Among the many services Hope House provides for both clients and community members is a tuition-free GED program run in partnership with the Milwaukee Area Technical College. The program has been in existence for many years and located at Hope House since 1996. The General Educational Diploma is a series of tests that certify proficiency in five areas of learning: Social Studies, Science, Mathematics, Language Arts - Reading and Language Arts – Writing. MATC provides support for the program by supplying computers, software and books, while Hope House furnishes the classroom space and instruction and in emergency cases, will assist with covering the costs of testing. For individuals who did not earn a High School Diploma, the GED is the most accepted form of equivalency and a critical piece of the puzzle for securing stable employment and working one’s way out of poverty. With any instruction, a passionate educator can make all the difference in connecting with students, compelling them to do their best work and striving for success beyond the classroom; Hope House’s program is fortunate to have such an instructor in Fred De La Rosa.

During the summer months, when few structured opportunities are available for youth, Hope House offers an exciting, educational, and safe Summer Program five days a week. Three days out of the week, youth explore Southeastern Wisconsin through field trips to sites such as Menomonee Park, Blue Lotus Farm, and Pump It Up. The Shining Stars have the opportunity to expand their horizons and learn about communities and cultures outside their own.  They also have tons of fun making new friends, playing games, and getting some exercise!



Fun at the park!

Two days every week, the Shining Stars participate in educational workshops at Hope House. This includes community service activities, friendly sports at the park, and several hours in specialized clubs. This year, the teens will be planning and hosting a barbeque for the younger Shining Stars, as well as their family and friends. In...

Originally opened in 1987, Hope House has transformed from an overnight shelter for single men to a community center with a full spectrum of holistic services designed to prevent and address poverty and homelessness. We are still best known for our shelter programs—Chrysalis Transitional Housing and Thresholds Emergency Shelter. In 2012, Hope House helped 197 single people maintain shelter and transitional housing with supportive services. Our programs have some of the highest permanent housing placement rates in the area. For example—we exceeded our goal of placing 60% of our Chrysalis guests into permanent housing by placing 79% into permanent housing. All of this wouldn't be possible without the assistance of our hardworking and caring Case Manager, Christopher.



Christopher meets with a guest.



Christopher has been case managing at Hope House for about 2 years. In that time,...

Via Pathfinders Milwaukee:

At its January 2013 meeting, members of the Shelter Task Force of Milwaukee elected its new leadership. Serving as Chair and Vice Chair of the Task Force are Tim Baack, Senior VP of Strategic Development at Pathfinders and Donna Rongholt-Migan, Executive Director of the Cathedral Center.  Prior to this recent election, the Shelter Task Force was chaired for many years by Ken Schmidt, Executive Director of Hope House, who noted “It was a joy to work with such competent and intelligent leaders” during his time as Chair.





The Shelter Task Force is a long-standing coalition of homelessness prevention providers, emergency shelters, and interim/transitional housing programs that serve youth, adults, families, and domestic violence survivors.  It aims to provide the best possible service for the homeless, and agency leaders work collaboratively to quickly and efficiently move people off the streets...

Julia and Lorey have served the community as Protective Payees at Hope House for many years. But what exactly does a Protective Payee do? 



Hope House’s Protective Payee Program provides financial oversight, budget counseling, and supportive case management for individuals with severe mental illness and other disabilities. In 2012, we served a total of 48 households through this program. It wouldn’t have been possible without our payees, Julia and Lorey!

What is a typical day like for a payee? “Every day is different,” Lorey shared with a smile. Every client has different needs, and some face more challenges than others. At Hope House, payees do more than just write checks—they keep clients on track for success. That could mean anything from making medical appointments, taking clients grocery shopping, or just listening when a client is having a bad day. Julia and Lorey meet with their clients regularly—most...

After many years of service, Executive Director of Hope House, Ken Schmidt, has stepped down as Chair of the Shelter Task Force, passing on the lead to Tim Baack of Pathfinders. Ken states that “it was a joy to work with such competent and intelligent leaders” during his time as Chair.



The Shelter Task Force is a collaboration between Milwaukee’s emergency, youth, and domestic violence shelter leaders that seeks to provide the best possible service for the homeless. Agency leaders work together to quickly and efficiently move people off of the streets, into shelters, and into permanent housing. The shelters stabilize guests to enable them to obtain and maintain permanent housing. All of this is no easy task—thus the Shelter Task Force comes together to coordinate resources and make sure guests get everything that they need to succeed.



The Milwaukee Shelter Task Force solves many problems related to homelessness, including the coordination of overflow shelters during winter months....

The Starr Group generously donated $500 of adorable stuffed animals, as well as a monetary gift of $250, to Hope House for the holidays. We were delighted to share this cute gift with the children we serve! 

Lisa Koss of the Starr Group tells us more about the donation:

"If you had a bunch of cute and cuddly animals represent the people you work with – what would that group look like?

Every year at Christmas time, The Starr Group plays a game with their employees where the real winners are a local charity.  This year each employee picked a name and had to purchase a stuffed animal that represented that person.

Well, everything from Animal from The Muppets to a classic, cute and cuddly teddy bear was chosen to represent the group.  While a fun team experience, it brings a unique opportunity to be charitable as well.

The Starr Group is an Insurance/Risk Management agency with the capabilities of advising clients on everything from their business insurance, including group health,...

Thanks to Dollar General Youth Literacy Foundation and Best Buy Children's Foundation, we've brought exciting new technology to the Shining Stars Program--brand new computers and Kindle e-readers! A new wave of avid readers has formed, and we're hearing beautiful quotes like, "Can I read the whole book today?" Read more about how we're building literacy skills with technology in our blog!

Are you and your family ready for school to start again? Thanks to the generosity of our donors and supporters, we are! We were able to help over 500 students in the neighborhood prepare for success as we distributed free care packages of school supplies at our 12th Annual Back to School Fair. How did we get so many? Irish Fest offered Hope House the opportunity to collect school supplies on the festival's opening night, where guests gave notebooks, folders, crayons--all sorts of great things--in lieu of admission. These donations filled a U-Haul truck, totaling at about $14,000. Can you imagine the mountains of pencils and markers? 

To conquer these mountains, a group of fantastic volunteers from US Bank sorted, organized, and filled up school supply care packages. There's no way our Street Fair would have been possible without their help! It took hours of work and lots of helping hands, but they did it, and many, many young students were made very happy the following day at our Street Fair. 

Our...

Hope House of Milwaukee will be hosting the 12th Annual Back to School Street Fair on August 18th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM on Orchard Street, between 1st and 3rd Streets. This year, we will have resource tables, free school supplies, food, games, bicycle repairs, and art projects! Each year, we give out backpacks full of school supplies to hundreds of students in Milwaukee, for no cost at all. 

In years past, we've offered free bike repairs:



Worked with exciting local agencies:



Played games:



and just had lots of fun:



How do we collect all of those...