Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele announced during Father’s Day weekend that the Milwaukee County Child Support Services Department has received $1.8 million to continue its award winning fatherhood program.
Milwaukee County is the only Child Support agency in the country to receive this grant.
The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and funds the County’s Pathways to Responsible Fatherhood Program.
The County’s Pathways program started in 2012 and provides services like relationship education, parenting classes and job training for low income fathers in Milwaukee County, through partners including My Father’s House, Next Door Foundation, UMOS, Center for Self Sufficiency, and Centro Legal. The extra year of funding will help reach an estimated 1,750 fathers.
“This is another example of the work we are doing that is turning Milwaukee County around.
In the three years we’ve been running this program we’ve helped thousands of fathers connect with their sons and daughters.
For every parent we can help reconnect with their child we increase the likelihood that child stays in school and out of trouble,” County Executive Abele said.
“I am extremely proud of Child Support Director Jim Sullivan and his incredible staff; in just a few years they have turned around a department and are now setting new records in service every year and helping many more families.”
In honor of all of their great work, the Milwaukee County Child Support Services Department was named the department of the year in 2013 by the Wisconsin Child Support Enforcement Association.
It was the first time Milwaukee County has won the award in the thirty years the award has been handed out.
