Milwaukee Succeeds gets big grant; will focus on 3rd grade reading

The Helen Bader Foundation on Monday committed a three-year, $300,000 grant to The Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Milwaukee Succeeds public / private initiative, the GMC has announced.

The mission of the partnership – the Bader Foundation sits on the Milwaukee Succeeds Executive Committee and Leadership Council – is to improve education in Milwaukee.

“All of us in Milwaukee have a stake in providing promising futures to our city’s most vulnerable young people, so they can start on a path to a healthy, productive adulthood,” said Daniel Bader, president of the Helen Bader Foundation in a statement.

“Milwaukee Succeeds offers an opportunity to work outside of our silos and begin to target long-term, data-driven positive results for our children and young adults, as well support the future economic well-being of our community.”

The grant is part of the Bader Foundation’s Community Initiatives program, which supports various quality-of-life programs for greater Milwaukee’s vulnerable populations.

Milwaukee Succeeds has selected boosting reading proficiency among third graders as its first major area of focus. According to a statement, “The group will examine current programs and strategies addressing the issue, explore short-term and long-term strategies and identify what role Milwaukee Succeeds can play in improving the outcomes.”

“It is an ambitious goal, but one that Milwaukee Succeeds members thought was critical in the early educational achievement of our city’s youth,” said John Schlifske, chairman and CEO of Northwestern Mutual and one of the partnership’s chairs.