About Us
Our History
Photo courtesy of the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread
Beginning in September 2008, a small planning team made up of members from the Racine community who were involved with the early WPP efforts, became the initial Wingspread conference planning group. This team met 3 times at Wingspread to organize the first gathering. The initial meetings were aimed at planning an overall strategy for reducing infant mortality in Racine and included efforts of a wide array of entities, including the City of Racine Health Department legislatively appropriated funds and requirements, the FIMR results and the work of the Racine Infant Mortality Coalition. This planning did not focus on the Life-course perspective initially, but as we learned more about the Life-course it has become the focus of our work. The early work resulted in:
1. Identification of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for addressing infant mortality in Racine
2. Creation in a framework for a Strategic Plan for Reducing Infant Mortality in Racine
3. Formation of goals of reducing the African American infant mortality, preterm, and low birth weight rate by 50% in 5 years
4. Creation of a rough draft Directory of Services to Reduce Fetal and Infant Mortality in Racine.
Since April 2010, the Greater Racine Collaborative for Healthy Birth Outcomes worked to find reasons why the infant mortality rates for African American babies are four times higher than for white babies in Racine. We spoke to members of the community, and looked at maps and data with information such as income, education, community assets, and areas where fetal and infant deaths occurred. We learned that where you live appears to play a major role in Racine’s infant and fetal mortality. We also learned from research that stress from all forms of racism and negative relationships are among major contributors to poor outcomes for babies.
