Ellen Gilligan, president and CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, was the guest last Tuesday for the latest edition of Mike Gousha’s “On the Issues.” Sitting before an appellate courtroom in Eckstein Hall filled with students, teachers and members of the community, Gilligan discussed her dedication to improving the city and the future of education in Milwaukee.
“I was taken by the physical beauty of the city, but also by the people that live here,” said Gilligan, a Cincinnati native. “They are all so welcoming and nice.”
But Gilligan said the beauty can be superficial at times, noting that those who only visit the downtown and lakefront areas do not get a sense of the great poverty facing Milwaukee.
Although the cities are similar, Gilligan said Milwaukee has a decidedly different vibe than Cincinnati. While there, Gilligan served as vice president for community investment at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. The youngest of five and daughter of a former congressman and governor of Ohio, Gilligan often heard political conversation at the dinner table, but was not interested in politics herself.
“My family feels very strongly about the importance of public office, so this was my way of improving the community without running for office,” Gilligan said.
As the new leader of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Gilligan plans to use her experience with similar community-based initiatives in Cincinnati to help improve the Milwaukee area.
Among those key projects is the Milwaukee Succeeds effort, a “cradle to career” program that seeks to ensure school children and young adults in Milwaukee are progressing to normal educational standards, are receiving support at home and are prepared for higher education or the workforce after high school.
Since its inception, Milwaukee Succeeds has made significant strides, said Rob Guilbert, vice president of communications and marketing at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. Last week, the initiative’s Leadership Council unanimously agreed to make third grade reading proficiency the first major area of focus. An operations team has also been created to handle the processes and strategies behind the initiative.
“Things are moving forward. There is still a long way to go, but we are enthusiastic about the response we have been receiving,” Guilbert said.
Gilligan said she agreed the initiative is not a quick fix and will be a 10-year commitment — perhaps longer.
“The issues facing this community are too deeply entrenched for one organization to address by itself,” Gilligan said. “It needs to be about everybody getting their oar in the water and rowing in the same direction.”
Milwaukee is unique in that it offers school choice to parents. They can choose public, private or charter schools for their children. But this can be a detriment, Gilligan said. Because of the sheer number of initiatives trying to help students, the efforts are not always aligned, and there is no way to know if progress is being made.
The initiative plans to solve this problem by collecting measurable data from Milwaukee schools and using benchmarks for each age group to determine progress. The foundation will also publish an annual report card detailing the data found.
“Urban education is one of the greatest challenges facing this country, bar none,” Gilligan said. “It is going to take commitment, focus and leaving political agendas at the door.”
Compared to 17 other urban educational systems nationwide, Milwaukee’s current ranking is “pretty bad,” said Alan Borsuk, senior fellow in law and public policy at the Marquette Law School.
“At first, even with this new system, Milwaukee’s ranking nationally will go down, because our educational standards are lower than in other areas,” he added.
Amid the skepticism, Gilligan said she remains optimistic and sees her new position and team as the opportunity to enact change in the education system that may not have been possible in past years.
“I am optimistic that we can make a difference and that we will make a difference,” Gilligan said. “We don’t have a choice.”