Milwaukee Succeeds receives major grant
Milwaukee Succeeds, a newly-formed public/private partnership, announced today it received a significant financial commitment on Monday in support of its long-term efforts toward improving education in the city of Milwaukee.
The Helen Bader Foundation, a Milwaukee-based private foundation, committed a three-year, $300,000 grant toward the partnership’s efforts. The announcement was made at the Greater Milwaukee Committee’s monthly meeting. The GMC is one of the original partners of Milwaukee Succeeds.
“All of us in Milwaukee have a stake in providing promising futures to our city’s most vulnerable young people, so they can start on a path to a healthy, productive adulthood,” said Daniel Bader, president of the Helen Bader Foundation. “Milwaukee Succeeds offers an opportunity to work outside of our silos and begin to target long-term, data-driven positive results for our children and young adults, as well support the future economic well-being of our community.”
The multi-year commitment was made as part of the Helen Bader Foundation’s Community Initiatives program, which supports various quality-of-life programs for greater Milwaukee’s vulnerable populations. The foundation is a member of Milwaukee Succeeds Executive Committee and Leadership Council. Since 1992, the foundation has awarded more than $200 million in grants.
“We are extremely grateful and excited by the outstanding financial and operation support provided by the Helen Bader Foundation,” said John Daniels Jr., Greater Milwaukee Foundation board chair. The foundation serves as the facilitating institution for the Milwaukee Succeeds collaboration. “This provides an important boost to the partnership’s efforts toward ensuring success for every child in the city of Milwaukee and will assist us in moving forward with this important community partnership.”
Milwaukee Succeeds also announced Monday that members have selected improving third grade reading proficiency as its first major focus area. The group will examine current programs and strategies addressing the issue, explore short-term and long-term strategies and identify what role Milwaukee Succeeds can play in improving the outcomes.
“It is an ambitious goal, but one that Milwaukee Succeeds members thought was critical in the early educational achievement of our city’s youth,” said John Schlifske, chairman and CEO of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. Inc. and one of the partnership’s chairs. “Prior to third grade, children learn to read. After that point, they read to learn. Our schools, our businesses and our community as a whole stand to benefit greatly by increasing the number of students that are able to read on a proficient basis.”
Brewers’ Holiday 4-Packs go on sale Friday
The Milwaukee Brewers Holiday 4-Packs will go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.
Fans will be able to choose from five 4-Packs. If holiday shoppers order by Tuesday, Dec. 20, their 4-Packs will be delivered in time for Christmas in special holiday carriers, ready for giving.
“The Holiday 4-Packs have been one of our most popular packages and gift items as they offer fans the first opportunity to secure terrific seat locations for many of the most anticipated games in 2012,” said Brewers chief operating officer Rick Schlesinger. “Package options are designed to fit many different schedules, and it’s a great way to take care of the baseball fan on everyone’s holiday list.”
Three of the five Holiday 4-Pack Plans – the Coast to Coast Plan, the Matinee Plan and the Weekend Plus Plan – include at least one All-Fan Giveaway Date, while the new Double Bobble Plan includes two All-Fan Giveaway Dates.
The Marquee Plus Plan includes two games against the Chicago Cubs at non-Marquee pricing. For additional information, visit www.brewers.com.
Delta Dental donates $2 million for Marquette Dentistry expansion
Delta Dental of Wisconsin has donated $2 million to the Marquette University School of Dentistry’s Building for the Future campaign for a planned expansion to the school.
A portion of the gift, $500,000, is a challenge grant to help leverage additional support.
Delta Dental’s gift is the first of an $8 million capital campaign, which will match $8 million already committed from the State of Wisconsin in its 2011-2013 biennial budget. The university is currently in the design phase of this project and is actively committed to raising the remaining non-state matching funds.
The $16-million, 40,000-square-foot expansion will create additional clinical, lab and classroom space at the School of Dentistry’s Wisconsin Avenue facility in Milwaukee.
When the expansion is complete, the school will add enough clinical, lab and classroom space to accommodate classes of 100 students each year, up 20 from the current class size, for an annual enrollment of 400 students. Increased class sizes will enable Marquette to address proactively the future dental workforce needs of Wisconsin. More than 80 percent of Marquette’s dental graduates practice in the state, with alumni practicing in 69 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.
As one of the first dental schools in the country to formally integrate research training into its pre-doctoral curriculum, the School of Dentistry’s expansion will include space for faculty and student translational and clinical research. Marquette dental faculty focus on research including health disparities among underserved populations in Wisconsin and around the world, orthodontics, clinical outcomes for patients, and radiology technology.
Central to the School of Dentistry’s curriculum is a patient-centered approach that prepares students to work directly with patients early in their educational experience.
“This expansion keeps Wisconsin’s only dental school on the leading edge of dental education,” said Dr. William Lobb, dean of the School of Dentistry. “The Marquette University School of Dentistry is educating highly skilled and technologically savvy dental professionals who are capable of providing contemporary care long into the future.”
“Our mission from day one has been to improve access to quality oral healthcare for all Wisconsin residents,” said Dennis Peterson, Delta Dental’s executive vice president. “Delta Dental’s support of the Marquette School of Dentistry’s efforts to ensure an adequate supply of dentists in Wisconsin now and in the future is crucial to the fulfillment of our mission.”
Delta Dental of Wisconsin is a nonprofit dental service corporation offering benefit services, claims processing, and plan administration to employers throughout Wisconsin since 1962. The company is headquartered in Stevens Point, with sales offices in Milwaukee and Madison.
