Community organizations ask candidates for governor to expand work opportunity programs

A coalition of community and faith groups are calling on both the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor to expand a transitional jobs program.  In an open letter the groups state that the program provides short-term jobs “aimed at getting people who are isolated from economic opportunity into the productive workforce.” 

The letter, from WISDOM, MICAH, Guest House of Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Council of Churches and UMOS among other groups — asks Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley to expand transitional jobs programs support funding for the programs and expand the Earn & Learn summer youth employment program in Milwaukee so that all of its 3,700 applicants can work in 2027. 

The letter is signed by Pastor Joseph Ellwanger, a longtime grassroots activist who has been an organizer in Milwaukee since the civil rights movement. 

“These programs are very effective in getting participants into regular unsubsidized employment once the period of subsidy ends,” the letter states. “Many participants have significant barriers to employment such as being long term unemployed and having criminal justice system involvement. The Department of Children and Families’ own data analysis of thousands of transitional job participants over a five-year period shows that approximately two thirds of participants go on to secure and maintain long term unsubsidized employment.”

Transitional jobs programs are important because, the letter states, while “the unemployment rate is historically low in Wisconsin at present there are parts of our communities that suffer from high rates of joblessness.” It notes that the DCF’s Transform Milwaukee and transitional jobs programs help people who are “largely not counted in the narrow official definition of the unemployment rate,” including  “such groups as the previously incarcerated and people who have historically been only marginally attached to the labor force.”

The letter argues that ensuring that these programs are protected helps the people they serve earn money, pay taxes, receive insurance and live better lives. “They earn money in law abiding ways and are less inclined to seek money in informal or illegal activities,” it states. “They grow the labor force which is an important social and economic objective in a time of tight labor markets. They participate in the dignity of work which provides purpose and contributes to the economic well-being and strength of the community.”

DCF data shows that over 60% of transitional job participants go on to secure long-term, unsubsidized employment. 

The program also supports an estimated 16,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 24. 

The community organizations that signed on to the letter are asking both Tiffany and Crowley to expand the Transitional Jobs and Transform Milwaukee Jobs programs to serve all 72 Wisconsin counties and  commit to providing $5 million annually in state funds, along with another  $8.2 million to expand the Earn & Learn summer youth employment program to support all 3,700 applicants in 2027.