Zilber Pledges Millions More To Milwaukee Moms

L to R: Danielle Rodriguez, director of the City of Milwaukee’s Department of Administration. Alderwoman Sharlen Moore, 10th District. Lianna Bishop, Zilber Family Foundation executive director. Natasha Houle, Bridge Project intital cohort mother. Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, 14th District. Suzanna Fritzberg, Bridge Project executive director. Council President José G. Pérez, 12th District. Photo taken by Lauren Hafeman on Sep. 15.

The Zilber Family Foundation announced Tuesday that it will provide $3.1 million to support an expansion of The Bridge Project, a no-strings-attached cash program that provides cash payments low-income Milwaukee mothers.

The announcement comes after the Milwaukee Common Council approved allocating $300,000 of the city’s remaining $617,214 COVID-era American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Bridge Project in May.

The expansion will support a second cohort of at least 180 pregnant mothers over three years. Mothers will receive a $1,125 one-time, upfront prenatal stipend; $750 per month for the first 15 months of program participation; and $375 per month for the remaining 21 months. In total, mothers will receive $20,250 in unrestricted cash support.

Applications will be available online beginning Oct. 1. Eligible participants are selected through a randomized selection process and must be 18 years or older, be 23 weeks pregnant or less, live in the city of Milwaukee, and have an annual household income of less than $39,000.

“With the support of public and private donors, we are excited to [provide] more Milwaukee mothers with economic stability during such a formative period in the lives of their children,” said Lianna Bishop, Zilber executive director, during a press conference.

The project launched in Milwaukee in 2024 with $350,000 in public funding from the city and approximately $1.6 million in seed funding from Zilber, along with other private donations. These investments supported an initial cohort of 122 Milwaukee mothers.

According to survey data from 97 participants in the first cohort, 67% reported a decrease in housing instability after one year, and 35% now report zero housing instability. Food insecurity scores fell by 14%, and moms unable to afford a balanced meal dropped 10%.

“The mothers we serve everyday in Milwaukee show us that they are making the best choices for their children,” said Suzanna Fritzberg, Bridge Project’s executive director. “We see that in stronger and healthier babies. We see that in housing stability. A helping hand can absolutely forge a better life.”

Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, chair of the Finance and Personnel Committee, has been a key supporter of the Bridge Project since its 2024 launch in Milwaukee. She crafted the proposal that ultimately sent the remaining ARPA funds to the project.

“I see this project as both innovative and preventative. When we can invest on the front end, it will make our work lighter here,” Dimitrijevic told Urban Milwaukee. “It has an upstream impact. We’ll see less evictions, see more housing stability, and I actually believe we’ll see a safer city and less violence.”

While addressing the press, Dimitrijevic said that at the outset of Bridge’s launch in Milwaukee, some saw putting no-strings-attached cash in the hands of Milwaukee moms as “some kind of new, almost radical idea,” but she sees it as “basic.”

“It’s basic human kindness. It’s basic prevention. It’s basic innovation,” she said.

Natasha Houle, a Bridge Project participant from the initial cohort, is a mother of five. Three of her children lost their father to gun violence in 2022. “It isn’t just about the money the Bridge Project brought to me. It was a broader community of other moms that have experienced similar things,” she said. “[The project] opened opportunities for me and doors I wouldn’t have walked into unless I had that extra push and guarantee to do so. My advice to other moms that are thinking, join me.”