Our Mission: Explaining and Reducing Poverty in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
Where Meeting Basic Needs Inspires Hope
Since 1976, Community Advocates (CA) has maintained and strengthened its mission to provide basic needs advocacy and services to low-income, at-risk individuals and families in the Milwaukee area. Our services include health care advocacy, case management and protective payee services, homelessness prevention, energy assistance, disability advocacy services, and housing/case management services for individuals who are homeless and also have chronic mental illness. At the heart of our mission, our Public Policy Institute’s goal is to explain and reduce poverty in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
Community Advocates has a rich history of creating partnerships and collaborations to solve problems. As the lead agency for Milwaukee’s Continuum of Care, Community Advocates is a recognized leader in providing services to the homeless. Through its Milwaukee Women’s Center division, CA provides comprehensive domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health services. Finally, as the lead agency for Milwaukee Brighter Futures, CA oversees programs for children, youth and their families that help prevent teen pregnancy, child abuse and neglect, violence, gang involvement and alcohol and drug abuse.
Harvard Study: Stimulus Funds Prevent Homelessness for 836 Families in Milwaukee County
An influx of federal stimulus funding to stem evictions and prevent homelessness in Milwaukee County has saved at least 836 families from homelessness, according to a Harvard University study examining local eviction records.
The study shows that from August 2009—when Community Advocates’ stimulus-funded landlord-tenant mediation programs began—to March 2010, 836 fewer eviction cases were filed than compared to a year earlier, from August 2008 to March 2009. A month-to-month comparison shows an average decrease of 15 percent, and in some cases in excess of 20 percent.
Read the news release and coverage in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Joseph Volk Op-Ed: “A lesson in Kalamazoo’s ‘Promise’”
On Aug. 15 Joseph Volk, Community Advocates Chief Operating Officer, published an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel discussing efforts by advocates to return viability and success to Milwaukee Public Schools. According to Volk, a potential solution might look like the Kalamazoo Promise program, an initiative funded by three anonymous donors that provides full scholarships to any public Michigan college for all students who graduate from Kalamazoo Public Schools. Read the full op-ed here.
Visit our program and partner sites for in-depth information about each:
Program Brochures and 2008 Annual Report
Download low-resolution print brochures in PDF format:
¿No Habla Ingles?
Nosotros le podemos ayudar. Para información en Español llame al (414) 449-4777 ext. 106 y pida hablar con un representante que hable Español del departamento deseado.
