Community Health
The WCC Community Health Program is committed to the values of courage, justice and holy imagination. We seek to build equitable, holistic, and community-centered systems of health in and through the churches of Wisconsin.
Since April 2021, the Community Health Program has worked in partnership with the State of Wisconsin to address barriers to COVID-19 vaccination. We have worked with over 200 churches to hold more than 250 vaccination clinics around the state, resulting in 3500 vaccinations.
Alongside our organizing work, we provide information on COVID, vaccinations and other health-related topics in a weekly newsletter . With Executive Director Kerri Parker and Communications and Ecumenical Innovations Director Breanna Illéné, we take the lead in creating the highly-regarded Returning to Church guidelines. We provide a COVID risk table to help faith communities gauge the situation in their area and formulate appropriate responses.
The closest partners in our work are the African-American Council of Churches in Madison, the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, and Just Dane. We have also worked with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute on research into views on public health during the COVID pandemic and maternal vaccine acceptance. In all, we are connected to over 100 partner organizations and health providers and continue to build more and deeper relationships.
Our efforts have not gone unnoticed, drawing media attention and commendations from the office of Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Public Health Association. The Returning to Church series has been used around the United States and as far away as England.
We want to hear from you. Feel free to drop Program Director Daniel Schultz a line to discuss COVID or other physical or mental health challenges in your community.