Research Brief on ETI Neighborhood Indicators Studies

The Milwaukee neighborhood indicators reports were 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 tracked changes by neighborhood since 1993, prior to the beginning of state and federal welfare payment cuts, and demonstrate the advantages of using administrative and institutional databases to measure dimensions of urban life. In 2001 the Brookings Institution identified the ETI neighborhood indicators approach as a national model

Purchasing Power Profile of Milwaukee ZIP Code 53224

Each year, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts detailed analyses of the spending habits of residents by their household size, type, and income levels. These Consumer Expenditures Surveys are used by marketing firms to estimate expenditures of consumers and to assist retail companies in deciding where to locate and what populations to target for their consumer items and services. In most cases, marketing firms have based their data and recommendations on average household income of residents by geographic locations, while ignoring the advantages of urban density and the concentrated spending that takes place in city neighborhoods. Using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by the Employment and Training Institute, the most recent expenditure survey data are combined with detailed state income tax files disaggregated by family types. These Purchasing Power Profiles offer current and reliable estimates of the spending power of neighborhoods throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. The profiles were provided free of charge, are designed to assist businesses, community organizations, and public officials assess the spending patterns of Milwaukee families and individuals and to help identify neighborhoods that are currently underserved, where residents are required to travel to other areas for their consumer needs

Report on Mortgage Lending Practices in Milwaukee County: Part Two

This analysis prepared for Legal Action of Wisconsin as part of its examination of housing issues facing low-income residents identifies refinancing loans, subprime lending and other mortgage practices affecting employed and retired families in Milwaukee County. The report examines 420,633 mortgage loans issued in Milwaukee County, including 49,180 loans issued by subprime lenders, for the period from 1993 through 2001 and 2003 through 2005, using the last available Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data files. Of particular concern are refinancing loans where home owners take out new mortgages to obtain cash for credit card and other debt obligations. Central city residents, whose full value housing assessments have reported increases of $25,000 to$60,000 or more in the last six years, have been targeted for refinancing loans. For lower-income residents refinanced mortgages offer new found cash and illusory relief for consolidating credit card and other debts, but put owners’ entire home equity in jeopardy if they cannot make their payments. The CDBG neighborhoods recorded over 5,000 refinancing loans a year to owner occupants from 2003 through 2005

Research Brief on ETI Job Openings Surveys

The Milwaukee job vacancy studies were initiated in 1993 by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute at the request of the City of Milwaukee in collaboration with Milwaukee Area Technical College, the Milwaukee Public Schools, and the Private Industry Council of Milwaukee County, and with funding support from the government partners and the Helen Bader Foundation. In 2006 and 2009 the surveys were expanded from the four counties of the Milwaukee metropolitan area to include all seven counties of the Milwaukee Region

Socio-Economic Analysis of Neighborhood Issues facing MPS Students and Their Families in Zipcode 53233

As a planning supplement to the annual count of school children in the city of Milwaukee, the Employment and Training Institute assembled institutional and administrative data bases to help provide a socio-economic analysis of neighborhood issues facing Milwaukee Public Schools students and their families. Nine Milwaukee zip codes historically targeted for Community Development Block Grant funding because of their concentrations of poverty are analyzed in detail. This report provides neighborhood drilldowns on key issues of concern to educators for Milwaukee zip code 53233. The zip code drilldowns explore interrelationships at the neighborhood level between earnings of Milwaukee parents; job availability; the economic recession; expansion of the subsidized child care provider network; state welfare regulations; crime; incarceration and prisoner release rates; traffic dangers; and the housing foreclosure and eviction crises. These factors individually and in combination have profound impacts on the learning environment in the classroom

Testimony of Lois M. Quinn and John Pawasarat to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy

In June 1990 Lois Quinn and John Pawasarat of the Employment and Training Institute testified on the progress of their evaluation of the Wisconsin Learnfare experiment before the Senate Committee on Finance Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy. They appeared at the request of the committee chairman, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Removing Barriers to Employment: The Child Care-Jobs Equation

One of the critical concerns facing parents seeking employment is provision of adequate care for their children while they are at work. Employment and Training Institute surveys of central city Milwaukee female job seekers identified lack of child care as a primary barrier to employment, and a recent assessment of AFDC mothers with very young children found that most needed help finding and financing child care. It was expected that the influx of state and federal funds for child care support would increase the numbers of children receiving consistent, quality child care and that a number of central city residents might find family-supporting jobs offering child care to other families. This study examined the utilization of child care subsidies by low-income parents in Milwaukee County over a 21-month period from January 1996 through September 1997, analyzed payments to 2,826 providers of care and 31,863 child care placements, and reviewed AFDC, food stamp and medical assistance records in December 1995, September 1996 and June 1997 in order to assess use and type of child care subsidized in the county. It also explored the experience of adults offering provisional, certified and licensed child care to gauge income received for this work

Purchasing Power Profile of Milwaukee ZIP Code 53225

Each year, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts detailed analyses of the spending habits of residents by their household size, type, and income levels. These Consumer Expenditures Surveys are used by marketing firms to estimate expenditures of consumers and to assist retail companies in deciding where to locate and what populations to target for their consumer items and services. In most cases, marketing firms have based their data and recommendations on average household income of residents by geographic locations, while ignoring the advantages of urban density and the concentrated spending that takes place in city neighborhoods. Using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by the Employment and Training Institute, the most recent expenditure survey data are combined with detailed state income tax files disaggregated by family types. These Purchasing Power Profiles offer current and reliable estimates of the spending power of neighborhoods throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. The profiles were provided free of charge, are designed to assist businesses, community organizations, and public officials assess the spending patterns of Milwaukee families and individuals and to help identify neighborhoods that are currently underserved, where residents are required to travel to other areas for their consumer needs

Tracking the Progress of Welfare Reform Quickly: A Model for Measuring Neighborhood Health and Change, prepared for The Brookings Institution

Research on the progress of welfare reform commonly relies on multi-year state and national evaluations and surveys, leaving city officials and practitioners hungry for data on the immediate impacts of welfare changes on their inner-city neighborhoods. This study describes the Milwaukee neighborhood indicators project, an effort directed by the Employment and Training Institute, which tries to fill this information gap. Using a variety of geographically specific data sources from state, county, and city agencies, the project provides a more timely set of economic indicators for the city of Milwaukee and its neighborhoods than do other sources. The indicators allow local officials to measure the impact of welfare reform and worker benefit policies on families, to identify continuing employment barriers for inner-city residents, and to craft policies that help these families attain economic self-sufficiency. The research model described in this paper can be replicated in cities across the country

Demographics of Milwaukee County Populations Expected to Work Under Proposed Welfare Reform

The Employment and Training Institute was asked to provide a detailed demographic analysis of Milwaukee County cases on public assistance and the working poor to assist policy makers in discussions of current welfare reform proposals (referred to as “W-2”). An estimated 30,448 out of 37,415 AFDC cases in Milwaukee County would be expected to work under the state\u27s proposed welfare policy changes while 6,967 cases would be exempt because the casehead is on SSI or caring for another relative\u27s children. Much of the AFDC population is currently employed or has recent labor market attachment. Based on historical and recent caseload data, it is estimated that one-third of the monthly AFDC caseload would remain employed or increase their earnings on their own and would not seek out “W-2” minimum wage subsidized employment. These are mainly families with older children and caseheads who are better educated and have demonstrated work skills. They are the population least likely to benefit from intervention. As much as one-third of the current caseload has no recent labor market experience and represents a high-risk, high-cost difficult-to-employ population. These caseheads are usually younger, less educated, and have more children. Child care is a serious impediment for these families with most cases having at least one child under two years of age. These cases are also likely to have difficulty complying with stringent welfare work program requirements