Leaders of Marquette University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Medical College of Wisconsin have announced the winners of the Presidents’ and Chancellor’s Challenge, a community-engaged research initiative that brings together innovative thinkers to solve local, Milwaukee challenges and make an impact.
Winning projects partner researchers from at least two of the three higher education institutions with community partners on solutions to issues impacting the Milwaukee community. Teams will collaborate for the next 18 months on their projects, which were chosen by a panel of university leaders. Funding to support the projects comes from the three universities, the Johnson Controls Foundation and Wintrust.
“The Presidents’ and Chancellor’s Challenge represents Marquette’s commitment to developing mission-focused, partnership-based research to address the challenges of an ever-changing world,” said Marquette President Kimo Ah Yun. “This is a great opportunity for the prominent higher education institutions in Milwaukee to come together and achieve true community impact.”
The winning projects for 2025 are:
- Get In the Game: Connecting Milwaukee Families to Adaptive Sport Resources addresses a critical communication gap between available adaptive sports resources for children with disabilities and families who could benefit from accessing the resources. The project will increase participation in adaptive sports, with a long-term goal of improving health outcomes for children with disabilities.
- Lowering Household Costs Through Environmentally Healthy Homes: Resilience from Poverty aims to increase the energy efficiency of homes in Milwaukee, which can help lower the energy burden and utility costs for families. This project team will help continue the efforts of the Sherman Park Community Association, Inc. by supporting household budget resilience through energy audits, healthy home assessments and connections to weatherization services.
- Building a Participatory Toolkit that Facilitates Opportunity Youth Success and Thriving will focus on young people between 16 and 21 years old who are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market (“Opportunity Youth”). A trained cohort of youth researchers will work with the project leads to develop and distribute a resource toolkit for organizations that serve Opportunity Youth in Milwaukee.
More information on the winning projects and their teams is below.
“Research is a powerful resource we can use to solve Milwaukee’s most pressing challenges,” UWM Chancellor Thomas Gibson said. “As a research-intensive institution, UWM is at the forefront of producing research that changes lives and makes the world better. Together with our partners in the Presidents’ and Chancellor’s Challenge, we can now have an even broader impact.”
Community partners include Milwaukee Public Schools and the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association; the Sherman Park Community Association and the City of Milwaukee Environmental Collaboration Office; and Milwaukee Succeeds and Pivot Consulting.
“The only way to build a healthier world is for us to build it together. We are collaborating with our partners to address some of the toughest challenges faced by our communities today, which ensures that these projects meet the needs of those most impacted,” said Medical College of Wisconsin President and CEO John R. Raymond, Sr., M.D. “We’re very pleased to join The Presidents’ and Chancellor’s Challenge to affect positive change on the health and well-being of our Milwaukee community.”
The President’s Challenge was first announced by Marquette in 2018 through a partnership with the Johnson Controls Foundation. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President’s Challenge was adapted to address immediate needs in the community through 2020’s President’s Challenge for COVID-19 Response and the President’s Challenge for Racial Justice and Equity Response in 2021. In 2023, winners of the first President’s and Chancellor’s Challenge in partnership with UWM were announced.
Winning projects and teams
Get In the Game: Connecting Milwaukee Families to Adaptive Sport Resources
Team members: Dr. Maja Goršič (Marquette), Dr. Jacob R. Rammer (UWM), Sharon Rohde (WASA), Steve Wolf (MPS), Carlos Rodriguez (MPS), Dr. Gerald Harris (Marquette)
This project addresses a critical communication gap between available adaptive sports resources for children with disabilities and families who could benefit from accessing the resources. The goal is to increase participation in adaptive sports, with a long-term goal of improving health outcomes for children with disabilities.
To accomplish this, the team will partner with the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association to support four “Try It” events hosted at Milwaukee Public Schools and community centers in Milwaukee over the next year. Each event will showcase adaptive equipment, trained coaches and opportunities for parents or guardians to connect with WASA and other community resources. Researchers will also partner with WASA and families on the creation of a mobile app or other communication resources that help promote and centralize the services and resources available in the greater Milwaukee area.
Lowering Household Costs Through Environmentally Healthy Homes: Resilience from Poverty
Team members: Dr. Lynne Woehrle (UWM), Dr. Erin Lee (MCW), Mabel Lamb (Sherman Park Community Association), Mia Rudolph-Schulta (City of Milwaukee Environmental Collaboration Office)
This project will increase the energy efficiency of homes in Milwaukee, which can help lower the energy burden and utility costs for families. This project team will support the efforts of the Sherman Park Community Association, Inc. by building household budget resilience through energy audits, healthy home assessments and connections to weatherization services. Resilience Ambassadors will play a critical role by sharing energy efficiency resources with participating households. The data collected will help to support the implementation and sustainability of additional home improvement assessments and programs, with a goal of scaling the project to other Milwaukee neighborhoods.
Building a Participatory Toolkit that Facilitates Opportunity Youth Success and Thriving
Team members: Dr. Gabriel Velez (Marquette), Dr. David Nelson (MCW), Kristin Kappelman (Milwaukee Succeeds), Bevin Christie (Pivot Consulting)
This project advances youth-led transformational change in Milwaukee by focusing on young people between 16 and 21 years old who are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market (“Opportunity Youth”). A primary focus of this project is centering youth researchers in the project team, which will gather and assess data to better understand the needs and success measures for young people to become thriving adults.
From these analyses, the trained cohort of youth researchers will work with the project leads to develop and distribute a resource toolkit for organizations serving Opportunity Youth in Milwaukee. The toolkit and youth researchers will collectively help inform policy and programming that serves Opportunity Youth in Milwaukee.
