The Bridge Project in Milwaukee
The Zilber Family Foundation and The Bridge Project have joined forces in an innovative collaboration to implement Milwaukee’s first unconditional cash program.
Launched in New York in 2021, The Bridge Project provides mothers and their babies with regular, unconditional cash assistance. By investing directly and flexibly in early childhood, the program aims to break the cycle of stress and poverty passed down through generations, and enhance socioeconomic mobility of families. Our goal is to build a foundation for prosperity that transcends generations. Milwaukee is the first location beyond New York State introducing The Bridge Project to its residents.
In Wisconsin, about 14% of children, or roughly 1 in 7, live below the poverty line.
How It Works
The Bridge Project provides unconditional cash to 122 eligible low-income, pregnant individuals in Milwaukee for three years. The cash can be spent on anything – food, formula, rent, childcare, diapers – truly, whatever the parent decides, no strings attached.
Program participants receive:
Why Cash?
Cash offers simplicity and versatility, allowing mothers the freedom to spend it on anything – food and formula, rent or car repairs, childcare or diapers – recognizing their right to make their own financial decisions. This approach challenges the stigma that low-income families can’t manage their finances, promoting autonomy and dignity by trusting them to know what’s best for their families.
How to Apply
All 122 moms have been onboarded, and the application process for The Bridge Project in Milwaukee is currently closed. Please follow the Zilber Family Foundation on Facebook for further updates from The Bridge Project.
GET INVOLVED
If your organization is interested in providing a resource for The Bridge Project participants, please fill out the interest form here.
About the partnership
Launched in New York in 2021 by The Monarch Foundation, The Bridge Project invests directly and flexibly in early childhood through unconditional cash transfers with an aim to break the cycle of stress and poverty passed down generationally and to enhance socioeconomic mobility of families. Through trust, cash and community, The Bridge Project now supports over 1,200 mothers across New York in tackling child poverty.
Cash transfer aligns with The Zilber Family Foundation priorities as an intervention to meet the needs of today, interrupt cycles of generational poverty, and reduce racial inequality.
For more than 15 years, The Zilber Family Foundation has been investing in Lindsay Heights, Clarke Square, Layton Boulevard West to increase access to social and economic opportunity and improve the quality of community life. Unconditional cash delivers more than a check; it plants seeds of economic opportunity and empowers low- and moderate-income people to build their lives, provide for their families, and contribute to society.
Milwaukee was the first location beyond New York State to introduce The Bridge Project to its residents. The Zilber Family Foundation is proud to support this pioneering effort in Milwaukee to empower pregnant individuals through unconditional cash.
