Increasing economic opportunities

Greater Milwaukee Committee: $100,000 to support efforts of the organization’s Downtown Task Force to engage the community in the design and priority-setting process regarding the upcoming civic and infrastructure projects planned for downtown Milwaukee.

Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership: $35,000 to support outreach and recruitment efforts to connect underrepresented groups in Milwaukee’s 53204 ZIP code area to careers in construction and manufacturing.

S.E.T. Ministry: $25,000 to provide intensive case management services to families who participated in the agency’s transitional housing program and are moving into independence or other supportive programs.

MetroGO!: $25,000 to provide leadership to a cross-sector efforts that will expand transit options in pursuit of increasing employment opportunity and meeting labor force needs.

Second Chances Staffing Services: $1,000 to support a joint effort to provide resources and services to help individuals with nonviolent criminal records secure employment and housing.


Strengthening education

Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation: $100,000 to increase access to Advanced Placement courses in 18 high schools in the district through interactive video communication.

Public Policy Forum: $100,000 (over two years) to fund education research that analyze career and technical education offerings at area high schools and that updates the status of YoungStar implementation in Milwaukee County and what it means for child care quality and access.

Marquette University: $50,000 to provide professional development and coaching to 27 teachers who are part of the university’s Milwaukee Summer Reading Project who are teaching reading to students who are not on grade level.

Center for Youth Engagement: $25,000 to conduct a fiscal scan of all local public funding that supports youth development in the city of Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Ballet Company: $25,000 to support ballet instruction for third- through fifth-graders in four Milwaukee schools as part of the organization’s Releve community outreach program.

Running Rebels: $25,000 to support a number of arts-based youth programs.

Cedarburg School District: $24,350 to help implement the Junior Great Books Program, a reading curriculum that teaches students to become critical thinkers, in Webster Transitional School.

String Academy of Wisconsin: $6,000 to support high quality professional music instruction in violin, viola and cello for low-income students at Milwaukee’s Cass Street and Escuela Vieau schools.


Strengthening Neighborhoods

Dominican Center for Women: $120,000 (over three years) to support the agency’s continued efforts toward implementing the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program in Milwaukee’s Amani neighborhood.

Center for Youth Engagement: $30,000 to support its Beyond the Bell initiative, which works to increase access to high-quality programs for area youth.

Jazale’s Art Studio: $25,000 to build the nonprofit’s capacity to provide free after school and summer learning opportunities for 200 low-income youth of color in Harambee, Bronzeville and Riverwest neighborhoods.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: $14,214 to conduct an analysis of Milwaukee’s trail network and identify areas within low-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods that lack trail access. The goal is to ensure that low-income communities have equal access to safe transportation and exercise options.


Regional vitality

Waukesha County Land Conservancy: $100,000 (over two years) to help the all-volunteer run organization transition to a new structure, which includes hiring paid staff, creating new operating systems and producing a long-term strategic plan.

Sojourner Family Peace Center: $80,000 (over two years) to support a full-time position within its Connection Navigator Program that will connect individuals and families impacted by violence with the programs and services offered at the agency’s new family justice center building.

Ozaukee Washington Land Trust: $45,000 to help develop a pilot project, in partnership with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and the Fondy Food Center, which will protect local farms so they could provide fresh produce to underserved areas in Milwaukee.

NAMI Greater Milwaukee: $40,000 to implement a court support and advocacy program in Milwaukee that will provide support, education and appropriate resources to individuals and their families who become involved in the Chapter 51 Emergency Detention process.

United Community Center: $35,000 to help with predevelopment and planning work for the agency’s planned expansion of its Latinas Unidas Women’s Residential and Recovery Treatment program through construction of a 16-bed facility. The program is one of four residential treatment facilities for women in Milwaukee County and the only location designed specifically for Latinos in Wisconsin.

Express Yourself Milwaukee: $30,000 to help the agency’s work with young adults who are transitioning from the corrections system to the community and improve recidivism rates.

Harbor District: $25,000 to support research and the incorporation of models of planning which preserve affordability for both homeowners and small businesses in Milwaukee’s Harbor District.

Family Service Agency of Waukesha County: $10,000 to repair the roof and gutters of a facility that houses two programs that serve abused children.

LISC Milwaukee: $10,000 to help establish a community development fellows program in honor of President and CEO Michael Rubinger, who will retire in June 2016.

ArtWorks for Milwaukee: $10,000 to support “Culture Work,” an intergenerational mural project that will preserve the local history of Latino workers through oral histories, a filmed documentary by 2013 Nohl Fellow Cris Siquiera and a large-scale mural on the Betters-Fetting Building on First and Mitchell streets in Milwaukee.

Black Arts Think Tank: $5,000 to help underwrite the group’s second annual artist meet and greet fundraising event.

Girls on the Run of Greater Milwaukee: $5,000 to implement its 10-week character and leadership development program at two new sites within Milwaukee’s low-income neighborhoods that will ultimately engage 40 third-graders and culminate in a 5k run.

CEOs for Cities: $3,000 to support engagement of Milwaukee leaders in the cross-sector, cross-city leadership program.

Cedarburg Art Museum: $2,500 to support an exhibition of the artwork of renowned African American artist, Charly Palmer, who was raised in Milwaukee. Called “In My Lifetime,” the retrospective spans 30 years of Palmer’s work.

Learn More

dunn-web.pngContact Kathryn Dunn to learn more about our grantmaking strategies.