Do You Want Your Child to Graduate?

HACM's award-winning Education Initiative can help! A remarkable 91% of high school seniors in the program have graduated high school since the program was started in 2005, compared to 69% among their peers in Milwaukee. The Initiative helps some of Milwaukee's most disadvantaged youth accomplish this first major achievement in adult life and move on to futures of self-sufficiency and fulfillment.

Since 2005, the Education Initiative has sought to improve school attendance and educational achievement among youth living in Highland Homes and Scattered Sites. Our education specialists work with directly with families to promote and strengthen school attendance, academic achievement, and parental involvement in their children's education. An individual educational achievement plan is developed for each child to ensure the program is tailored to their particular needs.

On August 8, 2019, the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee’s Education Initiative celebrated its 14th Annual Student Recognition Ceremony, highlighting the exceptional educational performances of our youth and honoring our high school seniors who graduated. For the 2018-2019 school year, there were approximately 275 youth from 121 families participating in the initiative and the seniors had a 94% graduation rate.

This year’s theme was “Unlimited Possibilities” and Education Initiative participant Machaela Washington-Burrell, a straight-A junior at Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy, encouraged fellow students to, “Think about what you want to do and go for it. Start thinking about what you should do to be successful and actually do it. Get out of your head, get out in the open and get to know people. If you work hard, I guarantee opportunities will come to you.”

To learn more about the Education Initiative, contact Shahira Taylor, Education Specialist, at 414-286-5780 or Shahira.Taylor@hacm.org.

Watch this video from the ReThink Housing campaign to see how the program impacted one family: