Children's Outing Association
Serving Children, Strengthening Families, Building Community
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
While COA programs serve youth from across Milwaukee, the majority served live in the low-income Amani (zip code 53206), Riverwest, and Harambee neighborhoods (zip code 53212) surrounding COA's centers. 44.3% of households in Amani live below the federal poverty level. In Riverwest/Harambee, 43% of households live below the federal poverty level and overall, 41.7% of children in Milwaukee live in poverty. In addition to academic inequality, statistics show that youth living in poverty are more likely to be exposed to trauma resulting from residential instability, food insecurity, psychological and emotional abuse, and/or anger issues. These adverse childhood experiences impact child brain development and diminish the healthy foundation that is vital for youth to succeed long-term. COA aims to combat these issues by providing low-income youth and families in Milwaukee programs and resources that empower them to realize their full academic, economic, and civic potential.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Youth Development
With COA's help, youth make safe, healthy, and positive choices. They stay away from violence and drugs and alcohol, and they stay in school. COA youth give back to the community and work to make positive changes. Youth ages 7-18 participate in four program areas: (1) Education/Career; (2) Personal Growth & Development; (3) Cultural Enrichment/Community Building; and (4) Recreation.
COA also provides youth the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of camp with its rural camp facility, Camp Helen Brachman. This camp offers summer sessions and weekend sessions throughout the year in North Central Wisconsin.
Community Development
COA has a vested interest in improving the communities where our participants live. COA partners and selectively invests in initiatives and services that enhance the well-being of citizens in the Amani and Riverwest/Harambee neighborhoods of Milwaukee. In addition, COA uses its parks and other properties to enhance our communities. Our Skyline Music Series brings together thousands of people each summer for free, culturally diverse concerts and Moody Park provides programming for youth and families throughout the year.
Early Child Development
COA operates two early education centers, serving children six weeks through 6 years old with high-quality early childhood education that affects both school readiness and long term educational achievement. Activities promote development, literacy, and social engagement in a multi-cultural setting.
COA operates two Family Resource Centers that provide fun, interactive activities and age-appropriate spaces for families with children ages birth to six. The centers offers drop-in programming that includes free play, art projects, reading, songs, snack and more (see schedule below). These FRCs also provide parents opportunities to socialize with and learn from one another, participate in parenting workshops, gain a deeper understand of early child development, and connect with a myriad of local resources that will support them in their role as parents and nurturers.
The Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program is an internationally recognized literacy and school-readiness program for preschool children ages three to five. The HIPPY model establishes the parents as a child’s first and most important teacher and makes a daily "habit” of parental involvement in education. With the support and encouragement of HIPPY staff and curriculum, parents learn how to directly engage in their child’s development of literacy, motor, cognitive, communication and social/emotion skills through a 30-week curriculum that is delivered in the home by committed and caring HIPPY Parent Partners.
Where we work
Awards
Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation 2016
LISC
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Infants and toddlers
Related Program
Early Child Development
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Number of children served by COA's Early Education Centers.
Number of youth receiving services (e.g., groups, skills and job training, etc.) with youths living in their community
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Youth Development
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of youth enrolled at COA's Youth Development programming at the Riverwest and Goldin Centers.
Number of convenings hosted by the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Community Development
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
COA hosts monthly Amani United neighborhood association meetings and Friends of Moody Park meetings.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
In 2015, COA's leadership and board of directors completed a 5-year strategic vision. That plan outlined the goals for the organization from 2015-2020. Below are the main focuses of that strategic vision. Early Child Development: Grow early childhood development programs for children ages 0-5.
Youth Development: Deepen the quality and impact of existing youth development programming, including programs that enhance and support quality parenting for youth ages 6-18.
Community Development: Continue to selectively invest in community development that adds critically needed services in the communities the children and families COA serves live in. This includes partnering with and/or collaborating with other agencies that can provide needed services COA does not specialize in. The target neighborhoods in Milwaukee for community development efforts are Amani and Riverwest/Harambee.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
COA was founded in 1906 by a dynamic group of women who sought to provide impoverished families the means to achieve self-sufficiency and raise healthy, productive, and successful children. Following the framework of Jane Adam's Hull House in Chicago, these women established Milwaukee's first Settlement House. Through this holistic model of community service, they provided an array of resources that empower families. For over 111 years, COA has continued to grow its continuum of services and resources. Today COA serves over 10,000 children and families annually through comprehensive, integrated, and family-centered programs offered at its Riverwest and Goldin Centers, Camp Helen Brachman in central Wisconsin, and through seven community learning centers located within Milwaukee Public Schools. COA's programming continuum is comprised of three core focus areas: early child development, youth development, and community development.
Early Child Development: COA's two Early Education Centers at Riverwest Center and Goldin Center are models for quality early education. In addition, COA serves children (ages 3-5) and their parents with at-home literacy and development support through the curriculum-based Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program. Equally important, COA's Family Resource Centers provide daily programming for parents and children including parenting classes, support groups, and family camp opportunities.
Youth Development: Through COA's asset-based approach, youth engage in developmentally-appropriate programs every day at COA's Riverwest and Goldin Centers. Youth receive after school and summer programming that focus on providing academic supports, increasing career-readiness, fostering self-development, and addressing risky behaviors. COA also impacts youth at Community Learning Centers with daily after-school programming at 7 Milwaukee Public Schools. In addition, each summer approximately 300 at-risk youth attend immersive camp sessions at COA's Camp Helen Brachman.
Community Development: COA Youth & Family Centers' youth, family, and community programming are at the center of our efforts to engage residents and revitalize economically distressed neighborhoods. COA's community development efforts in the Riverwest/Harambee neighborhood surrounding COA's Riverwest Center and the Amani neighborhood surrounding COA's Goldin Center are essential and integrated components of COA's overall comprehensive programming. Our goal is to bring critically needed services to the neighborhood to help families reach their greatest potential. In 2016, COA earned three Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDI Awards) for its innovative and transformational work engaging residents and revitalizing Milwaukee's Amani neighborhood. And COA's work in this area is currently being recognized nationally.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Founded in 1906, COA has over 111 years of programming experience and understands the unique challenges and complex dynamics involved in working with youth and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. COA is a trusted community resource and regularly seeks and is sought out for collaboration with other community organizations. COA's leadership team has over 180 years of combined experienced in community development, including youth and early education programming.
In addition, COA's programs are recognized locally and nationally for quality and excellence. COA's Riverwest Early Education Center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and also holds a five-star rating from YoungStar, the State's childcare rating program. The HIPPY program holds HIPPY USA's Certificate of Accreditation, which indicates that it meets all quality assurance standards and utilizes the same curriculum and implementation techniques as other national and international HIPPY programs. Finally, COA's Camp Helen Brachman is accredited by the American Camp Association. COA has achieved the highest four-star rating from Charity Navigator for the 12th consecutive year. Only 1% of all charities nationally have 12 consecutive 4-star ratings. COA is Wisconsin's highest rated children's and family service agency.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Early Child Development
This year, the Riverwest EEC served 163 children and 85.5% displayed improved cognitive skills. COA's Riverwest EEC is one of only ten EECs in Milwaukee accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and also holds a five-star rating from the State's YoungStar childcare rating program. In 2015, COA opened a second early education center at its Goldin Center. This doubled our capacity to serve children during an important developmental phase and brought service to a community where no other quality early learning services existed. 194 children are enrolled, which nearly doubles last year's enrollment total. This year, 295 children (ages 3-5) and their parent(s) participated in HIPPY's 30-week in home curriculum. 100% of parents were actively participating in multiple literacy building activities with their children. 95.3% of children demonstrated improvement in literacy skills and 94% displayed improvement in cognitive skills. 96% of parents reported they had learned more caregiver/parenting skills as a result of HIPPY.This year, FRCs experienced over 13,000 visits from Milwaukee children and families.
Youth Development
Last year, 1,032 at-risk youth benefited from the positive after school and summer programming offered at COA's Riverwest and Goldin centers, along with another 1,615 youth through COA's Community Learning Centers at seven Milwaukee Public Schools. Last year, nearly 93% of these children and teenagers reported that COA encouraged them to set goals and make plans for the future. And 95% displayed an improved belief in the importance of doing well in school. This year, 98% of campers received a scholarship to attend camp. In addition, youth attended Youth Leadership Institutes and winter camp, and youth and parents from our after school and summer programs participated in Family Camps. So far in 2017, 70 families have participated in Family Camps. For many of the low-income families COA serves, these camps represent the only chance for a quality family vacation.
Community Development
This year more than 9,000 people attended COA's Skyline Music series at COA's Selig-Joseph-Folz Amphitheater in Kadish Park. Our established youth programming, together with the pediatric and family clinic, our family resource center, new early child education center, the new Moody Park (adjacent to the Goldin Center), and the new Amani United neighborhood association are all working together to create new resources and hope for this distressed neighborhood. Resident engagement in Amani has vastly increased, with community nights held at the Goldin Center and Moody Park attract 200-550 attendees. A quarterly newsletter, Amani United, is distributed door to door in the neighborhood to notify residents of upcoming events and community happenings, creating a more informed, cohesive, and involved community. In the last four years, the crime rate in Amani has dropped 26.36%. And during the firs
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Children's Outing Association
Board of directorsas of 10/06/2021
Tracy Luber
WEDC
Maria Gonzalez Knavel
Foley & Lardner
Daniel Einhorn
Capital Midwest
Ronald Miller
Cleary Gull
Christine McLaughlin
Godfrey & Kahn
Andrew Komisar
Komisar Brady & Co
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data