United Way Works to End our Community’s Education Crisis Education is the cornerstone of individual and community success. But with more than 2,400 students in grades 7 through 12 dropping out each year, Milwaukee faces an education crisis. That means about 40% of ninth graders won’t make it to graduation. The cost? More than $624 million in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes.
Education Facts • Risky behaviors are a primary warning sign for dropping out of school, equally important as academic performance and attendance. • One in five high school students in Milwaukee skip school on any given day. • Milwaukee fourth- and eighth-graders are near the bottom of the proficiency list among 18 urban districts. • Only 28% of Milwaukee 10th-graders were rated proficient in math in 2009. • Reports over the last decade show Milwaukee has one of the largest gaps in the U.S. between white and black students in reading and math. These trends are reversible, but only when communities and public, private and nonprofit sectors work together. Our Goal United Way of Greater Milwaukee helps children and youth achieve their potential through education by increasing the number of local children who: • enter school ready to succeed • read proficiently by 4th grade • graduate from high school on time • are prepared for success in college, work and life Our Strategy We can’t focus on high school alone. High school dropouts are 12 years in the making, usually starting early childhood education behind schedule. United Way's model focuses on supportive communities, effective schools and strong families — strategies and approaches rooted in research. Tackling the education challenge requires reframing education on a birth to 21 continuum. United Way of Greater Milwaukee invests over $5 million each year in the futures of nearly 100,000 local children by: • improving access to quality, affordable child care and early childhood education • partnering with schools and parents to improve literacy and graduation rates • providing after-school and mentoring programs for at-risk youth How You Can Help To improve Education in our community, we need your help. The strategies proven to work are those that connect communities to their schools: parent involvement; literacy volunteers in the classroom; mentors for disadvantaged students; business leaders engaged in early childhood advocacy. Volunteer to help.