Milwaukee Succeeds

Meet Dan!

Dan Bomberg is an AmeriCorps VISTA member and recent graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. He serves as

the Opportunity Youth Coordinator at Milwaukee Succeeds. His primary role is helping organizations who serve out-of-school/out-of-work youth – known as opportunity youth – better collaborate to assist these young people to reengage in education and employment. One project he’s working on is establishing a reengagement center with the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center and Carmen Schools. The reengagement center will do outreach to connect with opportunity youth, and it will be a place where young people receive support in planning how they would like to reengage in either education or employment. Along with providing planning services, the center will refer young people to programs that assist in reaching their reengagement goals, along with ongoing support for continued engagement through completion. The reengagement center anticipates that entering education and employment will become easier for young people because of this center. Dan helped secure funding for the center, connected staff with reengagement centers in other cities, and helped hire the center director. He is also involved with planning how the center does outreach, youth assessments, referrals, and follow-ups. This project is an example of a neighborhood-based reengagement center. Due to Milwaukee’s urban design, the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center and Carmen Schools believe a neighborhood-based reengagement center versus a centrally-located, citywide one will have a higher impact in reengaging young people in Milwaukee.

A little more about Dan:

What is your favorite city?

Milwaukee—come visit.

If you were a vegetable, what vegetable would you be and why?

A radish. It’s unexpectedly intense, especially since I think a lot of people assume it’ll be more sweet like an apple due to similar aesthetics. I think I can be unexpectedly intense, both with candor and humor. But over time, some people find nuance and enjoyment in the intensity. There can also be twists in flavor. The unexpected keeps things interesting.

Who inspires you and why?

Michelle Jones, an American Studies Ph.D. student at NYU. While serving a two-decade sentence at the Indiana Women’s Prison, she researched and published on the history of prostitution and incarceration, while also writing dance and theatre compositions. What inspires me more than her academic and artistic triumphs is her tenacity to pursue new knowledge despite experiencing forms of oppression and adversity most of us will never know.