Meta House, an organization that provides substance use disorder treatment for women in the Milwaukee area, is building a new $35 million campus in the city’s Piggsville neighborhood.
Slated to open in spring 2026, the new campus will feature 100 beds, including 80 for adult women and 20 for their children. This massive expansion will nearly triple the capacity of the nonprofit’s current facility, located at 2625 N. Weil St. in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.
The four-story, 100,000-square-foot campus will be spread across two buildings and will feature an expanded in-patient residential program, an out-patient clinic and administrative offices. It will allow Meta House to provide family-centered treatment to hundreds of women each year, expand its collaborations with other community partners and increase access to life services for underserved Wisconsin residents, including low-income pregnant and postpartum women.
Meta House’s president and CEO Valeria Vidal helped the organization raise nearly $20 million in public and private funds to support its expansion. The demand for Meta House’s services has outpaced capacity “for far too long,” she said.
“It is our promise that every person who walks through our doors will be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve, and they will be provided with the tools and the opportunity to build a brighter future.”
– Valerie Vidal, president and CEO, Meta House
Finalists:
Rooted & Rising Washington Park
Rooted & Rising Washington Park is an organization that works to build a thriving community through the curation of quality housing, child care, food security, basic resources and neighborhood engagement.
Rooted and Rising is located in Milwaukee’s Washington Park neighborhood and addresses critical community needs while building long-term sustainability through its services.
The organization supports a food pantry, a neighborhood garden and a supportive housing program consisting of 72 total units, a combination of two- and three-bedroom apartments and townhomes in the Washington Park neighborhood. The organization also offers daycare services and regular neighborhood clean-up events.
Rooted & Rising was founded in 1962 in Madison under the name Methodist Children’s Services. The organization opened a second office in Milwaukee in the early 1970s that operated a program called Project Reach – a group home for young mothers unable to live with their families. Although the group home closed in 1979, the organization was not finished with its work in Milwaukee. In 1991, the organization, then known as United Methodist Children’s Services, purchased a 19-unit apartment building in Washington Park, which now serves as the organization’s main location. In 2023, the organization celebrated 60 years and rebranded once again to what is now known as Rooted & Rising Washington Park.
i.c.stars Milwaukee
i.c.stars Milwaukee is an immersive, technology-based leadership development program for young adults that seeks to unlock the potential of Milwaukee’s next generation of tech talent.
The organization pairs rising talent with industry leaders for ongoing mentorship and collaboration. i.c.stars’ local business partners include Children’s Wisconsin, Northwestern Mutual and von Briesen & Roper s.c.
i.c.stars Milwaukee has built its organization through strategic engagement and holistic development. The organization prioritizes recruiting alumni for staff and advisory board positions to focus their decisions on participant perspective. The organization also hosts quarterly events which help to establish relationships between hiring managers and program participants. These events serve as a platform for showcasing participant talent and program success, facilitating networking opportunities, and helping the community recognize i.c.stars as a thought leader within the tech sector. The organization also prioritizes wellness in its curriculum by teaching participants personal development skills outside of its technical skills programming.
Its mission is to revolutionize access to the technology ecosystem by providing experiential learning that connects potential with opportunity.
i.c.stars is a national organization. Its Milwaukee chapter launched in 2018 with help from its anchor sponsor the Dohmen Company Foundation.
