University. The panel featured Amy Linder of Meta House, Dr. Carla Kelly from Aurora HealthCare, and Lashawndra Vernon from United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County.
Highlights of the panel discussion included why the community needs to invest in Healthy Birth Outcomes, what’s next for the Milwaukee LIHF Collaborative and how the community can get involved. You can donate diapers at a Stork's Nest location or contact LaShawdra Vernon to get involved with Milwaukee LIHF.