Cousins Subs awarded a $2,000 grant to COA Youth & Family Centers for its Home-based Literacy Program for Preschoolers (HIPPY). The grant funds will be used to sponsor families in the HIPPY program. Although HIPPY is free for participants, the program cost per family is around $1,000. This includes the cost of books, activities, family [...]

A new KaBOOM! playground was built at COA Youth & Family Centers’ Burke Early Education Center on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten volunteers from US Bank worked tremendously hard with COA staff to complete construction of the play area in a single day. The playground “Build Day Blitz” concluded with a community celebration and cookout, where families from the neighborhood could [...]

COA Youth & Family Centers will kick off the ninth annual Skyline Music Series in COA’s Kadish Park on Tuesday, July 7. The series is made possible by generous sponsorship support from Jim and Deb Poliak, the Law Offices of Allen Silverstein and Ron White and will include art activities for children provided by the [...]

COA and the Amani neighborhood celebrated the groundbreaking for the new Burke Early Education Center at COA Youth & Family Centers' Goldin Center on Friday, April 17th. The event marked the start of construction for COA's second early child education center, which was made possible by a $2 million capital grant from The Burke Foundation [...]

The “Ghost of Christmas Present” is alive and well at COA this holiday season! The Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s production of A Christmas Carol adopted COA’s HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) program to benefit from its post-production tradition. Following each performance of A Christmas Carol, actors invited audience members to make a donation [...]

This November, MillerCoors donated 27 new kids’ bicycles to COA! These bikes will be a wonderful addition to our camping programs. All year round, our Camp Helen Brachman provides low-income youth and families with the opportunity to travel up north, explore, make new friends, and create memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you, MillerCoors!

Toni Higgins' daughter has been attending COA's Early Education Center since she was six weeks old. Last year, Toni noticed that some of the children were in need of new winter gear. Toni, a member of the volunteer planning committee at We Energies, proposed a winter gear drive to benefit COA's Early Education Center. After [...]

This fall, 13 year-old Shira Grinker began volunteering in COA's Early Education Center. "I started volunteering at COA as a school requirement," Shira said. "But after that I continued doing it because I love to be with the children. They are all so energetic and extremely adorable, and they always make me smile." In addition [...]

Jackie, a teen participant at Goldin Center, was recently the subject of one of United Way of Greater Milwaukee's success stories. Last June she graduated from high school and is off to UW-Oshkosh this fall. It has been a joy to watch her grow into the strong young woman she is today. United Way is [...]