ANNOUNCEMENT

As part of a broader shift in focus, Milwaukee Succeeds has transitioned away from our high school success work. While our Youth Forward MKE coalition has come to a close, our commitment to supporting Milwaukee’s youth continues. Learn more about what’s next.

High School Success

We believe that true high school success involves fostering an environment where students feel seen, heard and supported.

Our History

In 2020, Milwaukee Succeeds established a high school success initiative called Youth Forward MKE. The goal was to end educational inequity by building authentic relationships throughout the community, creating space for lived experiences, and shifting power to those directly impacted.

Through our Design Your Future Fellowship, Autonomous Youth Council and Youth-Led Grantmaking Project, we gave students a voice and an opportunity to shape the future of education.

Our Work

Build Authentic Partnerships

Throughout the years, we’ve built stronger networks to ensure our youth receive the supports they need. Through strategic partnerships, we increased resources designated to mental health, youth leadership and workforce development.
Create Space

We created spaces that centered the lived experiences of youth, ensuring they were heard and valued. This work includes the Autonomous Youth Council, which aimed to empower our youth with the knowledge and skills needed to actively shape the decisions that impact their lives.
Shift Power

We’ve shifted traditional power structures to ensure that youth are driving decision-making. Our Youth-led Grantmaking Project put funding decisions directly in the hands of Milwaukee youth, while our ongoing partnership with the city is adding youth voice to local policy discussions.

Our Strategies

Local Partnership

We strove to authentically engage youth, learning from their experiences and ensuring their voices are heard. That’s why we built a thriving youth-adult coalition, Youth Forward MKE. Together, we worked to identify and meet the needs of our city’s young people
Equitable Governance

We worked to increase access to equitable community governance structures for youth, giving them a place where they coud be heard and people who are willing to listen.
Mental Health

Again and again, our youth called out mental health as a key challenge. Through various initiatives, we worked to increase access to mental health supports and preventative care, providing them with the space, time and strategies they needed to succeed.
Advocating for Change

Deep and lasting change can only happen when we work together to change the systems. That’s why we continue to advocate for state and local policies that will create a more equitable and inclusive education environment.

Reimagining High School Success

Going beyond grades to discover how our students are faring.

Read the Report

In the summer of 2021, Milwaukee Succeeds launched the Design Your Future summer fellowship. This paid program gave 58 young people around Milwaukee the opportunity to create plans on how to improve high school for Black male youth.

Learn More

The Autonomous Youth Council

Milwaukee’s young people are ready to lead – and the Autonomous Youth Council gave them the chance.

The journey began in July of 2024 with a training academy shaped by community feedback, during which council members built the skills, confidence and connections they needed to drive change in Milwaukee.

Equipped with these essential skills, youth stepped into year-long placements on boards, advisory councils and leadership tables across the city. Through these placements, our council members brought fresh ideas to the table, advocating for what they needed and influencing the future of our city. This is youth leadership in action!

Learn More

The Youth-Led Grantmaking Project

Milwaukee youth know what their communities need most - and we gave them the power to fund it.

The Youth-Led Grantmaking Project, launched in March of 2026, gave young people ages 14–24 the opportunity to direct funding toward youth-serving projects that mattered most to them. Following a grantmaking conference and application process, five teams were selected, each receiving $4,000 to put their ideas into action.

All five projects boasted a clear community benefit and aligned with at least one of our priority areas: youth leadership, mental health, data and research, and systems change.