April 9, 2007
Horizon Inc. Earns $450,000 Grant for
Project HEART
Milwaukee – A new grant totaling $450,000 has been awarded to Horizons
Inc. of Milwaukee to launch Project HEART, a community-academic
partnership designed to remove barriers to preventive health care for
female offenders in the Milwaukee community.
“Many factors influence the success that offenders have in leading
law-abiding, productive lives following their return from prison, and
chronic health conditions that go unaddressed can inhibit this progress,”
DOC Secretary Matt Frank said. “By removing some of the barriers to health
care for women after they complete their court-imposed terms in prison and
are returned to the community, we can improve the chances for them to be
successful, which benefits public safety in the long run. We are pleased
to be a partner in this new initiative with Horizon Inc., the Medical
College of Wisconsin and other collaborators.”
As a partner in implementing Governor Jim Doyle’s KidsFirst Agenda, DOC
has been working with other state agencies and community-based
organizations to develop innovative programs for female offenders and
break the cycle of crime and incarceration and punishment. Horizons Inc.
currently provides transitional residential substance abuse treatment and
outpatient substance abuse counseling to women under the supervision of
the DOC.
Under Project HEART, which stands for Healthy Empowerment to Access
Resources Together, Horizons Inc. will expand upon this partnership and
implement a model that includes health screenings, counseling, health
planning, advocacy and nutrition and fitness education.
The source of the grant is the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program,
a component of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment at the
Medical College of Wisconsin. Project HEART will be able to
accommodate up to 300 women under DOC supervision over the course of three
years. The majority of these women will receive treatment through Horizon
House, the community-based treatment facility that has served female
offenders in the city of Milwaukee since 1971. In addition, the DOC will
provide a representative for the Project HEART steering committee and will
support the committee in its efforts to inform the public and
policy-makers about project outcomes.
“As a longstanding, lead agency in Wisconsin, Horizons Inc. is once
again leading the way with new and innovative programming that will
address the emerging needs of women and their families in Wisconsin, and
generate best practices for other providers to replicate,” Secretary Frank
said. “If we can help these women be successful, we can break the
individual and inter-generational cycles of addiction, crime and
incarceration, creating a safer Wisconsin for everyone.”
“Project HEART is a natural extension of our commitment to addressing
the holistic needs of justice involved women and to removing barriers to
their successful reentry into our community,” said Constance Shaver,
Executive Director of Horizons. “We are thrilled to partner with the
Department of Corrections, Dr. Ann Maguire from the Medical College of
Wisconsin, and our colleagues at Bread of Healing Clinic and Community
Advocates to address the health care needs of justice involved women in
our community.”
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04/09/2007
