New non profit start up to help with poverty in Milwaukee (home, high school)

[tinaknutson]

A few women and I who attend Alverno College in the Marketing Management, Design, and Community Leadership majors are very interested in starting a new non-profit to help address the issues of poverty/segregation/education issues for children/adults in Milwaukee.

I was hoping to get input from everyone on what they think the greatest needs for a "non profit organization" would be.

In order to do this, we could list what we currently have in Milwaukee/Wisconsin, good programs in other parts of the country and the world, and also ideas for things that aren't present or already happening.

Also open to people getting involved or any connections or ideas or contacts you might have to get this rolling. Thanks very much.

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

There are a LOT of non profit organizations in this city that deal with the issues of poverty, education and segregation. In fact, one could say that dealing with the effects of poverty in our community is an "industry" in and of itself.

When thinking about the impact you want to make, you may start by thinking about the effects of poverty, versus the root causes of poverty. Do you want to deal with the effects of poverty, such as substandard housing, poor nutrition, poor educational outcomes, domestic instability? The list goes on and on.

Or do want to attack the root causes of poverty? Lack of economic opportunities, poor educational outcomes, poor race relations?

In my view, poverty in Milwaukee, as in the rest of urban America, is one big problem that has three distinct facets: economcs, education, and race.

It's the confluence of these three strands that makes urban poverty such an intractable problem. Many of the effects of poverty are also the causes of poverty. For instance, most research (and the experience of those working in urban schools) holds that poor educational outcomes are a direct result of poverty. Poor kids have more chaotic and deprived home lives, and cannot count on a roof over their head or a full meal every night. So they come to school with "baggage" and therefore have a more difficult time learning.

But, at the same time, poor educational outcomes are one of the root causes of poverty. Poor kids graduate from high school at a much lower rate than the national average. Adults with no high school diploma face pretty dire job prospects. So poverty continues and deepens across generations. It's a cycle.

Efforts have been made across many decades to address poverty in America, with pockets of success here and there, but with no positive results on a large scale. Why? No one has the definitive answer. Some believe that previous efforts to solve poverty have only made the problem worse by making poor people more dependent on government services. Some believe we haven't done enough, and that if these programs were fully funded, they would make a difference. Others believe that the very capitalist system is at fault. Needless to say, when talking about urban poverty, most people fall back on ideology and neglect to think strategically about the real reasons poverty won't go away, despite many decades of effort.

First answer this question for yourself: why have previous efforts to alleviate poverty failed miserably? Then devise a strategy to attack the problem, either focused on one area, or something more broad based. Good luck.