A new solution to Milwaukee’s poverty and crime struggles

If you live in the Milwaukee area and pay even a little attention to the news, you likely hear about the poverty and crime that the city struggles with. You may even experience it in your own neighborhood. At Ascender Academy, our mission is to help individuals, families and communities overcome these struggles.

Milwaukee’s challenges

In late August 2015, Milwaukee surpassed 100 homicides for the year, with four months remaining, a statistic even more unsettling when compared to 2014’s 86 homicides for the entire year. Here are a few more statistics when looking at Milwaukee and how it compares to the rest of the country:

• 4 out of 5 children in the city of Milwaukee live in poverty
• Milwaukee has the largest achievement gap between blacks and whites in the country
• Milwaukee is the most segregated city in the country

Ascender’s mission

So what’s the solution? We believe the solution is a multi-pronged approach that involves many people, groups and organizations, but we feel we can play an important part. At Ascender Academy, we feel that access to quality education can help lift families out of poverty and create more positive communities.

When you look at the statistics above, you might assume that there is a lack of quality jobs, leading to widespread poverty. However, there are many industries – including the IT/tech industry – with available jobs but not enough qualified people to fill them. That’s why our mission is to make that quality career training available to individuals who might not otherwise have access to it, so they can move into higher paying, fulfilling careers that will benefit their families. Beyond providing IT/tech training, our program also provides corporate and life skills training, to help our graduates succeed in their future careers.

In fact, we want to help individuals and families all over the Greater Milwaukee area who may be struggling due to unemployment or underemployment, and are in need of opportunities to advance toward a better career.

How you can help

Ascender Academy is brand new, and we’re aiming to launch our first training course in Fall 2015. To help make that a reality – and ensure that our students pay no tuition and have quality computers and supplies – we are currently raising funds.

If you believe in our mission to help the city of Milwaukee – and the entire Greater Milwaukee area – please consider donating what you can, even if it’s just a little. Your support will make a huge difference to our students and the community.