Hero of the Week 12/4/20 (Winter Appeal)

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Hello friends, family, and supporters of the SSNC,

 

Every Friday we love sharing stories of the heroes who make our community successful. The number of people who give their time, money, or skills to help thousands of folks in Northwest Milwaukee who are in need of a helping hand is beyond inspiring. Every once in a while, however, we need to share the realities of how these services are provided. We know it’s a bit uncomfortable to peek behind the curtain but we truly need your help.

Our work, whether it’s caring for infants in our childhood development center, helping adults finish their education or re-enter the workforce, offering academic enrichment and counseling to teens, or fighting food insecurity with our community gardens and food pantry, requires funding. We are so appreciative of the many incredible supporters who believe in our vision. However, without the proper resources, we are unable to deliver needed services and fulfil our mission.

Community change with this kind of impact is certainly our passion, but requires vast resources to produce. Let’s take a moment to cover what these donations will impact by taking a quick stroll through our services from the babies to our seniors.

For the little ones, we have the Elaine Schreiber Child Development Center, which offers services for ages 6 weeks to 12 years old. It's a 4-star YoungStar Accredited, one of the only ones in Northwest Milwaukee.

• We serve approximately 100 children ages six weeks to 12 years

• 90% of our Early Childhood Education participants are at age-appropriate reading level by third grade compared to just 12% in Milwaukee Public Schools

• 95% of participants improved communication skills and 95% of children displayed developmental improvement in cognitive skills

As they get older, we have a variety of programming for children and teens and multiple partnerships we're proud of. We actually share the same building as Browning Elementary (an MPS school) and many of the program participants are from there. We have: 

• afterschool programming (Continued Learning Center)

• teen leadership programs

• literacy programs with organizations like SHARP literacy and Literacy Services of Wisconsin

• drug and violence prevention programs

• art / music / recreation activities

• college tours

• math programming

• Learning programs mixed with athleticism with organizations such as America SCORES and Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation

 

As they continue to grow, we have a program for Opportunity Youth (OY), which is defined as young people who are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market and are between the ages 16-24..

• There are approximately 16,300 OY in the City of Milwaukee according to a 2018 Milwaukee Succeeds report, 3,500 of which reside in the Silver Spring/Havenwood community and are disproportionately African American

• Approximately 66% of OY live below 200% of the federal poverty level

To continue services for when folks are adults, we have both adult education and adult employment programs. 

• Silver Spring Neighborhood Center is one of four administering agencies of Transform Milwaukee Jobs Program (TMJP)

• Participants enrolled in TMJP are placed in subsidized jobs with local businesses within our collaborative network

• After successfully completing six months or 1,040 hours of subsidized work, participants gain unsubsidized jobs with their host employer or employment opportunities elsewhere

• For our adult education programming, we help folks get their GEDs or high school equivalency in a partnership with MATC

We also have a food pantry that fights insecurity in the 53218, 53209, and 53225 zip codes

• Our four-day-a-week Emergency Food Pantry is available to residents. Last year we serviced more than 3,000 different people in the community

• On Fridays, senior citizens from any zip code can receive a stock box containing a three-day supply of emergency food

• We support pregnant women and their families by providing baby food, diapers, wipes, formula, and pre and postnatal resources.

We want to thank you for taking the time to learn a little more about the SSNC about what we do. We are passionate about the great work we do and the community we serve. However, it is a reality that to continue the SSNC’s mission, we require support from our partners and friends.

Will you consider donating to support the SSNC?

Any level of support or donation helps and we cannot thank you enough for allowing us to serve our community.