Ten Milwaukee-area nonprofits will receive a total of $1 million in grants from a new initiative created by Milwaukee Bucks player Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foundation, GE HealthCare and GE HealthCare Foundation.
Powering Milwaukee Forward will fund existing programs at the nonprofits to improve access to basic needs, such as housing, food and education, within Milwaukee’s underserved communities.
It was announced Friday at Avli, a Greek restaurant in Milwaukee’s Brewer’s Hill neighborhood, where speakers included Antetokounmpo and wife Mariah, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
“I call this community home,” Giannis said. “And I want to make a difference in this community going forward,”
The nonprofits receiving grants through the initiative are:
- Acts Housing
- African American Breastfeeding Network
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee
- Children’s Wisconsin Foundation
- Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin
- Hunger Task Force
- Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity
- Milwaukee Parks Foundation
- Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers
- YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee
GE HealthCare Foundation contributed $200,000 to support the African American Breastfeeding Network’s doula-training program and Children’s Wisconsin’s Community Connectors program, said Victoria Glazar, managing director of the foundation.
The Community Connectors program pairs moms of children under 5 years old with community members for coaching and goal setting, said Meg Brzyski Nelson, president of Children’s Wisconsin Foundation and chief development officer for Children’s Wisconsin.
GE HealthCare and the Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation, named for Giannis’ late father, provided the remaining $800,000, split evenly between the two, to support the other eight nonprofits.
The two organizations looked for nonprofits with a “track record of success” in addressing one of four issues: housing, education, food access and safe physical environments, said Andrew Ruehl, community affairs lead at GE HealthCare.
“We know that this is just the start, and I think we will continue to evaluate other organizations because we know there’s a lot of other great nonprofits in this community that work within this space,” Ruehl said.
Grants support access to housing, food, other needs
According to GE HealthCare, the grants to those nonprofits will help support the following:
- Acts Housing’s homeownership program, which provides homebuyer and financial education, lending support, home rehab coaching and real estate services.
- Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 build season, during which the nonprofit hopes to build 36 new homes for first-time homebuyers and repairs for 35 existing homeowners in Milwaukee.
- Feeding America’s Nurturing Collaborative program, which provides healthy food and birthing supports through prenatal nutrition boxes, pre- and postpartum wellness boxes, empowerment workshops and networking fairs showcasing Milwaukee’s birthing services and resources.
- Hunger Task Force’s Mobile Market, which works to address food deserts by bringing affordable, fresh foods to families’ and seniors’ doorsteps.
- The construction of a soccer field and development of soccer programs at Sixteenth Street meant to promote physical activity, improve mental health, strengthen community bonds and support youth development.
- Milwaukee Parks Foundation’s Activating Atkinson initiative, which includes the building of a new, open-air picnic shelter and community engagement at Atkinson Triangle Park on the city’s north side.
- STEM programming at the Daniels-Mardak Boys and Girls Club, with an emphasis on Black youth living on the northwest side of Milwaukee.
- YMCA’s early childhood education programming, which includes weekend meal kits, dental hygiene education, emergency child care and parenting education.
