Our Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement initiative is anchored in the belief that all adults of working age should have the opportunity to start stable careers, at workplaces where they are treated with dignity and have opportunities to support and provide for their families. For those individuals who do have jobs, many of them pay at a rate far below what they need to support themselves or their family. When everyone has access to family supporting income from work that affirms their dignity, our whole community is stronger on every level.
In 2025-26, we are funding the work of programs committed to reducing key employment barriers.
Meet the 2024-25 grantees for funding:
Benedict Center
Program Name: The Bridge Program: Supporting Justice-Impacted Women
Program Description: The Benedict Center's Bridge Program focuses on employment services, housing navigation, legal advocacy and peer support and works in tandem with the behavioral health counseling, reentry case management, harm reduction services and advocacy in our other programs, creating a continuum of services specifically designed for justice-impacted women.
Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin, Inc.
Program Name: Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement for People with Disabilities
Program Description: The DSAW's Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement for People with Disabilities (PWD) program offers an extensive suite of educational programming to PWD's to prepare them for secondary education, sustainable employment, and thriving adult lives.
Employ Milwaukee
Program Name: BankWork$ Expansion to Industry Access and Advancement Initiative
Program Description: Employ Milwaukee's Industry Access and Advancement Initiative works to enhance the status of low-skilled job seekers by offering an array of industry-led training programs to prepare them for in-demand entry-level jobs that offer the chance for advancement.
Forward Careers, Inc. (FCI)
Program Name: CAREER LIFT (Career Advancement, Resources, Education & Employment Readiness - Launching Inclusive Futures Together)
Program Description: Forward Careers' CAREER LIFT program is a comprehensive workforce initiative that provides access to short-term, industry-recognized credential programs that align with regional labor market demands.
Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin
Program Name: United for Good CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) Program
Program Description: Goodwill's United For Good CNA program partners with Herzing University to implement a 5-week CNA class consisting of online asynchronous classes, in-person labs (22 hours) at Goodwill, and an in-person clinical (16 hours) at a community healthcare facility. This program will create a pipeline of meaningful livable wage jobs in the healthcare pathway and to meet the demand for this role in the Milwaukee region.
JobsWork MKE
Program Name: Reducing Barriers to Employment and Career Development
Program Description: JobsWork MKE Reducing Barriers to Employment and Career Development program supports adults seeking job placement and career development services. While providing wraparound support, JobsWork focuses on moving members from low-skill” positions to “mid-skill” positions that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree.
La Casa de Esperanza, Inc.
Program Name: Career Empowerment Program
Program Description: La Casa de Esperanza's Career Empowerment Program is designed to provide a comprehensive wraparound model that supports individuals with one on one training, coaching, and meaningful connection to employment.
Legal Action of Wisconsin
Program Name: Legal Action of Wisconsin - Road to Opportunity Project
Program Description: Legal Action of Wisconsin is a nonprofit civil legal aid law firm that provides free legal representation to people experiencing poverty. Their Road To Opportunity Project works on expungements, pardons, resolving court sanctions caused by nonpayment, professional licensing issues, and citation defense.
Literacy Services of Wisconsin
Program Name: Credentialing for Opportunities, Resources, and Employment (CORE)
Program Description: LSW offers adult learners opportunities to participate in their vast range of programming including: English Language Learning, Adult Education, Adult Ed Program for Corrections, GED Preparation, Online HSED, Construction Sector HSED, Manufacturing Sector HSED, MATC Career Pathway Partnership, and HSED for English Learners.
MIlwaukee Christian Center
Program Name: Milwaukee Christian Center's (MCC) YouthBuild Program
Program Description: This program provides young adults (18-24) who are not engaged in work or school with the opportunity to obtain their HSED, receive on-the-job training, and earn credentials as they learn skills and gain certifications in the trades. Through this program they learn construction skills under the guidance of experienced skilled trades professionals, take on leadership roles through service projects, and build homes for new homeowners in Milwaukee neighborhoods while earning an income throughout the program.
Milwaukee Community Service Corps (MCSC)
Program Name: MCSC Core Training Program
Program Description: MCSC’s Core Training Program helps adults learn new job skills and earn national/industry-recognized credentials. This program gives trainees opportunities to explore different types of jobs, gain more job skills through hands-on coaching, build experience, and develop positive work behaviors desired by employers.
MobiliSE (MetroGO)
Program Name: FlexRide Milwaukee
Program Description: FlexRide Milwaukee directly addresses one of the most significant challenges in connecting workforce to jobs in SE Wisconsin: the fact that the majority of jobs in the region exist outside the scope of reliable transit. Even locations like Menomonee Falls, relatively close to the city, can take hours to reach by bus. This presents a significant barrier that FlexRide helps users overcome by offering on-demand rides from the city of Milwaukee to locations in Menomonee Falls, Butler, and Franklin.
My Way Out
Program Name: Workforce Readiness – Leading with Equity & Empowerment
Program Description: My Way Out is a community-based reentry program incorporating the voices of justice-impacted individuals with the goal of enhancing and implementing evidence-based reentry practices resulting in a safe and seamless transition for reentry via targeted pre-release programs, post-release wraparound case management services, and peer support for up to 3 years. My Way Out is actively engaged in providing essential skillsets through education, training and access to credentials with their target audience of justice-impacted individuals who are reentering the workforce.
Neighborhood House of Milwaukee
Program Name: Workforce Readiness – Leading with Equity & Empowerment
Program Description: Neighborhood House's International Learning Program (ILP) provides English as a Secondary Language (ESL), literacy, adult basic education and citizenship classes tailored to the needs of refugees and immigrants with legal permanent resident status. Through this program participants will be prepared for the next step of their educational journey of attaining a GED.
Next Door Foundation
Program Name: Pathways
Program Description: Next Door's Pathways program is a workforce development initiative designed to address the teacher shortage in our industry by building a pipeline of high-quality early childhood educators at Next Door. Programming now includes on-site college courses from Milwaukee Area Technical College to help employees earn an Infant/Toddler Badge and rise to an Associate Teacher at Next Door.
Project RETURN, Inc.
Program Name: Project RETURN: Meeting the Re-Entry Needs of Formerly Incarcerated People
Program Description: Project RETURN’s programming addresses "justice impacted individuals” in two ways: through direct services that prepare people for good-paying jobs and through advocacy to address systemic issues that hinder re-entry and employment success.
Wisconsin Community Services (WCS)
Program Name: Driving to Work
Program Description: Wisconsin Community Services, Center For Driver's License Recovery (CDLRE) Program extends its services to individuals who have been ensnared in the justice system through various reentry programs and correctional facilities, including the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center. By collaborating with organizations such as Milwaukee County Child Support and Milwaukee Fatherhood Initiative, CDLRE has been instrumental in providing driver's license services to individuals prior to their release.
WRTP | BIG STEP
Program Name: She Drives The Future
Program Description: The Wisconsin Regional Training Program provides a 12-week, in-person training program includes commercial drivers license permit preparation, new driver orientation and assessment, classroom instruction, OSHA certification, first aid/CPR, hands-on projects.
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