Grant funds Milwaukee early childhood, family support programs

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced on Thursday, April 18 grant funding for six organizations to provide early childhood development support for children and families in the community.  

"Our mission in Milwaukee County -- by reaching racial equity, we'll become the healthiest county in the state of Wisconsin," Crowley said.

Milwaukee County and the Community Advocates Public Policy Institute have selected six agencies to receive approximately $800,000 in grants, funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), for early childhood and family strengthening projects. 

"We know that there has been many issues related to child care within the past couple of years so this is our way to address them as root causes and
invest right here in our own community," Crowley said.

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The six agencies were selected through a request for proposal competitive application process and the $800,000 in grant dollars will be allocated across the six organizations. 

The following projects will receive ARPA funding:

• Jewish Family Services (JFS) – This project will expand services to develop two levels of classroom interventions. Tier 1 is for the whole classroom and providing wellness-based, psychoeducational services that promote social emotional learning, and Tier 2 will be small group which will teach kids to identify and regulate intense emotions, find focus, and build relationships using interactive and expressive activities. JFS will model these interventions so that each participating teacher will have the tools to continue the interventions.
• The Parenting Network – This project will implement a new initiative, Triple P for Baby, designed to prepare first time parents for a positive transition into parenthood and their baby’s first year. This program will increase communication and relationship skills, increase social support and resource awareness, and increase father involvement, positive parenting practices and parent-child relationship quality.
• Penfield Children’s Center – This project will increase the Early Education & Care Teacher’s understanding of the foundations of neurodevelopment and enhance knowledge of strategies that support social and emotional well-being, along with developing tools to empower families and caregivers to extend work into the home and other environments. The intention is to create a positive ripple effect throughout the Early Education & Care program, fostering a culture of emotional intelligence and resilience that benefits teachers, children, parents and caregivers.
• United Community Center – This project will create a sustainable model of whole childcare and family support that will enhance home/school continuity, and thus, the Building Resilience Initiative’s overall long-term positive impacts. This will be done through a new parent education class with Positive Solutions for Families curriculum, as well as increasing parent and staff access to 1:1 mental health counseling.
• Wisconsin Alliance for Infant Mental Health – This project will aim to build and sustain a culturally responsive and holistic Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation system that supports the mental, social, and emotional health of infants and young children in the context of their primary relationships. Supporting consultants to build and increase their skills through the Community of Practice and Reflective Supervision to provide support to early childhood providers in child/family, classroom/home, programmatic and community levels.
• Wisconsin Latino Chamber of Commerce – This project will create 15 new childcare centers with an anticipated 100 new childcare slots within targeted regions of Milwaukee County to address the specific needs of the Latino community. Additionally, it will foster entrepreneurship and economic empowerment within the Latino demographic, thereby contributing to socio-economic advancement and community development. This will be done through a strong mentorship and training cohort model.

"We know that by giving Milwaukee children a strong start in life, we can help contribute to their future success," Crowley said. "The economic and health costs of not having a robust early childhood, system are substantial."

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The selected partners and their projects will work to help Milwaukee County families thrive and provide them with techniques to enhance the development and learning potential of children in the community.

"We're not only meeting a critical need for our community, but also contributing to socioeconomic advancement and community development," said Javier Acevedo with the Wisconsin Latino Chamber of Commerce. "Through the federal program, we aim to create a network of childcare centers that not only provided that not only provide exceptional care and education for our children, but also serve as hubs of economic activity and empowerment for our community."