| The Partners for Progress Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in Milwaukee is working with its community partners to improve the quality of life for individuals living in 18 of the city's public housing communities. The targeted housing developments are home to approximately 7,000 residents who range in age from infant to 102 years.
Like many large midwestern cities, Milwaukee has historically been home to many good-paying factory jobs. During recent years, however, the city has suffered a decline in its job market. This decline has been particularly hard on African Americans, who make up 84 percent of the public housing population. More than 16 percent of Milwaukee's African Americans were unemployed in 1997, compared to 3.4 percent of Whites in the same geographic area. The unemployment rate for heads of households in Milwaukee's 18 public housing sites currently ranges from 38 to 94.5 percent.
While employment is be a major issue for MCW's COPC, other issues that affect the quality of life in city public housing developments will also be addressed during the next 3 years. Recent focus groups convened by MCW's Center for Healthy Communities (CHC), which administers the college's COPC grant, shed light on some of these issues. For example, a majority of focus group participants expressed concern about the low levels of resident involvement and leadership in community activities. Residents also reported feeling unsafe in their own buildings and neighborhoods, and suggested that concerns about violence and crime often kept them from getting involved in the larger community.
CHC, which is located in MCW's Department of Family and Community Medicine, is focusing its COPC activities in the areas of community organizing and leadership, violence prevention, health education, economic development, and home safety and ownership. Partners include the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee; S.E.T. Ministries Inc., a nonprofit, community-based, health and social service provider; Housing Authority Resident Organizations and Councils; the Private Industry Council; the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee; Parklawn YMCA; the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center, which provides educational, recreational, and health programs to youth and adults in the community; and Neighborhood Housing Services, a community-based organization that encourages homeownership and promotes resident self-reliance.
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