COA Holton Center Opens!
We are proud to announce that after being closed for 4 months, the Holton Center (510 E Burleigh) reopened December 28, thanks to a new partnership with COA. Teens and preteens from throughout the Riverwest and Harambee neighborhoods now have another safe and supportive place they can go every day after school. Stop in today! [...]
COA is a MANDI 2016 Nominee!
COA is proud to be nominated by the Milwaukee Association for Neighborhood Development Innovation’s (MANDI) prestigious BMO Harris Cornerstone Award for its efforts in the transformation of the Amani neighborhood. To add to the excitement, the Milwaukee County Parks Department and partners have been nominated for the Brewers Community Foundation Public Space Award for opening [...]
Cousins Subs Gives $2,000 to COA’s HIPPY Program!
Cousins Subs awarded a $2,000 grant to COA Youth & Family Centers for its Home-based Literacy Program for Preschoolers (HIPPY). The grant funds will be used to sponsor families in the HIPPY program. Although HIPPY is free for participants, the program cost per family is around $1,000. This includes the cost of books, activities, family [...]
COA announces the 2015 Parents of the Year!
COA Youth & Family Centers will honor Greg and Linda Marcus and Dr. Lucille (Lucy) Rosenberg at the agency's 33rd annual Parents of the Year luncheon on Monday, August 24th at The Pfister Hotel, 424 East Wisconsin Avenue. The event reception begins at 11:30 a.m., with luncheon and program from noon to 1:30 p.m. Tables [...]
KaBOOM! Playground Built at COA’s Goldin Center by US Bank Volunteers
A new KaBOOM! playground was built at COA Youth & Family Centers’ Burke Early Education Center on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten volunteers from US Bank worked tremendously hard with COA staff to complete construction of the play area in a single day. The playground “Build Day Blitz” concluded with a community celebration and cookout, where families from the neighborhood could [...]
Volunteer Spotlight: Samantha Danner
Samantha Danner has been an intern with COA since January 2015. Read what the experience has taught her in her own words: “Although I call Milwaukee home, I’m not originally from here. I moved here when I was 19, a sophomore in college, and trying to handle the adjustment to a bigger city. While I [...]
HIPPY Youth on Winning Robotics Team
Azalea Martinez is a junior at Riverside University High School and is a member of the school's Midwest Regional champion robotic team. But her "educational career" began when she was 3 years old as one of the first participants in COA's HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) program. As a young parent, Leticia [...]
HIPPY Program Graduates 70 Families in 2015
Seventy preschoolers graduated from Milwaukee's HIPPY program on Saturday, May 16th at Milwaukee Public Library - Centennial Hall. HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) is an internationally known early literacy and parental engagement program for children provided by COA in partnership with The Parenting Network. The event included a graduation ceremony for families completing [...]
Milwaukee’s Amani Neighborhood Sees Both Violence and Signs of Hope
A recent article from WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio sheds light on violence and hope in the Amani neighborhood. An excerpt from the article about COA is below: "The threat of violence is always present, according to Quintrell Boyles. “It’s affecting everybody tremendously. I mean, for some of us, it’s right on our front doorsteps. For others, [...]
Volunteer Spotlight: Kim Wynn
Volunteers play an important role at COA, and we would like to recognize the outstanding contributions of Kim Wynn as a volunteer with our pre-teen program. Kim Wynn works at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C., and is a member of the United Way Women's Leadership Council. She first learned about COA when the Council volunteered with [...]