The Children’s Outing Association’s Executive Director Tom Schneider sat down with the Shepherd Express to talk about his role in helping transform one of Milwaukee’s most distressed communities, known as the Amani neighborhood. Gang violence, gunshots and drug dealings used to be commonplace, but with the opening of the new COA Goldin Center, residents have been able to fight back and reclaim their neighborhood.
What is the Children’s Outing Association?
The COA has been serving low-income children and families in Milwaukee for 108 years. We are a settlement house, which means we take a holistic approach to the entire family. We start with early childhood education, we provide afterschool youth-development programs and then we do a wide range of community services aimed at community development.
What is your role at COA?
I’m the executive director of the agency, which means I’m responsible for the overall operation of the entire agency.
Why did you decide to work here?
I finished my eight-year term as United States attorney for eastern Wisconsin. There was an election, Bush beat Gore—at least the Supreme Court said so—and there were all new U.S. attorneys throughout the nation. I got a call from someone on the board of COA who said, “You know, as U.S. attorney, you worked with all the youth agencies in Wisconsin. Would you be interested in coming and working for us as executive director?” That’s what I decided to do.
Why build a new center in the Amani neighborhood?
Well, when you’re serving children and families, you go where the need is. A lot of eyebrows were raised when we bought this bankrupt building in the heart of Milwaukee’s most distressed neighborhood. People asked why. That’s where the need was. It’s sort of like my other career when somebody told the joke about a bank robber from the ’30s named Willy Sutton: “Why did you rob banks?” “That’s where the money was.” In this case, “Why do you serve children and families in the neediest community in Milwaukee?” “Well, that’s where the need is.”
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Is there still gang violence in the neighborhood?
Oh you still see it. Things do not happen instantly. You build assets, you engage residents and you start to see change over time.
What’s one of the most rewarding things about working for the COA?
Taking a holistic approach to families and giving them the tools they need to be self-sufficient is incredibly rewarding. That was the mission defined 108 years ago, and it is the mission today.
How can the community get involved and help out?
We rely on a significant amount of volunteers, whether it’s a one-shot project, or coming in every day, or participating and helping us organize one of our special events, we can always use the help.
For information about COA’s many programs, projects and events, visit coa-yfc.org.
