July 12, 2011

NEWS FROM THE MAYOR

We are just days away from a rapidly-approaching deadline for an important grant application. The federal Community Transformation grant would benefit numerous government and health agencies in Milwaukee County by supporting programming and interventions aimed at reducing obesity, tobacco use, heart disease and stroke.

The City of Milwaukee, along with a strong collaboration of community partners, has joined with the YMCA of Milwaukee in applying for this grant which could total close to $5 million dollars over five years.
Credible and active community partners from the Boys and Girls Clubs, Children’s Hospital, the Medical College of Wisconsin and others are ready to join forces with the city to tackle these growing health disparities that exist in our community.

In order for the grant application to be complete, a letter of support is needed from the state. A simple one-page letter from the Governor stating that his office endorses the Milwaukee County application is all that’s needed. Without this letter, the proposal is incomplete and ineligible for review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To date all of our efforts to obtain this letter have been denied and the attempts to explain why simply don’t hold up.

It’s illogical for the state to accept money for a health information exchange system and then later turn around and stymie efforts to tap into the same source of money when the goal is to prevent chronic health problems.

If we don’t even try to prevent chronic health problems, we are squandering money that future taxpayers will have to pay.

An investment in prevention saves money in the long run.

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled.

About 60% of obese adolescents will be obese as adults.

Today, nearly one in three children in America is overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for health problems such as Diabetes, Heart disease, High blood pressure, Cancer and asthma.

Unless the obesity epidemic can be curbed, today’s children are likely to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents do.

I have a strong commitment to the health of this city and this type of federal funding would go a long way in addressing the serious health disparities in our community.

I encourage you to contact Governor Walker and urge him to do the right thing by Milwaukee and Wisconsin citizens and provide the letter of support we need to bring much needed resources to improve the health of the community.

Thank you.

Mayor, City of Milwaukee

Visit my website at: www.milwaukee.gov/mayor