Impact Stories

George Hinton CEO, Social Development Commission For more than 50 years, the Social Development Commission (SDC) has served as a planner, coordinator, and provider of human service programs for low-income individuals and families in Milwaukee County. Our Mission: Empowering Milwaukee County residents with the resources to move beyond poverty. With assistance from Forward Community Investments, […]

A small loan enables an agency to provide real-world job skills training to people with disabilities while producing healthy food for the surrounding community. Challenge Opportunity Center in Prairie du Chien, WI is a 50-year-old nonprofit that provides real-work employment opportunities, skill development training and socialization/communication activities to clients with disabilities. The produce and tilapia

Jill W. Pfeiffer Development Director at Operation Fresh Start Operation Fresh Start (OFS) provides Dane County youth a path to self-sufficiency through education and job training. In Dane County there are over 4,000 disconnected youth, ages 16 – 24. The vast majority of them have not completed high school and many lack the connections and

Challenge Jo’s is located in the Washington Heights neighborhood in Milwaukee, an area with a 26% poverty rate and an unemployment rate of nearly 10%. Of the 300 children served by Jo’s Early Learning Academy prior to this expansion, nearly all receive assistance through the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program. There is a severe

Challenge Launched in 2007, Achieve Center, Inc. (ACI), provides mental health and learning services for children, adults, and families impacted by learning disabilities, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, memory problems, concussion/brain injury, and various other cognitive, developmental, and physical challenges. A large share of ACI’s clients are low-income, with 60% of them eligible for Medicaid. ACI’s

Challenge Community First, Inc. (CFI) offers vital services to distressed inner-city Milwaukee neighborhoods by managing rehabilitation projects to ensure that families are provided professional, insured, licensed and timely contractor services. In terms of social impact, you would be hard-pressed to find an organization that delivers such life-altering services for clients, and for no out of

Where there was once a long-closed Blockbuster Video store, a Fox Valley health care organization now operates a dental clinic that happily serves Medicaid patients and other under served clientele. Challenge The Appleton-based Partnership Community Health Center has been providing health services to lower-income individuals and families in the Fox Valley area since 1997, when