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Wauwatosa health director highlights grant-funded programs, warns ARPA positions need new funding in 2027
Summary
The Financial Affairs Committee reviewed the health department’s 2026 budget narrative, which spotlights a period-product pantry, harm-reduction vending machine and ARPA-funded social worker positions that will need new funding after 2026. Director Stevens warned federal and state grant uncertainty could force program reductions.
Director Stevens, the city’s health department director, told the Financial Affairs Committee on Oct. 14 that the department expects relatively few structural changes in the 2026 budget but highlighted several programs that have expanded since 2024.
Stevens said the city’s “period pantry,” launched in November 2024, has “distributed over 22,000 menstrual products to 25 community partners,” including the public library and local schools. The department also described a harm-reduction vending machine, funded through ARPA and settlement money, that dispensed over 1,300 items in its first eight months; top items included first-aid kits, COVID test kits, hygiene supplies and naloxone. Stevens said the department has confirmed naloxone from the machine “has saved at least 1 life.”
The budget narrative shows the city receives roughly $100,000 a year from the state to support core public-health programs the director called state-mandated —…
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