Milwaukee Succeeds Receives $175,000 Grant to Expand Opportunities for Youth

Milwaukee Succeeds’ Youth Forward MKE Coalition has been chosen by The Wallace Foundation to participate in a one-time, one-year funding opportunity, called Advancing Opportunities for Adolescents. The effort, which involves 30 cross-sector, system-level partnerships, is intended to help strengthen the work of the partnerships in addressing the needs of youth who face barriers to participation in afterschool and summer programs and to build understanding about what partnerships like these are doing and how – insights that can help inform both the sector and potential future Wallace initiatives.

Following an open call for submissions last fall that prompted more than 1,700 expressions of interest, Milwaukee Succeeds was one of 81 partnerships to submit proposals. The 30 partnerships selected reflect urban, suburban, and rural communities across a broad geographic range. Each partnership includes a number of individual entities working together, such as community-based organizations, school districts, out-of-school-time intermediaries, neighborhood development corporations, higher education institutions, businesses, healthcare providers, and city/county offices.

Milwaukee Succeeds’ Youth Forward MKE Coalition will use their $175,000 grant to launch the Milwaukee Freedom Academy, part of Design Your Future Proposal 3, which will provide youth with personal and professional leadership development in anti-racism, organizing and advocacy, culturally and community responsive pedagogy, and trauma-informed healing. The ultimate goal is to create an education-focused Autonomous Youth Council and a local talent pipeline to education. Partners in this work include Teach for America, MENTOR Greater Milwaukee, the Black Educcators Caucus, Urban Underground and SKY Schools.

"We're excited to have our work acknowledged nationally,” says Clintel Hasan, Milwaukee Succeeds’ strategic initiatives manager. “Systems change is difficult and a long process, but the funding from this grant affirms that our approach of centering lived experiences and shifting power to youth in the city is the right approach."

In addition to implementing these activities, Milwaukee Succeeds will be sharing information and progress with other grantees and researchers, including documents and other materials that describe the terms of the partnership, the work being done over the course of the year and observed results.

A full list of the partnerships, along with the activities they will undertake during this period, can be found here.

This effort builds on research that shows high-quality out-of-school-time programs can make important contributions to young people’s intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being, especially for youth who do not thrive in school. Studies have also shown that cross-sector partnerships, which include public and private organizations working in such areas as education, youth development and community health services, can help expand learning and enrichment opportunities for young people who most need them.

“We know from the research that high-quality afterschool and summer learning programs can help young people find purpose and passion as well as support academic success, but not enough opportunities are available, especially for youth who face barriers that may limit their ability to grow and thrive,” said Gigi Antoni, vice president, youth development at The Wallace Foundation. “We are looking forward to learning more with Milwaukee Succeeds and the other partnerships about how they are making a difference and serving young people in their communities, and what factors assist or impede their efforts.”

A research team from American Institutes for Research will follow and document the work of the partnerships. This research is intended to be useful both to each partnership and to the larger cohort, as well as to Wallace.

In addition to funding, each partnership will have access to peer learning, technical assistance and other supports provided by Community Wealth Partners and Dax-Dev Consulting.