Founded as a “settlement house” style neighborhood center to serve the residents of Westlawn Housing Development and the surrounding area, Silver Spring Neighborhood Center started as a 3,000 square foot building with an adjoining playground.

SSNC started a licensed day care, becoming one of the oldest licensed day care programs in the city.

Partnered with Milwaukee Area Technical College to offer adult education classes. This partnership remains today.

The Turning Point Learning Center (now the Silver Spring Academy) opened its doors to tutor pupils who were in danger of failing in their regular school.

The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Silver Spring Community Nursing Center began its pilot program. The Nursing Center focused on the whole person, particularly concerning wellness and preventative medicine.

Turning Point became a full-fledged alternative middle school.

Milwaukee Public Schools invited SSNC and the Housing Authority into a three-way partnership, which resulted in the construction of a Browning Elementary School attachment.

With the completion of the Browning Elementary School addition, Silver Spring Neighborhood Center now occupies over 11 times the space of the original building.

SSNC and Browning received the prestigious MANDI (Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation) Award, which recognizes a non-profit/public project which best enhances and promotes neighborhood development.

By 2010, the center was running full steam with our 10 Centers of Excellence Programs that included Early Childhood Development, Afterschool Recreation, Teen Enrichment, Adult Employment and Education, Youth Sports, Family Nights, UW-Milwaukee/Silver Spring Community Nursing Center, Community Connections and our Emergency Services Food Pantry. 

Once again, we received the prestigious MANDI Award. This time we also received The BMO Harris Cornerstone Award recognized the SSNC for our commitment and effectiveness over time. We were also one of three winners in the Wells Fargo People’s Choice Award, an online social media campaign that selected public picks for three winners across all award categories.

This one was so big we decided it needed it's own bullet point. In 2017, we received a beautiful Multi-Sport Complex gifted to us by the Milwaukee Bucks and Johnson Controls. This included a basketball park, a soccer practice field, and recreation space.