Our Vision

Our Vision

In Milwaukee County, we are taking an all-hands approach to realizing our vision that by achieving racial equity, Milwaukee is the healthiest county in Wisconsin. Together we will dismantle institutional racism in our organization and build up policies, practices and a culture that ensures race no longer predicts health outcomes, and outcomes for everyone improve.

In 2019, Milwaukee became the first jurisdiction in the nation to declare racism a public health crisis. Learn more about why we believe racial equity is connected to the power to make change in our Health & Equity Framework.

Our Progress

Create Intentional Inclusion

• Half of cabinet-level departments are led by women, and more than half of cabinet-level leaders are Black.
• Created the Office of Equity to:
  • better align departmental scope and focus with the vision and strategic plan
  • provide a broader lens to ensure we’re meeting the needs of residents who historically have been left behind
  • build the capacity of the County to transform policies, procedures and power structures to make sure everyone can benefit from our services and partnerships
• Developed public dashboard to track County contracts awarded to minority and women-owned businesses.

Bridge the Gap

• Developed a public dashboard to track the county's progress toward advancing racial and health equity.
• Implemented No Wrong Door model, which commits to serving people of all backgrounds, no matter what "door" they initially open for county services.
• Led nationally in using zip codes to provide COVID-19 vaccines to communities where there has been systematic and historic disinvestment.

Invest in Equity

• Reduced the unsheltered population in Milwaukee County 90% since 2016, from 207 to 17 due to Milwaukee County’s Housing First approach, becoming the lowest unsheltered, unhoused population in the nation.
• Secured $180 million in new revenue through federal, state and other grants to fund ideas that improve the quality and accessibility of services for residents.
• Broke ground on new infrastructure that supports communities, including a Mental Health Emergency Center located near 70% of its current patients, and a 9-mile East-West BRT, a regional, modern transit service line.

Track Our Progress

Milwaukee County is committed to achieving racial equity and driving change to become the healthiest County in Wisconsin. We believe in transparency on our progress toward this ambitious vision, which has led to the creation of the strategy dashboard.

The strategy dashboard is a performance management tool to hold us, Milwaukee County, accountable to achieving our vision. It showcases metrics that we are seeking to improve as we believe these metrics are essential to measuring the health of our county.

Strategy Dashboard

What You Can Do

We need your help to get the tools to raise revenue and sustain the services for all residents.

Learn more about how to support giving Milwaukee County the ability to generate revenue to adequately fund public services, maintain facilities, provide tax relief and ensure fiscal sustainability.

Visit moveforwardmke.com

Contact Your Legislators