Zilber Family Foundation announces $1.7M in grants

MILWAUKEE – The Zilber Family Foundation announced today that its Board of Directors has awarded $1.7 million in grants to 19 nonprofit organizations in Milwaukee, WI and Hawaii. Funding was awarded in alignment with the Foundation’s primary focus areas, including affordable housing, community economic development, and basic human needs.

Ten grants target Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights, Clarke Square, and Layton Boulevard West neighborhoods where the Foundation has directed much of its investment for more than a decade through the Zilber Neighborhood Initiative (ZNI). These grants support community-based organizations to coordinate and implement projects and programs that increase access to quality, affordable housing; provide financial education and skill building opportunities; develop minority-owned small businesses; and build the capacity and effectiveness of residents and nonprofits leading the work. Additionally, basic human needs grants will increase access to a range of services to support the immediate needs of houseless individuals and support early childhood education and youth development programs. The Foundation also announced that its emergency grants for COVID relief, distributed over the prior 12 months, now total $2.3 million.

“The Foundation is pleased to support a set of programs and projects that improve social and economic opportunities for individuals and families in our communities. As we continue to recover from the difficulties presented during the pandemic, philanthropy has an opportunity to support and sustain nonprofit organizations delivering essential services, while also funding innovative ideas to address systemic barriers to prosperity” said Gina Stilp, executive director.

Grants will support:

• Acts Housing to pilot a property tax and repair loan fund for homeowners in the Lindsay Heights, Clarke Square, and Layton Boulevard West neighborhoods.
• Capuchin Community Services to support the St. Ben’s Community Meal Program and other supportive services for people experiencing homelessness, poverty, and hunger.
• Community Development Alliance to support the development of a multi-stakeholder, city-wide affordable housing strategy and implementation plan.
• Escuela Verde to support general operating and program start-up expenses to open the Escuela Verde Newline Community Café in the Layton Boulevard West neighborhood.
• Hawaii Community Foundation to support nonprofit organizations in Hawaii.
• Hawaii Investment Ready to support the start-up of the Hawaii Funder Hui, a network focused on collaboration and information sharing to promote effective philanthropy in Hawaii.
• Hispanic Collaborative to expand a free online marketplace, MercadoMKE, for small businesses in Milwaukee and in the three ZNI neighborhoods to establish an online presence and conduct online sales.
• KEY Project to support the Living Library Project, a media production space for youth and seniors to create virtual stories about the communities’ past, present, and future.
• Make-A-Wish Hawaii to support granting wishes for children in Hawaii who have been diagnosed with a critical medical condition.
• Milwaukee Christian Center to repair and rehab single-family homes and develop new single-family homes in the Clarke Square neighborhood.
• Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity to support critical home repairs for low-to-moderate income homeowners in Lindsay Heights.
• Neu-Life Community Development to support pre-development costs for NeuVue, a mixed-use development that will provide affordable housing and program space for the organization.
• Partners in Care to support and coordinate housing programs for homeless individuals and families through Hawaii’s continuum of care.
• UniteMKE to support the development of two tax-foreclosed properties into affordable residential housing, a local workforce training restaurant, and UniteMKE’s offices.
• Vision to Learn to support the Better Vision for Keiki program to provide free vision care to public school students in Hawaii.
• Walnut Way Conservation Corporation to support the acquisition and redevelopment costs of a commercial property to serve as Blue Skies Landscaping headquarters.
• YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee to support early children education, youth development, and healthy living programming, with a particular focus on serving families from Lindsay Heights.
• YWCA Southeast Wisconsin to continue to support personal financial management coaching, education, and matched savings for Lindsay Heights’ residents.
• Zilber School of Public Health to support the Ron Perez Legacy Fund, and to increase marketing and recruitment efforts to grow undergraduate student enrollment at the Zilber School of Public Health.

A complete list of the Foundation’s 2021 grant recipients is available on the Foundation’s website.

About the Zilber Family Foundation

Formed in 1961 by Joseph J. Zilber, a philanthropist and businessman, the Zilber Family Foundation is a private independent grantmaking institution dedicated to enhancing the well-being of individuals, families, and neighborhoods by supporting nonprofits to address basic needs and personal safety, increase access to social and economic opportunity, and improve the quality of life in neighborhoods.

For more information, please visit: www.zilberfamilyfoundation.org.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.