When 2023 Campaign Co-chairs announced in late August that the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County planned to tackle the region’s digital divide by providing 50,000 computers to families without such technology, it wasn’t immediately clear how soon the organization would be able to start fulfilling that promise.
On Tuesday night,
Sheldon Cuffie of American Family Insurance Group, one of those campaign co-chairs, announced that the organization would be distributing the first of those computers early next year.
“Because of support from donors like you we are happy to report that we now have funding to source and distribute nearly 10,000 computers by early 2024,” Cuffie told supporters at the United Way’s annual campaign closing event at the Grain Exchange in Milwaukee.
The organization hopes to get 50,000 laptops into the hands of needy families and individuals within the next three years.
“You may have heard the term digital divide. The digital divide is the gap between those who have what they need to access the internet and those who do not. We all know that the digital divide existed before the pandemic, yet over the past few years, it has continued to widen and get worse,” Cuffie told supporters in August. “This has impacted the lives of so many people in our community. We know that the digital divide limits job opportunities. The digital divide impacts education opportunities. And the divide prevents connection opportunities.”
Other updates
Campaign co-chairs also offered updates on United Way’s other key initiatives on Tuesday night, including its work to advocate for record expungement for nonviolent offenders, and other work to help people secure jobs with family-supporting wages.
In addition to
celebrating successes in curbing family homelessness in Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties, the co-chairs and
Amy Lindner, president & CEO of United Way, marked a benchmark in the organization’s newest initiative called Empowering Minds, which is focused on improving school-based mental health resources.
Stephanie Riesch-Knapp of R&R Insurance Services, Inc., said the effort, which was first launched last fall, is currently up and running at Waukesha South and James Madison high schools, where it is serving nearly 2,000 students.
Both schools have completed a needs assessment, the first aspect of the six-part comprehensive program, Riesch-Knapp said.
