Milwaukee is one of the most segregated and impoverished cities in the US. More than one in four Milwaukee residents lived in poverty in 2006. In addition, Milwaukee has the eighth-highest rate of poverty among large cities in the United States with 26.2%, or 143,000 people living below the federal poverty line.

Marc Levine, director for the Center of Economic Development at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, states, “What we're facing is a genuine culmination of two decades of economic decline and the failure of the city's leadership to confront that decline.”

Living in Milwaukee during college, Andrew and Nick saw first hand the effect of segregation and poverty on the people living in the city. Homeless men and women would stand half frozen in empty doorways and under overpasses with little hope of any help or change. We were traveling to places all over the globe helping those less fortunate, but we were forgetting about the hundreds of people suffering outside of our front door.

We had to help.

This summer Next Step Ministries has added a one-week service trip to Milwaukee to help the city’s elderly and homeless. Students will spend a week working with local organizations and churches that provide food, shelter and clothing for homeless people. Students will also help Milwaukee residents with home improvement projects and work with churches on various city cleanup projects.

This cost-effective trip is a powerful, eye-opening experience that exposes students to the reality of poverty while giving them the opportunity to truly make a difference.

Price: $299

* This trip is only offered July 18th through July 24th.