The Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation (GWCHF) is pleased to announce grants made to a variety of community organizations in the last several weeks, all in support of community health and wellness.

Communities thrive when their residents have ample opportunities for recreation. GWCHF has committed $1 million to ensure each community in our service area has the resources needed to develop places for people to be active together. Recent grants have been made to:

GWCHF's Pandemic Response Grants support family-serving agency needs, service adaptations and revenue losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent pandemic response grants have been awarded to:

Learn more about all current GWCHF grant opportunities on our website.

Dodge County SHRM is excited to announce the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Conference, which is being partially supported with a Health Equity Spark Grant from GWCHF. The conference will take place on July 15 at Beaver Dam High School. Leaders from all industries are invited for an action-packed half-day, in-person experience. By attending, you will be laying a ground work for a better understanding of what DEI means to you, what it can mean to your community, and how powerful of an impact you have.

Did you know that in Dodge and Jefferson counties combined, over 5,000 children under the age of 5 may not have access to child care? Or that in our two counties, infant care costs about $11,000 per year, which is 18% of the average family income (with 7% being the suggested national guideline)?

High-quality early care and education is incredibly important for school readiness. However, for many families, care is not accessible and not affordable. To support system change, parents from several counties recently came together to learn how to advocate on this topic through the Parents Advocating for Child Care Fellowship, facilitated by the Wisconsin Partnership.

During this eight-month virtual fellowship, GWCHF supported local parents Keely Prekop, Sarah Coffey and Megan Hartwick in joining parents from Milwaukee, Kenosha, Racine and Brown County to learn how to advocate for high-quality, accessible and affordable early care and education for all families. Collectively, 19 parent advocates gained knowledge on local child care systems and child care data, as well as skills to write about and tell their stories to decision makers. In April they put their knowledge and skills into action by sharing their stories with legislators as part of the state budget development process.

Congratulations to Keely, Sarah and Megan, and to all the parents who participated in this important work. We look forward to seeing you continue to advocate for change on behalf of all families in our community!

TalkReadPlay promotes positive parent/caregiver and child interactions, and summer offers a perfect time to get outside to PLAY!

Watertown - The Watertown Public Library, Watertown Family Center and Watertown Park and Rec Department have families covered with this list of June programming.

Jefferson - GWCHF is delighted to have invested in Jefferson Park and Rec's new Park and Play - bringing free and fun activities to area parks - see the schedule here.

In addition to playing with your children, make sure to check with your local library for summer reading program information!

TalkReadPlay’s Positive Parenting Program offers support for parents and caregivers of children 0-12 in Dodge and Jefferson counties, at no cost to them. Register today for upcoming programs! (Click the date to register)

Positive Parenting Program providers can work one-on-one with parents to design a plan to meet their family's needs. Click here for a list of topics that can be addressed.

If you are willing to distribute promotional materials to families and/or are interested in hosting a parenting seminar or discussion group for your organization, please email us. For more information and program registration, visit talkreadplaywi.com/parenting.