Our Extension Milwaukee County Annual Report highlights some of our educational outreach and community engagement programs that were delivered to residents of Milwaukee County in 2025. Thank you to Milwaukee County government for your continued support of our Extension program. The ongoing development of collaborations in communities is vital to our work. I encourage you to share this report with others and please do not hesitate to reach out to us to learn more.       
                                           -Jerry Braatz, Area Extension Director

Financial Educator Tahnee Aguirre led a new Extension program called Planning Ahead, to help older adults feel more comfortable and confident about planning for end-of - life. The series focused on making topics that can feel overwhelming such as advance directives, end-of-life wishes, financial changes, and grief easier to understand and talk about with loved ones. 

After completing the workshops, 100% of participants said they learned enough to take next steps, and over 80% agreed that the series improved their understanding of key planning topics, including estate planning, final wishes, and handling financial changes. About 90% reported feeling more confident talking with loved ones about their end-of-life wishes and knowing where to find reliable resources. All participants said they plan to share what they learned with family or friends, helping the information reach beyond the classroom. Participants described the series as helpful, informative, and thought-provoking.

25 Milwaukee residents participated in the Planning Ahead program.

100% of participants learned enough from the Planning AHEAD Series to confidently take the next steps.

 In 2025, 60 participants graduated from four six-week cohorts of the Building a Path to Success program, led by My Way Out, a personalized reentry service provider and community partner of Extension Milwaukee County, and delivered at the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center. As part of the workshop, Extension’s Financial Educator, Tahnee Aguirre, taught both the Reentry Ready financial education and Rent Smart housing education classes, helping participants build the skills needed for successful reentry.

Through the Reentry Ready financial education program, 95–97% of participants improved their budgeting, saving, and credit knowledge, and over 90% gained tools to manage bills and expenses, with 77% reporting reduced financial stress and greater hope for their future. 

My Way Out's Building a Path to Success workshop graduation for Cohort 4 on December 3rd, 2025

Through Rent Smart, 96% said the class will help them obtain and keep stable housing, with most reporting stronger confidence in tenant responsibilities and landlord communication. Together, these programs equip participants with practical financial and housing tools that support long-term financial & housing stability.

60 graduates from the Building a Path to Success program.

77% of participants reported reduced financial stress from the Reentry Ready program.

96% of Rent Smart participants said the class will help them obtain and keep stable housing.

Throughout the summer of 2025, Extension’s Positive Youth Development Educator worked with 33 students in the gardens at the Vel R. Phillips School located within the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center.  Students learned basic gardening skills and assisted with garden maintenance, including planting, watering, weeding and harvesting, and made connections between fresh food, culture and overall wellness.  Students also explored the science behind plants and growing spaces using digital microscopes and thermal imaging devices.

Students at Vel R. Phillips School exploring leaf patterns with digital microscope, and weeding, watering and harvesting the garden beds.

Growing Connections interns harvesting potatoes and garlic and learning how to prepare raised beds for winter at the Beehive Garden (5th & Rogers).

Despite a loss of funding, the Growing Connections program maintained its partnership with Milwaukee Community Crossroads (formerly Milwaukee Christian Center) and engaged six paid youth interns at the Beehive Garden at 5th & Beecher.  Youth interns grew all plants from seed throughout the spring and worked closely with Extension Educators to plant and care for the edible and non-edible annuals.  Upon harvest, youth prepared simple recipes, shared the food and flowers with their families, and donated to the community.  Youth indicated that they return to the program year after year because of the connection to each other, the staff, the garden and the community.

 The 4-H Program partnered with 16 schools and youth-serving organizations to provide a variety of six-week series that included: chess, creative writing and expressions, gardening/cooking, Lego Play, Lego Robotics, and science labs. These educational series were led by 4-H Educators. Youth participants were introduced to new interests, increased their knowledge, and developed life skills while having fun. Our 4-H partners were in 12 different zip-codes in Milwaukee (see map).

Milwaukee 4-H teamed up with Victory Garden Initiative (VGI) and started a 4-H Club at the urban farm for youth of all ages from the neighborhood and across the county. The club meets once a month on a Saturday to ensure that the youth and their families can attend and learn together. Some of the activities that the club has done so far include: 

In May 2025, seven middle school students from Story School and Carson Academy of Science Boys and Girls Club were selected to receive full scholarships from Wisconsin 4-H to attend the annual Wisconsin 4-H trip to Space Camp in Alabama. The seven students experienced life as an astronaut, completing space mission simulations, feeling the mutli-axis trainer spin, building and launching a rocket, and much more! 

In July 2025, Menominee and Milwaukee Counties’ 4-H programs teamed together to provide an overnight camp experience at Upham Woods for the first time. There were 23, 3rd through 8th graders from Milwaukee that participated and 16 youth from Menominee County. The youth explored all the traditional camping activities such as canoeing, archery, campfires and more. Additionally, each county hosted a cultural night. Menominee led a competitive Native Peoples Hand Game tournament with a live Drum Circle. Milwaukee coordinated an explore Milwaukee relay race that included a Bucks station, Sprecher tasting, poetry station, photo booth, Native Milwaukee, and a Great Lakes info station. During the final campfire night, the youth had fun in a talent show that included Powwow dancing, theatre skits, joke telling, and group songs.  

493 Milwaukee youth enrolled in 4-H during 2025

25 sites/clubs led by 4-H staff or volunteers through 4-H Spark Series, 4-H Community Clubs, or 4-H School Clubs

The Literacy Link works to strengthen family bonds by using literacy to maintain connections between children and their parents who are incarcerated. Programming is designed to teach parents the benefits of interactive read-alouds for a child's early literacy development, provide strategies for parenting while away, and support caregivers of the children by sharing resources that offer guidance to strengthen family engagement. 

In June of 2025, the Milwaukee County Extension office re-engaged with the Milwaukee Reintegration Center to offer the Making Reading Memories Program through an internship funded by the American Family Foundation.  Parents that participate in the Read and Connect workshop learn how to create fun learning experiences for their children through engaging, interactive reading. After the lesson and practice, parents are recorded reading a book of their choice for their children during the Making Reading Memories (MRM) program. The video and free copies of the book are sent home to each child providing an opportunity to keep families united.

Since restarting programming in June 2025, our dedicated part-time intern was able to reach more than 65 parents who are incarcerated and over 95 children in just over 6 months. Nearly 100 books were sent to children throughout Milwaukee County! Our student intern will be transitioning out after summer however, and there is an urgent need for additional funding for a full-time position to continue strengthening justice-impacted families in Milwaukee County!

72% of parents report the Read and Connect Workshop being their first ever parenting class

75% of parents have made plans to read more often with their children after this experience

94% of parents say this program has had a positive impact on them as a parent

In 2025, significant progress was made in expanding access to healthy food and strengthening community food systems across the city and county. A major focus this year was on supporting Farmers Markets in becoming more accessible to all residents. Two additional markets were guided through the process of becoming approved to accept EBT benefits, a milestone supported through a training workshop that brought together Market Managers and Extension specialists. To further increase awareness, 4,000 Farmers Market Benefit flyers were developed and marketed widely, providing clear information on which markets accept EBT, WIC, Senior FMNP, and Market Match.

Additionally, Extension developed an animated video to help consumers understand how to use EBT at farmers markets—an accessible resource that markets can easily share online or display at their information tables throughout the season. We also participated in a session on farmers market data collection at the International Public Markets Conference, held in Milwaukee in summer 2025, alongside other Extension professionals.

We partnered with the Jackson Park Farmers Market as they conducted an AARP‑funded walking audit, joining the audit team on the day of the assessment. The Jackson Park Neighborhood Association later shared the findings with the City of Milwaukee’s Budget Committee and at a community meeting with local officials and DPW staff. The association is now pursuing additional grants, including future AARP opportunities, to support neighborhood and community development.

Another highlight was the partnership with Sherman Park Grocery. Following a nutrition lesson on food labels and smart shopping, a focus group identified key barriers to accessing healthy food, particularly the time required to prepare fresh produce. This insight led to discussions with the store owner about expanding the deli with healthier grab‑and‑go options, which prompted additional partnerships and resulted in a community partner donating a cooler for the planned ‘Healthy Grab and Go’ section. The cooler dedication is scheduled for Sunday, February 1, 2026.

Milwaukee County Extension Educator leads a nutrition session at Sherman Park Grocery, guiding a focus group through unit pricing, food label reading, and a hands-on recipe tasting.

Strengthening Sherman Park Grocery’s network also remained a priority. New partnerships between the store and organizations such as the MATC Nutrition Department and Mount Mary University were developed to deliver nutrition education, cooking classes, and dietary guidance directly to the neighborhood, moving beyond Extension-led programming through increased community partnerships. Together, these efforts reflect a growing network of organizations committed to increasing food access, empowering residents with nutrition knowledge, and building a healthier community

Andrea Fuentes and Prasanta Anumolu led a talk, at the 2025 Food Justice Summit, titled "The Multicultural Table: Supporting Community Well-Being Through Cultural Foods," educating the community about the importance, and the how and why of adding cultural foods. 

Extension educator and Healthy Communities Coordinators speak at Food Justice Summit

The Community Development education program also collaborated with Milwaukee County to deliver small‑business finance coaching to several grant recipients participating in the County’s Building Bridges program.

The Extension Milwaukee County office also served as a host site for a disaster assistance center operated by the UW Small Business Administration, enabling the distribution of over $30 million in low‑interest loans to Milwaukee County residents and businesses impacted by the August 2025 flood.

The Extension Milwaukee County Urban Agriculture Program enjoyed a transformative season of events and educational programs, made possible by collaborations with the Milwaukee Urban Demonstration Farm Network project, the first USDA demonstration farm network specifically focused on urban farming. Extension worked intensively with six urban farms and numerous outside collaborators in the greater Milwaukee area to offer workshops, field days, webinars, and hands-on training designed to raise awareness of environmentally and socially responsible practices in urban agriculture. 

A particular highlight was an August 18 collaboration with Michael Fields Agricultural Institute on the soil health practice known as cover cropping. At this event, 25 people were trained in these techniques at Extension’s Firefly Ridge community garden and more than 200 pounds of free cover crop seed was distributed to local farmers and gardeners.

Participants at small-scale cover crop field day inspect buckwheat seeds shared with participants.

Milwaukee Urban Demonstration Farm Network field day attendees put cover cropping skills to work at an urban farm on Milwaukee’s Northwest side.

The work of Milwaukee Urban Demonstration Farms took place alongside a successful year of community garden rentals at 7 sites around Milwaukee County. The work of the Extension Milwaukee County Community Garden Rental and Land Stewardship teams enabled 606 Milwaukee County families to access the nutritional, physical, emotional, and creative benefits of growing a garden. These benefits were extended to more than 1,200 individual area residents, who visited or enjoyed produce from Extension Milwaukee County community gardens. Additionally, quarter acre “microfarm” plots were again popular, with 36 rented to local entrepreneurs growing flowers, vegetables, and culturally important staple foods

606 Families accessing community garden plots

1,186 Total individuals (reported) accessing community garden plots

36 Total ¼ acre microfarms rented

FoodWIse nutrition educators led in-person lessons engaging with 4400 participants, including children, families, and seniors in Milwaukee County. FoodWIse lessons featured healthy eating, sampling nutritious foods, planning and preparing affordable and nourishing meals, and promoting active lifestyles.  FoodWIse partnered with over 65 organizations, including 37 schools, 14 farmers markets, and various other community organizations.

FoodWIse's Policy, Systems and Environmental initiatives supported nutrition and physical activity promotion - including Harvest of the Month and School Meal Appeal - along with seven community gardens at various sites including four schools, a childcare center, a senior center, and a HUD low-income housing site.   

Participants at schools included 3,652 students and 81 parents from Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (ALBA), Doerfler, Mitchell, Kagel, Greenfield, and various other schools representing diverse backgrounds in our community.  

Participant demographics by race: 1% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 6% Asian, 38% Black, less than 1% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 23% White, less than 1% identify as two or more races, and 31% prefer not to respond or are unknown. By ethnicity: 41% Hispanic, 38% Non-Hispanic, 21% unknown/prefer not to respond.

4,400 residents participated in the FoodWIse program

85% of participants were youth  

15% of participants were adults

65 organizations partnered with FoodWIse

37 schools participated in FoodWIse programming

14 farmers markets partnered with FoodWIse

FoodWIse taught 144 Strong Bodies sessions at 8 different sites throughout Milwaukee County in English and Spanish. Participants say that they have more strength, less pain, and more stamina than before participating in the program. This program is important because Milwaukee County has a high incidence of falls in the home for people aged 60 and over. Strong Bodies helps people maintain strength and mobility. 

Strong Bodies program at the UCC Senior Center

8 different sites throughout Milwaukee County 

75% of participants were aged 60+

60% of participants were Black and Latino 

Students and families on Discover WI Farmers Market Tour

FoodWIse works to strengthen healthy food access in our community and collaborated with Sherman Park Grocery and Cross Lutheran Church to offer a nutrition lesson and a guided tour of the shop for five participants, after which a focus group was led to learn about the shoppers’ needs, preferences, and barriers to accessing healthy food.

FoodWIse partnered with a nearby Milwaukee area school 4th/5th grade classroom to extend nutrition lessons with a Discover WI Farmers Market tour. Students and families walked to the Jackson Park Farmers Market to learn where food comes from, complete a scavenger hunt, and sample fresh produce from vendors. The visit boosted enthusiasm for purchasing healthy foods, increased awareness of using EBT at the market, and encouraged families to return in the future.

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