As this year began, we made a promise to the community to deepen our impact, our connections and our resolve to build a better Milwaukee. We embedded this promise in the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s new strategic vision, where we posited that real change meant bringing more people to the table in voice and power.
As I look around Milwaukee today, I see how the investments we’ve made and the partnerships we’ve leveraged have contributed to the community working together like never before. I recognize this heightened collaboration on two communitywide issues in particular, and it is no coincidence that these areas align tightly with Foundation priorities. Cross-sector partners have taken substantial strides toward expanding access to early childhood education as well as affordable housing in Milwaukee, with an emphasis on solutions that advance racial equity.
While each of us may have varied experiences seeking care and education for our little ones or securing a place to call home, how these sectors function overall has a direct impact on lives, the economy and the well-being of our entire region. Likewise, changing these systems requires our collective ideas and actions, and the Foundation is how Milwaukee works together.
All-in for our youngest learners
Early childhood education has become a top priority for the Foundation – not only is it the best investment we can make in a child’s development and long-term academic success, the system is essential for allowing the parents of young children to work and provide for their families. Understanding this two-generation economic impact has been at the heart of the Foundation’s ability to convene a large group of diverse stakeholders inclusive of those who provide, use and support early care and education services.
First formed to coordinate relief and recovery in response to COVID-19, this group has united as the Milwaukee Early Childhood Education Coalition under the leadership of our experienced Milwaukee Succeeds team. After many months mobilizing and informing the use of millions in public and private dollars to stabilize and support the sector, the coalition has pivoted to long-term systems change.
Today, this includes advocating in one voice for generational investment in the sector as American Rescue Plan Act funds flow into the city and state. This aligned effort is groundbreaking and represents our best opportunity to reinvent the field through better pay, higher quality and expanded access.
Locking arms to design housing strategies
Much like early childhood education, Milwaukee’s housing challenges are far from an overnight crisis. Inequities in this sector manifested long before any of us were born and have been exacerbated by everything from residential segregation to unjust lending practices. Yet, in the dark hours of the pandemic, the light of collaboration shone brightest as a broad collection of funders and stakeholders mustered the community will to develop Milwaukee’s first collective affordable housing strategic plan.
The Foundation is a funder and a founding member of the Community Development Alliance (CDA), which sponsored the plan and aims to advance racial equity by providing a quality, affordable home for every person in Milwaukee. As a well-established alliance, the CDA and its members have been able to convene stakeholders across the community, with 70 experts from dozens of sectors contributing to the plan’s creation, along with residents whom this issue affects most.
Dozens of local studies and quality of life plans also informed the strategies, which include approaches for both “defense” and “offense” – preservation and expansion – of homeownership and rental access. You, too, can lend your voice as the CDA is currently inviting community feedback on which strategies to prioritize and how to best implement them.
A Milwaukee for All takes all of Milwaukee
Throughout this year, the Foundation has focused its efforts where they matter most to support these priorities and help ensure the pace of progress accelerates. Our A Milwaukee for All virtual learning and action series has served to grow related cross-sector knowledge and put our racial equity commitments into practice on a greater scale.
Our June and September events examined equitable economic opportunity (including housing) and early childhood education, respectively. The series will culminate Dec. 3 as Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, joins us to explore the role of philanthropy in social justice. As always, the convening will include opportunities for community dialogue and action through topical On the Table MKE sessions. Stay tuned for details.
The traction gained through these convenings and coalitions is, itself, transformational for Milwaukee. Our collective efforts are mobilizing hundreds of people focused on shared solutions for a thriving community – that’s what I call greater together.
Ellen M. Gilligan
President & CEO