M³ institutions address emergency needs

Addressing the mental health and financial needs of students and bridging the digital divide are among the biggest issues facing Milwaukee’s largest three public education institutions during COVID-19.

The leaders of Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee Area Technical College and UWM discussed how their institutions have pivoted to meet the urgent needs of students through the pandemic during the debut of a new M³ virtual discussion series.

The institutions are partners in the M³ (pronounced “M-Cubed”) initiative, which seeks to close equity gaps and transform the future of young people through education.

“There truly is commonality among all of them. The mental health issue is very real issue. It impacts the entire family,” said Jackie Herd-Barber, a philanthropist and M³ Advisory Board member who served as moderator for the first webinar on Oct. 28.

She was joined by MPS Superintendent Keith Posley, MATC President Vicki Martin and UWM Chancellor Mark Mone.

“With the digital divide, it’s about making sure that students have access in this virtual environment. And then there are just the basic needs of understanding that we truly have people that are walking around with not enough to eat, without a place to sleep,” Herd-Barber said. “I appreciate you all finding ways to address those needs.”

There were common themes in how MPS, MATC and UWM were addressing concerns. A recording of the full webinar can be found on YouTube.

Here are some highlights:

MPS

All MPS classes are being held online, meaning students miss out on important in-person interactions with teachers in the classrooms, as well as social interactions with friends through sports, clubs and other extracurricular activities.

“We have all had to blend in and embed socioemotional learning in everything that we do throughout our lessons with our people to increase the support and work in self-care,” Posley said.

Like MATC and UWM, MPS put together a pandemic response team that was responsible for helping to ensure the health and safety of students and staff, as well as to provide support and facilitate safe operations.

MPS also hosted its first-ever “Connection Day” on Aug. 31 to assist students and families across the district with technology needs prior to the first day of school. Schools helped students ensure that internet connections, cameras and microphones were working properly.

“These are some real tough, uncertain times,” Posley said. “But we will get through it, and we will be better and greater for it.”

MATC

“There is no set of established rules or protocols for how to move forward, how to take a break, how to slow down in the midst of a global pandemic,” Martin said about the concerns over mental health.

MATC’s Student Resource Center has developed virtual means for students to reach them and to provide more mental health programming during the school year. The Student Resource Center has also partnered with the Hunger Task Force to provide access to food.

The school has distributed more than 1,300 Chromebooks to students without other access to technology to continue their education and stay on track for graduation. MATC also has provided 250 Wi-Fi hot spots through MATC libraries to loan to students.

The M³ mission remains a priority through the COVID crisis.

“This particular partnership is really so critical, so important. We want to make sure that we set the expectation and we see the success of students going through our three institutions successfully,” Martin said.

UWM

The pandemic has placed a burden on the mental health of UWM students as well as faculty and staff, Mone said. The university regularly reminds the campus population of expanded virtual options for counseling and other resources focused on helping with physical and mental well-being.

UWM has distributed about $750,000 to students through emergency grants or awards from the new Chancellor’s Student Success Fund. Chromebooks and Dell laptops have been made available for loan to students for coursework.

Each institution also has received vital financial assistance from the federal CARES Act. The money has been used for everything from helping to pay for technical infrastructure needed to support the expansion of online classes, to serving as a source for more emergency aid for students.

The M³ collaboration perseveres through the pandemic. For instance, the initiative’s College Connections program enters its third year with 92 MPS high school seniors earning college credit by taking classes at MATC and UWM. Enrollment is up about 70% from last school year.

Since classes aren’t able to meet in person, M³ staff has provided care packages including a water bottle, snacks and personal notes of encouragement as a way to help inspire students.

“It’s so vitally important for us to continue to recognize the work that we are doing together,”

Mone said. “Recognizing that those students at MPS are our future – not only our future students at MATC and UWM, but really our future for the workforce, our future for our citizenry, for all the different things that we need in so many ways.

“It’s critically important that we continue to reinforce the practices that we are working on collaboratively for M-Cubed.”