Milwaukee community indicators reports were initially developed by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute with funding from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the City of Milwaukee to provide independent, timely and ongoing assessment tools to measure short-term and long-term progress toward improving economic and employment well-being of families in central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Indicators track changes by neighborhood since 1993, prior to the beginning of state and federal welfare reform, and demonstrate the advantages of using administrative and institutional databases to measure dimensions of urban life.

The 53206 ZIP code neighborhood serves as a bellwether for poverty changes in Milwaukee and nationally. In the 1990s prior to welfare reform in Wisconsin it had the largest number of families receiving AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). In the 2000 Census it showed the largest number of families in poverty among Milwaukee zipcodes.

UWM Feature Article on ETI's Neighborhood Research

2007 Reports on Neighborhood Change in Central City Milwaukee
Includes 12-year analysis of subprime lending practices, 13-year analysis of ex-prison population, earned income tax credit claim rates by neighborhood, families receiving public assistance, income levels of single and married families with dependents. Reports have been completed for ZIP Code 53206. Other community studies will be prepared as funding becomes available.

• Executive Summary -- New Indicators of Neighborhood Need in Milwaukee Zipcode 53206 [269K]
• New Indicators of Neighborhood Need in Milwaukee Zipcode 53206 [Full Report, 790K]
• Update on the Housing Crisis in ZIP Code 53206

Indepth Analysis of Ex-Prisoner Issues

• Barriers to Employment: Prison Time examines legal and employment barriers for 37,080 Milwaukee County adults released from or currently in Wisconsin correctional facilities (2007)

• New Indicators of Neighborhood Need in Milwaukee Zipcode 53206 examining income, employment and quality of life changes in neighborhood where 62% of men in their early 30s have been or are incarcerated in state correctional facilities. (2007)

• The EARN (Early Assessment and Retention Network) Model for Effectively Targeting WIA and TANF Resources to Participants recommends an WIA data-driven service delivery system for Milwaukee that recognizes the special legal problems, driver's license recovery problems, limitations on access to employment and training, and probation and parole requirements for the ex-offender population served by WIA and TANF agencies. (2007)

Indepth Analysis of Housing Issues for Low-Income Households

• Milwaukee's Housing Crisis: Housing Affordability and Mortgage Lending Practices (2007)

• Legal Action of Wisconsin Report on Milwaukee's Housing Crisis: Foreclosures, Evictions, and Subprime Lending (2007).

• Legal Action of Wisconsin Report on Mortgage Lending Practices in Milwaukee County: Part Two (2007)

• Background on Ameriquest Mortgage Activity in Milwaukee County: 2003-2005 (2007).

2006 Neighborhood Indicators of Employment and Economic Well-Being of Families, Barriers to Employment, and Untapped Opportunities

• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53204
• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53205
• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53206
• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53208
• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53210
• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53212
• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53216
• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53218
• Neighborhood Indicators for Zipcode 53233

• Tracking the Progress of Welfare Reform Quickly: A Model for Measuring Neighborhood Health and Change, a discussion paper for The Brookings Institution.

Purchasing Power Reports

• Purchasing Power Profiles of City of Milwaukee ZIP Codes and Suburban Areas

• Purchasing Power of Milwaukee Commercial Districts

• Confronting Anti-Urban Marketing Stereotypes: A Milwaukee Economic Development Challenge

• Exposing Urban Legends: The Real Purchasing Power of Central City Neighborhoods, a discussion paper for The Brookings Institution.

Related Studies

• The Drivers License Status of the Voting Age Population in Wisconsin

• Drill Downs for the Milwaukee Renewal Community. An analysis of jobs and commuter patterns for the Menomonee River Valley, Marquette University-Aurora Sinai Medical Center neighborhoods, near northside, and near southside of Milwaukee.

• Use of Refund Anticipation Loans by Earned Income Tax Credit Filers in Central City Milwaukee Neighborhoods

• Usage of the Earned Income Tax Credit by Employed Families in Milwaukee County

• Removing Transportation Barriers to Employment:The Impact of Driver's License Suspension Policies on Milwakee County Teens

• Removing Transportation Barriers to Employment: Assessing Driver's License and Vehicle Ownership Patterns of Low-Income Populations

• Economic Status of Milwaukee County Children in the Year 2000

• Economic Status of Milwaukee County Children in the Year 1999

• State of Milwaukee's Children in 1998: Family Income/Economic Support Report

Background

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute use indices developed from institutional and administrative databases to measure employment, economic and welfare changes in Milwaukee neighborhoods. The indices are designed to gauge short-term and long-term progress toward improving the economic and employment well-being of families in central city Milwaukee, utilizing institutional records from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Milwaukee County, City of Milwaukee, Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. Census Bureau, among others.

Individual annual reports are available on nine Milwaukee zipcode areas targeted by Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs and a summary report is prepared each year for the central city. Data trends (1992 to present) are analyzed for the following:

• the age of the population
• numbers of ex-offenders released from state correctional facilities into the neighborhood
• home purchase, home repair and refinancing loans to neighborhood residents and landlords
• subprime and high interest loans issued annually to residents and landlords
• data on housing foreclosure cases in circuit court
• income of working age tax filers
• income of single tax filers with dependents
• income of married tax filers with dependents
• changes in the numbers of married and single families with dependents
• families claiming the earned income tax credits
• est. federal and state earned income tax credit dollars received
• est. percent of eligible families claiming the EIC
• use of rapid refund anticipation loans by EIC claimants
• est. single parent families with income below the poverty level
• est. married parent families with income below the poverty level
• est. families moved above the poverty level by the EIC
• families receiving child care subsidies
• child care subsidy payments to families
• licensed child care capacity in the neighborhood
• families receiving AFDC or "W-2" income support
• families receiving food stamp benefits
• families receiving medical insurance (including Medicaid, BadgerCare, and Healthy Start)
• number of private sector employees working in the neighborhood
• payroll of businesses located in the neighborhood
• number of business establishments in the neighborhood
• business property values
• Schedule C self-employed business filers
• percent of single family homes occupied by the owner
• percent of duplexes occupied by the owner
• average housing values of homes by bedroom size
• number of residents with driver's license suspensions for failure to pay fines
• number of residents with driver's license suspensions for traffic violations, DWI, and drug convictions
• number of driver's license revocations
• number of violent crimes
• changes in crimes by type

Purchasing Power Research

To assist the City of Milwaukee in describing the income concentration and spending power around commercial districts, the Employment and Training Institute used the databases amassed for the neighborhood indicators project along with a state-of-the-art methodology based on the Consumer Expenditure Survey data by types of families and households to describe purchasing power and economic assets in neighborhoods throughout Milwaukee County and in zipcodes in Racine, Kenosha, Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee County. Individual reports (including comparison tables for 53 ZIP codes, graphs, aerial photos, and density maps) are posted for City of Milwaukee and Suburban Areas.