DreamUp Wisconsin 2019 Semi Finalists

Learn more at: Opportunitycalculator.org 

Opportunity Calculator aims to develop a mobile platform to give workers fast, accurate information about how career and training opportunities could affect their net income, helping them achieve career goals and make positive financial choices. The platform also makes it easier for employers and community partners to learn about benefits packages and employment opportunities and to address barriers to growing the workforce.

Partners: Employment and Training Association, City of Madison, Workforce Development Board South Central WI, United Way of Dane County, Latino Academy of Workforce Development, Urban League Greater Madison.

Opportunity Calculator Aims to Boost Dane County Residents’ Income

Watch their winning pitch

Connect Rx Wisconsin plans to revolutionize the way that families get the economic support they need to reduce financial stress and achieve better health outcomes. The team proposes a fully integrated network of healthcare and social service systems across Dane County that builds on existing electronic health record technology and trusted community and medical providers.

Partners: Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, United Way of Dane County, UW Health, Access Community Health Centers, Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, SSM St. Mary’s, Unity Point Health – Meriter, Public Health Madison and Dane County, and Madison Metropolitan School District, all of which are members of the Dane County Health Council, and technology partner Epic.

Connect Rx WI is Poised to help Thousands of Dane County families

Watch their winning pitch

• Double the size of the FEED Kitchen facility to incorporate a co-packing service, pop-up restaurant, retail space, and culinary training.
• Develop a food cart web application.
• Develop a FEED Kitchen delivery service.
• Partners: Northside Planning Council

• Create a state-run artificial intelligence (AI) application to answer student loans questions or refer users to a coach.
• Simplify information about student loans to help debt holders navigate the repayment system and improve the student loan default rate and the repayment efficiency.
• Partners: Eunji You, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis

• Remove transportation barriers to jobs.
• Organize participating employers into a consortium that supports advancements in workforce development, child care, housing, transit, and health care.
• Expand to more Dane County communities.
• Partners: YWCA Madison, Union Cab, the Village of DeForest, UW–Madison Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture

• Create a career advising chatbot with the power to assess skills and make connections instantly using AI and data source integrations
• A reskilling process that connects workers to their next best training and job opportunities.
• Partners: Sidekick Education, UW-Madison, Center for Research on College to Workforce Transitions, UW Health, Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Madison College, Workforce Development Board of South Central WI

• Enable workers in the foodservice & hospitality sectors to pick up open shifts local businesses post at will using the Clock’d app.
• Develop job training and benefit assistance to enrolled workers.
• Partners: Clock’d, WI Restaurant Assoc.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

2020 has been a difficult year. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing twin health and economic crises, and at the same time the nation is coming to terms with its deep-seated racial injustices.

We hope that the trials of 2020 have deepened your resolve to reduce poverty and inequality in the United States as they have for us. At IRP, we are committed to doing our part by producing rigorous research, training a broad array of diverse scholars, engaging with policymakers and practitioners and widely disseminating evidence.

We are proud of the work we’ve done in 2020 but know that there is much left to do. As you consider your end-of-the-year charitable giving, I hope that you will consider making a contribution to IRP. Your support can help us reach our goals for 2021: using research to inform policy development, supporting poverty scholars and students of color, and making poverty research more accessible to practitioners and policymakers.

In closing, I’d like to extend my warm wishes to all our partners and supporters for a healthy, productive, peaceful year to come. I look forward to seeing many of you in the new year.

Sincerely,
Katherine Magnuson