In 1998 UWM embarked upon the Milwaukee Idea, an initiative to foster greater partnership with the local and regional community. This initiative was based upon UWM’s unique position in the UW System (the designated urban research university), a strong tradition in the state fostering university involvement in the welfare of community and state (the Wisconsin Idea’s ethos that “the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state), and a consistent pattern of UWM connections to the greater Milwaukee community organized around research, instruction, and community outreach.
The Milwaukee Idea was organized to create lasting impact, both within and outside the university. To achieve this ambitious objective, the following guiding principles were adopted:
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Base partnerships on truly reciprocal relationships where equally situated partners each make contributions and each yield benefits from collaborative enterprises.
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Build lasting partnerships in which the University and the community come to the table as equals; all partners participate in project planning, implementation and assessment.
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Embrace partners from multiple disciplines and professional background, enriching the expertise that can be applied to complex urban issues and challenges.
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Promote diversity and multicultural appreciation as a key attribute to be sought in initiatives, from recruiting diverse initiative partners to tackling challenging multicultural issues.
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Seek bold ideas on which to build partnerships rather than incremental changes.
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Assess the work of Milwaukee Idea initiatives to carefully identify outcomes and justify investments that have been made to support the partnerships and their work.
The achievements of individual Milwaukee Idea initiatives are listed both on the website (www.milwaukeeidea.org) and in the annual Milwaukee Idea Report to the Community. Looking across the breadth of initiatives and their implementation experiences, the following more general achievements can be noted.
