Nonprofits play an important role in the region. They provide needed services that educate children, protect the environment and make health care accessible. The area's nonprofit arts organizations also enrich our cultural lives. But local nonprofits are also an important part of our local economy. According to a 2007 report by The Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee, the nonprofit arts industry generates the equivalent of 8,359 jobs and has an economic impact of more than $249 million in metropolitan Milwaukee each year. When local nonprofi s struggle, the community may experience both a reduction in access to services and a negative impact on the economy. The 2008 Report Card on Charitable Giving focuses on the gift trends of our bellwether nonprofits since 1992. This year, a new dimension was added to give the community a clearer picture of what some nonprofits are experiencing now. A survey of human services agencies, in June indicates a sector experiencing increased demand and decreased stability.
The report was submitted to the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee for the Greater Milwaukee Committee's "Cultural Asset Inventory of the Milwaukee 7 Region." The Forum's role was to examine the fiscal condition of those cultural assets owned and/or funded by Milwaukee County: the Milwaukee Public Museum, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, Milwaukee County War Memorial Center, Milwaukee County Historical Society, Charles Allis Museum, Villa Terrace Decorative Art Museum, Milwaukee County Cultural Artistic and Musical Programming Advisory Council, Milwaukee County Zoo and Milwaukee County Parks.
This is the 11th annual report on conditions affecting the Racine Unified School District (RUSD). This year, our analysis again focuses on the long-term historical trends in RUSD. The analysis compares RUSD to nine peer school districts and the State of Wisconsin. RUSD peer districts are Wisconsin's largest (MPS is not included) and their enrollments are similar to the enrollment in Racine. We have grouped the findings in the report based on RUSD quality objective measures: student achievement, student engagement, and operational efficiency. Student achievement includes test scores and graduation rates; student engagement includes attendance and behavior; and operational efficiency includes finance data.
In his 2009 budget address, Mayor Tom Barrett called the 2009 budget "the toughest we have faced." A closer examination of his proposed budget reveals he was not exaggerating. Not only must the city contend with typical challenges such as increased wage and benefits costs and stagnant state aids, but this year it also must accommodate significant impacts generated by national economic conditions, including lower earnings on investments and a $3 million increase in budgeted fuel and energy costs. Additional challenges are the strong desire to maintain recent momentum in reducing crime rates by continuing healthy Police Department staffing levels, and the need to accommodate a loss of intergovernmental revenue from Milwaukee Public Schools.
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