Neighborhood House of Milwaukee

MISSION: To build a strong community by strengthening individuals, families, and the neighborhood.

Neighborhood House of Milwaukee is one of the city's leading nonprofit organizations founded in 1945 in the settlement house tradition and has served nearly one million poor in urban neighborhoods. Having a diverse clientele, staff and board, our mission is to build a strong community by strengthening individuals, families and the neighborhood.

Since 1945, Neighborhood House of Milwaukee (NH) has provided innovative programs for nearly a million infants, children, teens, adult family members, and refugees. We are a nonprofit agency with diverse participants, staff and board that promotes human dignity, individual potential and self-sufficiency. Our programs constantly evolve to meet the changing needs of our families and community through our highly qualified and tenured staff and excellent, structured enrichment programs. NH offers a wide variety of social, educational, and recreational programs spanning the lifecycle:

EARLY CHILDHOOD SERVICES – Neighborhood House has long been known for its excellent early childhood program and for decades has been consistently rated in the top 1% of state-licensed early-childhood education programs in Milwaukee. Our ECS program, for children from 6 weeks through 6 years of age, has licensed and long-tenured teachers, an award-winning Playground Habitat, and highly organized and monitored curriculum.

YOUTH PROGRAM (7 through 12 years) – University of Kids Club, an environmentally-themed, after-school program emphasizes academic enrichment and character-building; and Summer Day Camp, one of the oldest and most established in the city, offers computer education, arts and crafts, organized sports, field trips, and outdoor/environmental education.

TEEN PROGRAM – inspired by the Search Institute’s “40 Developmental Assets,” the positive experiences and personal qualities that young people need to grow up as healthy, caring, and responsible adults. The NH teen program comprises teen enrichment, academic support & career development, community involvement & leadership, and organized sports. Teens also have access to a 20-terminal computer lab and programs for academic support and computer education.

OUTDOOR/ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION(OEE) – incorporates environmental education, outdoor adventures, and sustainable gardening into a program that permeates every NH activity. Our OEE program is unique in that it includes our science lab, our award-winning, quarter-acre Play & Garden Habitat, our 93-acre Nature Center, and a city green space called The Urban Treehouse that Neighborhood House manages in a partnership with the city of Milwaukee.

INTERNATIONAL LEARNING CENTER (ILC) – a family-focused literacy and skills development program for recent immigrants and refugees and their children, many of whom have been through war, famine, persecution and other trauma. The ILC is the state's leading center for refugees and serves 600 refugees and their families annually from 25 countries, including Hmong, Burmese, Somali and Somali Bantu. The ILC promotes literacy, life skills, citizenship, and also has a licensed child care.

NH COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER (CLC) - located at Story Elementary, the CLC offers activities for NH and MPS children such as after-school study labs and special interest enrichment programs.

COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPROVEMENT FOR MILWAUKEE'S CHILDREN(CHIMC) is a partnership located at NH between the Medical College of Wisconsin, Neighborhood House of Milwaukee and Next Door. This eight-year initiative seeks to improve urban children's lives by improving their vaccination rates and other basic health needs of children. Children in NH's immediate neighborhood suffer a 30% lower vaccination rate than the rest of Wisconsin's children.

ADULT & FAMILY PROGRAMS – provides opportunities for families to spend quality time together as well as life skills development opportunities, including money management, family outings, socialization opportunities, and nutrition. There are also weekly educational and recreational activities for older adults.

WHO WE SERVE: NH serves some of the most at-risk central city neighborhoods and children in Milwaukee. Its core service area is bounded by 35th Street (west), 20th Street (east), Cherry Street (north), and Wisconsin Avenue (south). But our agency reach extends much farther. According to 2000 census data, nearly one-third of NH target area are children; 73% of our participants have household annual incomes less than $25,000; and 48% having annual household income of less than $15,000. NH serves clientele that have some of the highest rates in the city of poverty, crime, unemployment, teen pregnancy, STDs, and drop-outs and truancy.