Our annual property tax and values report was front page news in early September. This year's report finds that property tax levies decreased by 3% across the region, while property values increased (by 2%), though at a slower rate than last year. Accompanying the written report were online interactive data visualizations showing multi-year county-by-county trends. Stay tuned for the release of our 2016 City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County budget briefs in mid-October, which will provide insight into next year's property tax bills.

 Access the report, municipality breakdown, data visualizations, and media coverage

Our latest education research explores the number of teachers in the four-county metro area as well as characteristics such as race, education attainment, and years of experience. The report is the first in the three-part Milwaukee Educator Series. The second report will provide a similar look at the characteristics of school leaders in the region. The final report will focus on the teacher pipeline to determine if Metro Milwaukee is facing a shortage of teachers in the near future.

Read the research and media coverage

Our August report on federal, state, and local funding trends for programs that are important to Milwaukee neighborhoods has generated widespread attention. The report was covered in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and we presented it to a group of nonprofit leaders at the Zilber Family Foundation and to the Community Development Funding Alliance. Community development will be an area of increased activity for the Forum, as we also have agreed to house a new position created by Alliance leaders that will be coordinating community development efforts led by local philanthropists. 

Read the research and media coverage

The Forum released several other research reports in the third quarter, including:

Do we have a grip on Metro Milwaukee's local infrastructure repair needs and do we have the revenue capacity to address those needs? A panel of high-ranking officials explored these questions and more at a Viewpoint Luncheon on September 21. The luncheon kicked off a new Forum research project on infrastructure challenges in Metro Milwaukee.

Nearly 100 people gathered to hear about our research on philanthropic capacity to address the needs of our arts, cultural, and entertainment assets and institutions. Researcher Anne Chapman analyzed recent trends in charitable giving and assessed what the future might hold.
 

Our 2015-16 Norman N. Gill Fellow and University of Wisconsin-Madison PhD student, Chris Spahr (pictured right), started his research study that will provide an analysis of the challenges presented by childhood obesity in Milwaukee and assess the level of collaboration needed to promote policy, systems, and environmental changes in support of obesity prevention. 

Also, the Forum welcomed our two new Public Policy Reporting Fellows, Wyatt Massey and Marlita Bevenue. Wyatt and Marlita are graduate students at Marquette University and will be working at the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. 

Each summer, the Forum hosts two interns to work on some of our research projects. We wanted to thank this year's interns, Ben Binversie and Mitch Harris, for their hard work this summer. Ben's main project was our annual schooling report, which will be released in October. Mitch helped put together our property values and taxes report, released earlier in September.

Registration is now open for our upcoming Viewpoint Luncheon: When the Mental Health and Justice Systems Collide on Monday, October 26 at the Crowne Plaza in Wauwatosa.

Save the date for our 2016 Annual Meeting: January 13, 2016 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. at the Wisconsin Club.