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This blog highlights stories of the entrepreneur’s journey. We believe in featuring both the head and the heart of our portfolio companies and other social impactors from around the country.

Why we are “All-In” on Waterloo, Iowa

Posted February 13, 2023

  It is hard to meet Rodney Anderson and not immediately feel like part of his family. It’s also impossible not to be moved by his dreams for his community.…

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Part 3: Babies, Aunties, Doulas: Our 2022 Birth Justice Year in Review

Posted February 9, 2023

In December, I sat down with Enjolie Lafaurie, one of the founding members of the Cihuapactli Collective. Cihuapactli (pronounced: see-wa-pac-tli) means “women’s medicine” in Nahuatl, a language Indigenous to now-Mexico.…

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Part 2: Babies, Aunties, Doulas: Our 2022 Birth Justice Year in Review

Posted January 30, 2023

Welcome to our second installment on our 2022 Birth Justice Year in Review. In my first post, I introduced the Healthy Youth Development Strategic Partnership team and our commitment to…

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Babies, Aunties, Doulas: Our 2022 Birth Justice Year in Review

Posted January 17, 2023

Over three weeks in January, Community and Social Impact Intern Theresa Nelson will share updates about the Healthy Youth Development Strategic Partnership team’s work to close equity gaps in Birth…

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Meet the Founders

Posted January 13, 2023

The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact is a venture capital firm and partner of choice for exceptional entrepreneurs who are building scalable, sustainable businesses in a…

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Coming Together for Good: 2022 Year in Review

Posted January 6, 2023

2022 created one of the most challenging markets we have seen in a long time. Driven by the war in Ukraine and continued COVID pandemic issues, public and private markets…

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Mental Health Treatments: Designing with the Patient in View

Posted December 6, 2022

I have often thought mental health issues weren’t to be taken too seriously. This is because the issue and its treatment, especially therapy, is not considered a major topic of…

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Social Impact Through Investment: Our First Impact Report

Posted October 14, 2022

When we started the Institute four years ago this month, we all agreed very quickly that our mission was going to be to close equity gaps across America. We decided…

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Authentic Impact: A reflection on our first Founder Summit

Posted October 6, 2022

I’ve been lucky enough to have worked at the AmFam Institute since its inception in 2019. Being part of the founding team has given me a front row seat to…

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Investing for Impact in Healthy Youth Development

Posted July 21, 2022

This summer marks the start of the AmFam Institute's fourth year of making investments into social impact startups. Three years ago, we brought our expertise and experience into “dimensioning” what…

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Kids coming back to Milwaukee Public Library after fines paid off

Posted May 19, 2022

Children's librarians at the Milwaukee Public Library say they are starting to see a number of kids come back after their fines were wiped out. The Equity in Education team…

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Youth On Their Own keeps students in school – and on track to graduate

Posted March 10, 2022

It sounds hard to fathom, but thousands of young people experience homelessness every day. While most aren’t sleeping on the street or in shelters, they’re still moving from place to…

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The Hispanic Promise: Si Se Puede

Posted March 1, 2022

I’ll never forget one of the first external events I attended as a new Community and Social Impact Director with American Family Insurance. It was the annual Latino Chamber of…

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Founder Wellness Initiative

Posted February 10, 2022

An open letter to our portfolio company founders and the startup community Founder Wellness We are excited to announce the next element of our platform and portfolio services focused on…

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Webinar features Jonathan Scott, filmmaker of “Jonathan Scott’s Power Trip” and BlocPower CEO

Posted November 19, 2021

Recently, we had the opportunity to bring together two people committed to helping make America's communities more resilient and to close equity gaps in the process.   American Family Insurance…

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