Milwaukee Public Library Foundation

Miracle on Canal Street
In partnership with FOX6, the Milwaukee Public Library Foundation was selected by Potawatomi Bingo Casino as one of the 2006 Miracle on Canal Street Charities.  Special events throughout the fall resulted in the MPL Foundation receiving a gift of $51,000 from Potawatomi for children’s books and materials.

Paul Gottfried Krikelas Technology Conference Room
The Krikelas Technology Conference Room is located on the second floor of Central Library.  The room features conference space for 10 people, white board and flip chart, wireless and hardwire Internet access, LCD projector, DVD player, 27-inch television, laptop computer with Microsoft products and business planning software.  It provides a quiet, semi-private, office-like setting for purposeful work, study, and meetings.

The new room was made possible through a generous gift to the Milwaukee Public Library Foundation by board member Barbara Stein, in memory of her nephew who passed away in 2004.

Benjamin Franklin Award Dinner
Nearly 400 guests gathered at the magnificent Central Library for the 19th annual Benjamin Franklin Award Celebration on Thursday, October 18th to honor Northwestern Mutual CEO, Ed Zore.  Guests enjoyed a lovely cocktail hour while bidding on exciting silent auction items.  Foundation president, John Stollenwerk presented the award to Mr. Zore who remarked, “The Milwaukee Public Library is the center of culture in our community.  It's important to have a great system to enhance both learning and fun.”  The program was followed by an elegant “Taste of Central” dinner reception featuring dinner stations throughout the 2nd floor of the library finishing with desserts in the Children’s room. 

The dinner is the foundation’s major fundraising event of the year.  Proceeds from the event help to strengthen the resources of the foundation, enabling it to support and enhance library collections, technology, programming, and facilities as well as funding scholarships to train public service librarians.

Ready to Read with Books2Go!
The library reached 15,000 children, their childcare providers, and their families through the award winning Books2Go program, stressing six basic skills children need to learn to read.  While efforts were focused on 330 children at 36 childcare centers, more than 900 child care providers are enrolled in the program.  The program is generously supported by the Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation, the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation and the Lubar Family Foundation.

Computer Classes
Milwaukee residents continue to express interest in learning basic computer skills.  With generous support from Northwestern Mutual Foundation, the library offered 432 computer classes, with over 4,200 people attending.  There were three sessions of classes – spring, summer and fall – in 2006.  Since the public training program was created in 1999, the library has offered, free of charge, 3,625 classes with a total attendance of 31,924.

Northwestern Mutual’s sponsorship of this program provides an excellent service to citizens seeking to upgrade employment skills, to businesses that rely on hiring qualified workers, to school students without computer access at home, and to citizens young and old who want to stay connected to the world.

Job Center Help
Grants from Miller Brewing Company and the Tellier Foundation supported the development of Job Search Drop-in Centers at selected library computer labs providing drop-in, technology assistance to job-seekers.  Visitors to the drop-in centers are able to receive assistance from a trainer.  The trainer provides the intensive one-on-one assistance they need to expand their job searches, update or create resumes, fill out on-line job applications, or search for employment on the Internet.