MKE Civic Action Team

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation, other public sector and philanthropic partners originally convened the MKE Civic Action Team in 2020 to help the community collectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recession and multiple social justice crises. The team continues to coordinate cross-sector efforts to advance systems change with an emphasis on racial equity. 

Composed of groups focused on the interrelated priorities of food, housing/shelter, mental health, physical health, early childhood education, K-12 education, economic recovery and public policy, the MKE Civic Action Team has convened and facilitated collaboration among those working on systems issues, aligning resources among philanthropic funders as well as with public investment, and maintaining the capacity to understand, inform and collectively advocate for policy. 

From this pivotal work, new collaborative entities emerged, and established organizations strengthened their approaches from the lessons learned and relationships built during the pandemic and beyond. Among them: 

A small coordinating team hosts semi-annual gatherings of all MKE Civic Action Team participants and community leaders to assure that collaborative, cross-sector and cross-workstream awareness continues. 

The Civic Action Team (originally the MKE Civic Response Team) has received national attention for its innovative approach and focus on racial equity. 

Collective Impact Forum Case Studies