New York Initiative Supporting Babies in Their Early Years Expands to Milwaukee

By Karen Stokes

The Bridge Project, a nonprofit organization that is headquartered in New York City is coming to Milwaukee.

“It is the first time the program has expanded outside of New York and into the Midwest so we are replicating a program that has been underway for over three years in the New York City area. The program is designed to provide direct cash transfers to pregnant individuals with the focus of building economic security and helping babies in the first two or three years of their life to develop a healthy start,” said Gina Stilp, executive director of the Zilber Family Foundation.

“The Bridge Project was born out of our founders’ family foundation called the Monarch Foundation that already started an organization that was in support of mothers in upper Manhattan who were experiencing poverty. They always cared about mothers and infants. In 2021, the Monarch Foundation created the Bridge Project,” Ramos Cuttone said.

“The first cohort was 100 moms and they all lived in upper Manhattan zip codes after one year after seeing how well the program worked and how big the need was in 2022 they opened the application to all of the Burroughs with an enormous response that cohort grew to 500 we added Buffalo, Rochester and we are serving 1200 moms. We added 100 in Milwaukee. We decided to go national.”

“The way the program is designed, a prenatal stipend of $1250 is given to eligible and selected pregnant individuals and then for the next 15 months they will receive $750 on a monthly debit card and then for the remaining 9 months $375. The funds are transferred every other week in the two year period and there are no restrictions on the use of those funds. It can be used as a debit card at a point of sale transaction or it can be used at an ATM to get cash.”

Why cash?

“Research shows cash as being more flexible for families in poverty. A lot of people end up having to trade their food stamps in when they need cash, they never get what the actual worth of the food stamp is when they do that. We know mothers don’t need to be told how to spend their money. Mothers know how to take care of their children the best,” Jessica Ramos Cuttone, National Director of Programs, The Bridge Project, New York.

“We really believe there’s a level of dignity and a level of autonomy that women who are living at or below the poverty level deserve to make choices for their families,” Stilp said.
Applications are available online beginning April 10, 2024. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis for eligibility and eligible program participants will be selected by lottery. Applications will remain open until all program slots have been filled.

Criteria:

• 18 years or older
• 23 weeks pregnant or less
• Live in Milwaukee zip codes 53204, 53205, 53206 or 53215, with priority in ZNI neighborhoods of Lindsay Heights, Clarke Square and Layton Boulevard West
• Have an annual household income of less than $39,000

“We’re really hoping that we can fill our 100 spots with moms that live in these neighborhoods,” Stilp said.

To apply go to the Zilber Family Foundation website at Zilberfamilyfoundation.org. On the homepage there’s a link to the application or go to Bridgeproject.org on the homepage there’s a link that goes to the Milwaukee cohort.

“One of the most important tenets of this project is that there are no strings attached. Mom does not have to report anything on how she is spending the money, what we hope is that a lot of the participants will choose to do a survey when they start the program to participate in a focus group midway and to take another survey at the close out of the program and participants who decide to contribute to the research will be compensated additionally for that research,” Stilp said. “What we hope we will see is what we’ve seen in other places, which is an increase in well being, an improvement in mental health, families have been able to put away $500-$1500 for an emergency fund.”

The Bridge Project in Milwaukee is primarily funded by the Zilber Family Foundation though we provided $1.6 million dollars over two years and all of those funds will be used for the stipends or direct cash transfers. In addition the Bridge Project in New York is funded by the Monarch Foundation.

“Foundations and Corporations interested in getting involved monetarily, we would love to extend the program for a third year which is the way the NY model is working and ultimately we would like to sustain it to be including another 100 moms every year. Spread the word,” Stilp said.

“Sadly you can put your finger anywhere on a map and you will find babies being born into poverty all across the country, a country that is extremely wealthy that doesn’t invest in babies the way a lot of countries do. The United States ranks last in money spent on early childhood. The Monarch Foundation in New York and the Zilber Family Foundation in Milwaukee are ready to do something about it,” Ramos Cuttone said.