Nonprofit Collaboration of the Year – Winner
St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care
2801 E. Morgan Ave., Milwaukee
Collaboration is at the heart of everything St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care does. The organization provides health and education services and care to children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
In late 2015, St. Ann Center worked closely with the community and community- based organizations to open a second location on Milwaukee’s near north side.
The new facility, a brownfield redevelopment site, provides early childhood education and a neighborhood resource for care for older adults with dementia or physical or developmental disabilities. It also serves middle-aged and young adults with special needs and provides economic development opportunities and employment for north side residents.
The goal of St. Ann Center’s new campus was to support and enhance the quality of life in the neighborhood. The organization worked closely with residents, churches, city government and existing nonprofit organizations to ensure the campus was meeting proper needs in the community.
In just more than a year, St. Ann Center has established valuable partnerships with hard-working residents and grassroots organizations in the community, many of whom share space, resources and ideas with one another.
Parklawn Assembly of God church is helping with planning and fundraising for a 350-seat band shell to be built on the new St. Ann Center campus, with projected construction in 2017.
Recently, St. Ann Center, in collaboration with Alderman Russell W. Stamper II and Marketplace BID 32, hosted a first-of-its-kind business incubator at its new campus. The incubator is designed to help jumpstart locally-owned businesses that can generate income for the district. Twenty entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to present their business plan to a panel of investors, bankers, successful business owners and business coaches. The response was so positive, 29 business hopefuls are on the waiting list for a second incubator.
Partnerships like these and others with organizations like ACTS Housing, Vision Forward Association, Milwaukee Job Corps, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the Medical College of Wisconsin and many others is revolutionizing the way St. Ann Center is able to meet the needs of the community.
