Basic Needs Giving Partnership awards new grants of $2.85 million to end poverty

Funds raised from the U.S. Venture Open are granted to end poverty in Northeast WI.

/EIN News/ -- Appleton, Wis., Sept. 19, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Basic Needs Giving Partnership recently announced their 2024 multi-year grant awards with $2.85 million awarded to 12 organizations across Northeast Wisconsin. These three-year grants support collaborative projects working toward lasting solutions to deep-seated community challenges in the areas of early care education, housing access, mental health, and substance use.

Grants are focused on efforts that are addressing the root causes of poverty in rural, urban, and suburban communities across the ten-county region. Funding for the grants is generated by the annual U.S. Venture Open, the nation’s single largest one-day charitable event dedicated to ending poverty. The 2024 event raised $4.825 million for the Basic Needs Giving Partnership and 100% of every dollar donated goes to end poverty. In the 39-year history of the U.S. Venture Open, $58 million has been granted to regional nonprofits.

“We are energized by the breadth and depth of this multi-year funding making significant impact in our communities,” said Lynn Coriano, executive director of the Basic Needs Giving Partnership. “We look forward to learning alongside these organizations as they advance their work over the next three years.”

“It’s exciting to see the evolution of the Basic Needs Giving Partnership in this next grant cycle,” said Greg Vandenberg, director of giving and community engagement for U.S. Venture. “We’ve listened to our community, partners, and nonprofits to continue to drive change by challenging ourselves to improve grant processes and areas of investment and build on the success of decades of impact.

A grantmaking match of $600,000 from the J. J. Keller Foundation, $250,000 from Oshkosh Corporation, and $200,000 from ThedaCare and the Thrivent Foundation lead this effort.

Recipients of the Basic Needs Giving Partnership 2024 Multi-Year Grants are:

2024 Basic Needs Giving Partnership Multi-Year Grants
$2,850,000 in new multi-year grant commitments

Achieve Brown County (ABC): $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years)
ABC aims to improve cradle to career outcomes of Kindergarten Readiness and Early Grade Reading by engaging youth and families beginning at birth and through collective impact work with partners. 

Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition: $150,000 ($50,000 for 3 years) 
Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition’s initiative leverages the Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness to address the complex issues of homelessness and housing insecurity by addressing root causes and tackling systemic challenges. This comprehensive approach includes not only providing access to affordable and supportive housing opportunities but also improving access to essential resources and services. By collaborating with many nonprofits and agencies across various sectors, our project aims to advocate for policy changes, educate the community, and create sustainable solutions to homelessness in Brown County. 

City of Waupaca: $225,000 ($75,000 for 3 years)
Project will enhance efforts to develop a local birth to five system of care that better serves families, children, and early care professionals throughout Waupaca County. Change is needed to reduce the financial burden of childcare on parents, provide childhood educators with livable wages, and reverse the negative impacts of the childcare crisis on Waupaca County businesses. To develop a permanent solution to these challenges, the City of Waupaca and its local partners evaluate creative funding mechanisms that reimagine how communities invest in their children. 

Greater Fox Cities Housing Alliance: $75,000 ($25,000 for 3 years)
Project aims to increase access to housing in the Fox Valley (Calumet, Outagamie, and Winnebago counties) by engaging local stakeholders across the housing continuum to establish a shared vision and implement strategies that address our region’s evolving housing needs. Focus will be on expanding a funding pool to support housing development, advocating for policies that inform and garner support, and engaging with residents to empower people impacted.

HeadsUp Fox Cities: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years)
Project will enhance housing access for transitional-age youth in Outagamie, Winnebago, and Calumet counties who have had experience with the child welfare/foster care system. In collaboration with people who have lived experience, nonprofit leaders, human services and justice system professionals, and private businesses, they will change systems to increase transitional housing opportunities and shift practices to build strong wraparound supports. Aim is to challenge past practices, empower action, bring about greater equity, and advance an impactful housing-first approach in our community. 

Impact Wisconsin: $300,000 ($300,000 total for 3 years)
Impact Wisconsin’s recovery initiative centers utilize Recovery Capital Index (RCI) to holistically measure and enhance the overall wellbeing of individuals in recovery, starting with Shawano, Outagamie, Waupaca, and Waushara counties. By utilizing the RCI, the initiative aims to break down stigma and provide actionable insights into clients’ physical, mental, and social health, driving tailored support and effective systems change. This approach ensures comprehensive care that addresses the root causes of addiction, fostering long-term recovery and community resilience. 

JOSHUA: $225,000 ($75,000 for 3 years)
JOSHUA’s housing initiative will work to address affordable housing by working with local organizations and people with lived experience primarily in Brown, Winnebago, and Outagamie Counties. This project advocates for changes to local policies that will allow for greater access to housing for people who are experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness. Work will be done through grassroots organizing, mobilizing community support, and partnering with decision makers to ensure rental vouchers are included under protected classes within Brown County. 

Legal Action of Wisconsin: $75,000 ($25,000 for 3 years)
To develop a Community Lawyering Program focusing on housing access throughout the region, with an intentional focus in Outagamie and Winnebago counties. This project will directly engage with people experiencing housing instability to equip a process that amplifies the voice and the power of these communities. Legal advocates will contribute their skills to address the concerns of low-income tenants by helping build their knowledge and enhance their power to drive social change.

NEW Hmong Professionals: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years)
NEW Hmong Professionals’ initiative, Project Ntsuag Siab, aims to transform mental health outcomes for the Hmong community in Northeast Wisconsin (Brown, Calumet, Outagamie, and Winnebago counties) through culturally informed interventions and systemic changes. Recognizing that existing systems have failed to adequately address the unique needs of the Hmong community over the past 49 years, the project seeks to integrate mental health well-being into everyday practices, activities, and values of Hmong individuals and families. Project Ntsuag Siab will focus on three strategic areas: shifting power dynamics within traditional Hmong culture, equipping our staff and volunteers with the necessary skills to meet the community’s needs, and collaborating with existing resources to enhance cultural understanding among service providers.

People of Progression (P.O.P.): $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years)
Aims to address systemic inequities in housing access for Black and African American individuals and families in the Greater Fox Valley Area (Outagamie and Winnebago counties) through a long-term systems change initiative. The project will establish a Culturally Specific Led Coalition and a Black Community Advisory Team to empower impacted communities, enhance policy advocacy, and improve the Coordinated Entry System for homelessness support. By centering the voices of those affected, P.O.P. seeks to dismantle barriers to housing access and homeownership, promote generational wealth building, and ultimately, foster equity and stability within marginalized populations.

We All Rise: African American Resource Center: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years)
We All Rise’s project, The Tipping Point: Centering Culturally Specific Community Change, will improve access to quality, culturally relevant mental health services and safe, affordable housing by addressing the disparities that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) survivors experience. This project will take targeted action to drive systems change in Brown County including: 1. Fostering coalitions and networks that bring together groups and individuals with lived experience, 2. Changing organizational practices of direct service agencies to align with culturally relevant mental health and housing standards of care, and 3. Influencing policy and legislation to improve outcomes specific to mental health and housing for BIPOC survivors.

Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA): $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years)
In concert with the coalition work of Raising Wisconsin, WECA seeks to drive long-term systems change for the early care and education (ECE) sector by advocating for a sustained state investment in child care. This effort, in collaboration with the ECE workforce, parents and families, employers, economic development agencies, and community partners in the region, will amplify a unified and informed voice in support of a sustainable ECE system across Northeast Wisconsin and beyond. 

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About the Basic Needs Giving Partnership

The Basic Needs Giving Partnership envisions thriving, equitable communities across Northeast Wisconsin. We invest in local and regional solutions that address the root causes of poverty in alignment with our shared values of trust and collaboration, curiosity and learning, and equity with a systems-based approach. The funds raised through the U.S. Venture Open from generous corporations, family foundations, and individuals are granted to support nonprofits providing critical services as well as organizations working to change the systems that hold poverty in place. For more information about the Basic Needs Giving Partnership, please visit our website, bngpwi.org.

U.S. Venture Open


The U.S. Venture Open is the nation’s single largest one-day charitable event dedicated to ending poverty. Funds from the event support the Basic Needs Giving Partnership with a vision to build thriving, equitable communities across Northeast Wisconsin through regional collaborative grants and advocacy. The U.S. Venture Open started in 1986 with 100 golfers and has grown to 1,200 attendees representing more than 700 partners who golf at regional courses to raise money for programs that help end poverty. Follow the event on Facebook, Twitter, or visit the U.S. Venture Open website.

About U.S. Venture, Inc.

For over 70 years, U.S. Venture, Inc. has been recognized as an innovative leader in the distribution of renewable and traditional energy products, lubricants, tires, parts, and using data-driven insights to manage energy and information in the global movement of goods. U.S. Venture delivers creative, sustainable solutions that give their customers a competitive edge, and enable the company to support the communities in which they live, work, and play. Through the values lived by their family of brands, U.S. Energy™, U.S. AutoForce, Breakthrough®, U.S. Lubricants, and IGEN®, U.S. Venture seeks new ways to drive business success while being steadfast in its commitment to making the world a better place. 

Dawn Ruchala 
                    Senior Manager, Community Engagement
                    920-243-2529 
                    Druchala@usventure.com
                    
                    Lynn Coriano
                    Executive Director, Basic Needs Giving Partnership
                    920-372-2303
                    lynn.coriano@bngpwi.org