The RCM Community Trust…Making a Difference in Milwaukee
The RCM Community Trust was created by Rotarians to provide financial support for projects in our community. Thanks to the continued generosity of our members, the RCM Trust now totals nearly $2 million dollars.
We are very pleased to tell you that in the 2007-8 Rotary year the Trust—under the direction of the RCM Board and Committees-- donated $70,000 to local initiatives in addition to the $50,000 annual payment for the naming rights to the Milwaukee Rotary Amphitheater at Discovery World.
Environment and Ecology Committee
The E & E Committee invested over $20,000 in the community this year:
- Urban Ecology Center (UEC) ($4000) Located in Milwaukee’s historic Riverside Park, the UEC provides environmental science programs to local schools, preserves the park and river and promotes environmental awareness.
- River Revitalization Foundation (RFF) ($4,000). Co-founded by RCM with Kiwanis in 1993, the RRF works to create and enhance public access around Milwaukee’s rivers. Our 2008 contributions were used to purchase native trees for restoration efforts and match the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program grant awarded to restore the South branch Creek of the Milwaukee River. (For more info go to www.riverrevitalizationfoundation.org)
- Trees for Tomorrow ($2500) Our funds allowed 35 students from the Milwaukee Academy for Science to study at this independent conservation school in Eagle. In addition we sent two MPS teachers for training. (For more information, go to treesfortomorrow.com.) (insert photo student5treesfortomorrow.jpg with caption Students were taught to identify trees in the woods of Eagle, Wisconsin.)
- Friends of Bradford Beach ($500) A contribution supported the restoration of Bradford Beach on Milwaukee’s lakefront.
- Benches for the War Memorial ($10,500) The Trust purchased six sleek benches for placement on the War Memorial Center’s esplanade overlooking Lake Michigan.
Youth Education Committee
Our Youth Education Committees distributed the largest number of community grants. Once again RCM gave $15,000 to Reading is Fundamental (RIF). Rotarians distributed over 24,000 books in 13 schools. More than 80 Rotarians joined in the distributions. We continued our support ($8,000) of the downtown YMCA’s One-on-One Mentoring site. About 30 students came to the site after school each day. A number of our club members have found mentoring here to be a special opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child. We also:
- Supported a collaboration between the OWH and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater to offer an introduction to theater arts—and to build self esteem and skills in self-presentation.
- Provided scholarships for eight girls from OWH to participate in the CyberChallenge 2008, a six-day overnight adventure through the Girls Scouts in partnership with Alverno College.
- Provided scholarships for 24 students to attend Camp Discoverer at Discovery World.
- Sent ten students from the Lincoln Avenue School to the “Urban Park Rangers” summer camp at the Urban Ecology Center
- Underwrote the CHOICES program—twice a year Rotarians make presentations in classrooms across the city to encourage students to make thoughtful decisions.
- Mad Hot Ballroom ($2,000) This is a ground-breaking arts education program modeled after the very successful New York City Schools’ dance program featured in the hit documentary film ‘Mad Hot Ballroom’. MHB touched the lives of thousands of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in 50 local Milwaukee public and private schools in 2007-2008. providing desperately needed arts programming directly in the schools while building artistic academic and social skills among students.
Community Leadership Development and Diversity
These committees collaborated on two efforts. First they contributed to fund the research commissioned by Milwaukee Women Inc—an organization founded four years ago to accelerate the advancement of women in key leadership positions. Rotarians attended a program focused on the report in October. Then, the committees created a scholarship for Future Milwaukee, a Milwaukee premier leadership development program. Rotarians have a long history of partnership with Future Milwaukee—scores of Rotarians are Future Milwaukee grads, including the Milwaukee Leadership Fellows: Kevin Carr, Ron Kuramoto and Tracy Johnson.
Military Service Support
The committee has been involved recently with a number of programs that support both active military as well as veterans. This year the committee
RCM also made contributions to :
- Second Harvest of Wisconsin ($1,000). RCM is very proud of the role it played in founding this outstanding organization 25 years ago.
- Literacy Services of Wisconsin ($1,500) committed to eliminating adult illiteracy, this organization is one of the gems in our community.
- Walnut Way Conservation Corp ($2,000) A pioneer in urban agriculture, Walnut Way purchased a cooler which will enhance their production capacity.
- And, of course, the club continues to annual payments of $50,000 to Discovery World for the purchase of the naming rights to the Milwaukee Rotary Amphitheater at Pier Wisconsin. It is a fabulous facility of which the club is very proud.
Please note that the RCM Community Trust does not accept unsolicited grant proposals.