Wisconsin Health Literacy is joining 8 other states (Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Michigan) to hold a collaborative Summit that brings together our diverse health literacy approaches, experiences, and strategies.

In honor of October being a time to formally recognize the importance of health literacy, the Governor has declared October 2023 as Health Literacy Month in Wisconsin.

WHL is pleased to share new mission and vision statements, which were adopted to better align with the activities and goals of the division:

Mission: Advance health equity through health literacy in organizations and communities.
Vision: All people have the skills and a fair opportunity to be healthy.

A unique partnership between Wisconsin Health Literacy’s Vaccine Community Outreach (VCO) initiative and the Eau Claire-based Black and Brown Womyn Power Coalition (BBWPC) resulted in a dramatic increase in COVID-19 vaccination rates among the Hmong population.

It’s so rewarding to see how our literacy programs are partnering with employers to break down language barriers and support inclusive workplaces for refugees and immigrants. Please read and share with your networks!

Technology evolves faster than most of us can keep up with. This evokes feelings of fear, frustration, incompetence, and ultimately, avoidance. One way to reduce anxiety around technology is to use a conceptual framework called digital resilience. 

Wisconsin Literacy's Executive Director, Michele Erikson joins WPR's morning show to talk about expanding literacy across Wisconsin.

The 3 Period Lesson is a great place to start tutoring new arrivals with little or no English, literacy, or formal education.

Southeast Regional Literacy Consultant Marsha Connet joins the WGTD radio station to discuss the importance of literacy on International Literacy Day. Listen to the interview on WGTD's website.

Executive Director Michele Erikson joined Kirstin Brey on As Goes Wisconsin for a brief interview on Read a Book Day. Watch the interview on YouTube.

Explore nonprofit leadership with your colleagues across the state with author Erik Hanberg’s 4 book series:

• The Little Book of Gold
• The Little Book of Nonprofit Leadership
• The Little Book of Boards
• The Little Book of Likes

We are very grateful for the support of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and for the recognition from Governor Evers. Our member agencies and countless other non-profits and public health workers across Wisconsin are working together to make vaccinations and health care more equitable.

In our monthly Literacy Voice, we welcomed Laura Cunningham and Will Housley to our staff; invited members to networking calls, webinars, and health literacy workshops; and announced new job positions throughout the state.

A statewide organization that aims to raise awareness about health literacy is next Monday hosting a vaccine community outreach event to help ensure that the public has access to reliable and accurate information about COVID shots.

Congratulations to Ashleigh Henrichs, our Associate Director and now Wisconsin COABE State Advocate for Adult Education Fellow. The Coalition on Adult Basic Education’s State Advocacy Fellowship focuses on the development of leadership, advocacy skills, research capacity, and network of influence for adult educators, educational staff, and/or administrators. The purpose of this fellowship is to help build a robust network of leaders and advocates focused on the advancement of adult literacy across the country.

This includes smart phones in hand most hours of the day, preordering, contactless pickups, online signups for more reliable PCR tests, online signups for vaccinations, scanning QR codes everywhere, telehealth visits, online health portals, etc. And, for many of us, this is on top of being in online meetings most of the day looking at a screen.

In our monthly Literacy Voice, we welcomed Patricia Wilson and Jaci Shuit to our staff, provided a Math Tutorial for instructors and tutors, Transition to Success and Map of My Dreams Overview webinar, and health literacy virtual workshops

Wisconsin Literacy and Wisconsin Health Literacy were interviewed on WORT 89.9 FM Radio for the "8 O'Clock Buzz." They discussed how adult literacy changes lives and the importance of health literacy for better health outcomes.

We are truly grateful to receive funding from the Equitable Recovery Grant Program. These funds will benefit literacy agencies that are empowering adult learners and strengthening communities across the state. We will explore new ways to help adults build digital literacy skills, which are now so critical for access to health services, employment and quality of life.

In our monthly Literacy Voice, we welcomed Ashleigh Henrichs to our staff, announced our sub-award informational meeting, asked you to join us for The Big Shares and our 2022 Wisconsin Health Literacy Summit, and promoted our digital literacy coffee chat and our session on "Integrating Equity, Inclusion, Diversity, and Justice into Adult and Family Literacy Programs."

The Rural Monitor article covers the importance of using plain language instead of medical jargon to create more equitable healthcare.

“Providers can forget to translate their information back into plain language for their patients,” Stan Hudson, Health Literacy Director of Wisconsin Health Literacy said. “This lends to the creation of an unequal system of information-sharing in healthcare."

In our monthly Literacy Voice, we welcomed Margaret Marcou to our staff, asked you to save the date for our Winter Virtual Conference, The Big Shares, and our 2022 Wisconsin Health Literacy Summit, and provided iCivics Civil Rights Curriculum resources.

In this issue, we feature community programs and opportunities; digital literacy workshops; talking about COVID vaccines in your community; medication label initiative; and health insurance literacy virtual mini-series.

In our monthly Literacy Voice, we welcomed Julia Norton to the staff, invited you to save the date for our Winter Virtual Conference and 2022 Wisconsin Health Literacy Summit, and shared funding opportunities.

When Dolores started learning English at Stateline Literacy Council (SLC), she was very shy and would not say anything at first. Dolores shared, “I just felt like I couldn't express myself at all. I couldn't get my point across.”

Now, in 2021, Dolores has a different job with a higher hourly wage. She takes a business class because in Mexico she was a business owner.

This is her story.