Second Quarter 2019

Responsive Grantmaking

Bradley Family Foundation: $130,000 for the Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists Program, a program for established and emerging artists, and the Suitcase Export Fund, to enable artists to showcase their work through exhibitions and screens outside of the Milwaukee area.

Marcus Center for the Performing Arts: $100,000 to support internal and external capital improvements related to the Todd Wehr Theater space.

Milwaukee County Historical Society: $25,000 for Milwaukee Treasures, a community-sourced exhibit of rarely seen treasures highlighting key themes in Milwaukee’s history.

TRUE Skool: $25,000 for its creative arts and community engagement program, which engages youth, 14-19 years old, in fall and spring after-school creative arts sessions, summer leadership and entrepreneur activities.

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts: $22,000 for its arts education programming for youth of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, with a focus on the 53204 neighborhood and underrepresented populations.

Renaissance Theaterworks: $20,000 for its Fran Bauer Young Critics Project, which addresses the chronic lack of representation in the field of theatrical critics by identifying, educating and inspiring young women of color in the art of theatrical critical writing. Renaissance is partnering with PEARLS for Teen Girls on the program.

Milwaukee Film: $20,000 for sponsorship of its 2019-20 Education Screenings for students in grades 1-12 during the annual film festival and throughout the year.

Radio Milwaukee: $20,000 for Backline, a talent accelerator program for local musicians designed to help support the local music scene grow and to attract young talent to Milwaukee.

Arts@Large: $15,000 for the Maturing Artists Program, a new initiative that will engage Milwaukee’s maturing artist community in mentorship opportunities with emerging artists, enable them to share their art with diverse groups of audiences and provide contracted services work for artists as they enter this new chapter of their lives.

Ex Fabula: $15,000 for Brave Space, a program in which the agency will build community members’ storytelling skills and confidence – particularly black professionals, fathers of color and veterans.

Express Yourself Milwaukee: $15,000 for three visual arts-related programs that will serve about 1,400 culturally diverse, high-risk youth ages 7 to 21 who have experienced violence and poverty.

Housing Action Coalition of Waukesha County: $15,000 for winter overflow shelter for single women and women and their children who are experiencing homelessness.

Ko-Thi Dance Company: $15,000 for its 50th year celebration, which will run through August 2020 and include two performance concert series as well as master classes, community panel discussions and lectures.

Latino Arts: $15,000 for its 2019-2020 visual arts season.

Milwaukee Artist Resource Network: $15,000 for MARNMentors, a yearlong program that combines creative and business learning experiences that further the artistic and economic prospects of emerging arts through monthly critiques, one-on-one sessions with local business professionals, professional development workshops or webinars and networking events.

Skylight Music Theatre Corp: $15,000 for its Enlighten Performing Arts Education Program, which serves 13,000 K-12 students annually through musical theatre and writing workshops, interactive touring shows, student matinees and unique activities that meet schools’ specific needs.

Riveredge Nature Center: $15,000 for a community-based art project developed and showcased at its River Outpost facility, set to open in summer 2019. A piece of permanent visual art, developed and created by communities throughout greater Milwaukee, will be on display at the new building.

United Performing Arts Fund: $15,000 for UPAF Connect, a community outreach program that increases accessibility to the arts for individuals and families that lack the resources to experience these assets.

Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation: $12,700 to support the final exhibitions of The Art Start Portrait Project, an intensive, multimedia, arts-focused collaborative program in collaboration with Turnaround Arts and MPS’s Department of Black and Latino Male Achievement.

American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Federation: $10,000 to support three of its programs – public art student alliances, summer justice institute and youth social justice forum – which promote social change by fostering youth leadership.

Historic Milwaukee: $10,000 for the ninth annual Doors Open MKE event.

Milwaukee Art Museum: $10,000 for ArtXpress, a summer internship program for 18 students with the goal of expanding their career horizons. The 2019 program will be inspired by the museum’s “James Nares: Moves” exhibition, where students will work with contemporary artists to create public artwork, educate children and complete a public event to connect peers and families to the museum.

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design: $10,000 for “Reclaiming Our Time,” an exhibition that will display framed works by 14 artists from women, people of color and queer and trans artists. MIAD is partnering with Strange Fire Collective on the exhibition.

Milwaukee Jewish Federation Inc.: $10,000 for “Marc Chagall: Le Cirque,” a multi-pronged exhibit exploring artist Marc Chagall and the circus.

Museum of Wisconsin Art: $10,000 for “Downtown at MOWA / DTN,” an exhibition at the new Saint Kate Arts Hotel in downtown Milwaukee that will bring the past and present together with historical works from the early 20th century and contemporary works by nine Wisconsin artists.

TimeSlips Creative Storytelling: $8,000 to continue a program that began in 2018 with a group of individuals at St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care. Through creative engagement sessions, people with cognitive and physical impairments developed an imaginary world of superhero alter egos.

Local Initiatives Support Corp.: $5,000 to support the agency’s 40th anniversary celebration.

New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: $5,000 to support the Community Foundation Opportunity Network.

Near West Side Partners: $2,550 for “Evicted” an exhibition based on Matthew Desmond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book. The exhibit will be housed at the Mobile Design Box, which currently occupies space at 753 N. 27th St. in the Near West Side neighborhood.


Connected People

Literacy Lab: $50,000 to continue the Leading Men Fellowship Program in Milwaukee beyond its pilot year. The program aims to recruit 10 young men of color as literacy tutors and place them in pre-K classrooms, ultimately serving 150 students.

Milwaukee Public Library Foundation: $50,000 for Ready to Read, an early literacy program that provides research-based teaching strategies, support and coaching for child care providers and parents.

Teach for America: $50,000 for the recruitment and professional development of five high quality early childhood education teachers to address the early childhood educator shortage and effectively improve outcomes for children ages 5 and younger.

United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County: $50,000 to support the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative Collaborative Fund focused on teen pregnancy and sexual violence prevention. 

Center for Urban Teaching: $25,000 for the training and participation of 30 teachers who serve in 15 kindergarten classrooms during the agency’s summer school program.

COA Youth & Family Center: $25,000 for the HIPPY program, an evidence-based, internationally recognized school readiness program that serves low-income families of preschool children ages 2 to 5.

Highland Community School Inc: $25,000 for its Montessori Toddler Early Childhood Program, which serves 28 children and their families using evidence-based, culturally appropriate practices, wraparound services and parental education.

Next Door Foundation: $25,000 to support a success coach who would support the organization’s teaching staff in handling stress caused by poverty and trauma. The coach will use a trauma-informed approach to collaborate with employees to identify needs, set goals, develop plans of action and connect employees to community and professional resources.

St. Marcus Lutheran Church: $25,000 to implement the Stimulating Maturity Through Accelerated Readiness Training program with its kindergarten teachers.

Stellar Collegiate: $5,000 to support co-teachers experience coaching from the lead teacher and school leaders while engaging in home visits and school events to build relationships and understand the needs of their students and families.

YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee: $25,000 to provide an entry-level early childhood education career path for interested parents and/or caregivers including introductory trainings and prerequisite entry-level, noncredit-based courses led by trainers hired by the YMCA. The project also will offer parents, caregivers, ECE staff and the public an eight-session module that covers the science behind early learning developmental stages.

United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County: $15,200 to support the Westlawn Best Babies Zone, a place-based approach to reducing disparities in infant mortality and birth outcomes by mobilizing community residents and organizational partners to address the social and economic determinants of health.

Parenting Network: $3,160 for facilitation of three parent focus groups that will help inform research conducted by IFF on the accessibility and affordability of early child care and education in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Public Library Foundation: $1,900 to support the Office of Early Childhood Initiative to host three separate community screenings of the documentary, “No Small Matter,” which illustrates the importance of the first five years of childhood.


Thriving Communities 

Greater Milwaukee Committee for Community Development: $75,000 for a lead position for the African American Leadership Alliance Milwaukee, a cross-sector collaboration of Milwaukee-area leaders who develop and support African American leadership. The position will coordinate and align all the alliance’s efforts and serve as a liaison with key stakeholders.

La Casa de Esperanza: $75,000 for its financial literacy program, which helps almost 500 low-income individuals acquire the Earned Income Tax Credit and educates them on how to manage their money, establish credit and build assets.

Lead2Change: $37,500 to support an 11-month career readiness program designed to engage high school students in cultivating their dreams, exploring their strengths and building their futures.

Roots for the Home Team: $10,000 to support an entrepreneurial-style youth development program.

Menomonee Valley Partners: $5,000 to sponsor the Urban Manufacturing Alliance’s annual gathering, which will be held in Milwaukee in June 2019. The annual gathering highlights the work of a legacy manufacturing city. In 2019, it will highlight the work of Milwaukee’s industrial districts to grow and sustain Milwaukee’s manufacturing base.

Sixteenth Street Community Health Center: $2,500 for the 2019 Latino Health Equity Summit.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation: $2,000 for sponsorship of the 2019 MANDI Awards event, which promotes neighborhood and community development efforts in Milwaukee.

371 Productions: $40,000 to support a documentary series that follows the Shorewood community as it tries to address racial inequities.

Walnut Way Conservation Corporation: $25,000 for the green ambassador and beautification program in Lindsay Heights.

Harbor District: $25,000 to redesign public access trails, a kayak launch and educational information in an eight-acre wetland in the heart of the Harbor District.

Housing Resources: $20,000 to provide education, resources and housing services to residents of Milwaukee’s Sherman Park East neighborhood who are looking to become homeowners.


Learn More

hines-janel.jpgContact Janel Hines to learn more about our grantmaking strategies.