The Wisconsin Humanities Council (WHC) has awarded $39,500 to four Milwaukee-based programs that range from empowering youth to taking charge of our experiences through story.

Parents for Public Schools – Milwaukee’s project “Deliberative Dialogue and Youth Voice” works with UW-Milwaukee’s Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership and Research to help empower public school students and amplify their voices. The award of $9500 will help train students to facilitate dialogue with their school communities around the questions, “What can communities do to help youth succeed?”  The program gives students the tools to see multiple perspectives on an issue and advocate for solutions to real-world problems. Students will also be trained to create digital stories based on the dialogues, which will be presented at a public showcase.

“Developing student voice is critical because youth play an important role in schools and society, and their experiences have as much to teach us as the adults who help shape their lives,” says Jenni Hofschulte, project director and executive director, PPS-Milwaukee. For more information about the program, visit www.facebook.com/PPSMKE.

Neighborhood House of Milwaukee’s ‘Nature of Culture’ will use a $10,000 award to reach low-income, underserved Milwaukee youth at its summer camp to engage them in cultural exploration that examines the relationship between environment and culture. Students will be involved in a combination of hands-on activities, such as workshops and performances that strengthen their connections to the community. Lessons will focus on how the natural world has shaped the traditional practices of different cultures.

“We want to provide multicultural programming to engage a diverse population of children with limited access to educational, cultural, and arts enrichment opportunities, outside of school,” says Niki Espy, project director and supervisor for Neighborhood House of Milwaukee. For more information about the project visit www.nh-milw.org.

Lotus Legal Clinic, Inc., of Milwaukee, a non-profit legal clinic that serves victims of gender-based violence and human trafficking was awarded $10,000 to launch its “Untold Stories Digital Magazine.” Untold Stories is in its sixth year of helping survivors transform their personal trauma into powerful messages for advocacy and change in culture through a writing workshop offered in partnership with the Voices and Faces Project. The digital “zine” will feature writing from previous and current workshop attendees, as well as artwork created by youth engaged in the Arts@Large program in response to the stories.

 “Our focus must turn to sharing the Untold Stories model with other communities all over Wisconsin and the country, creating social and legal change about gender-based violence and human trafficking,” says Rachel Monaco – Wilcox, project director and CEO and Founder of Lotus Legal Clinic, Inc. For more information about the project, visit www.lotuslegal.org.

Ex Fabula was awarded $10,000 for a Fellowship program that aims to add to the conversation about race and equity in the Greater Milwaukee region. The project will recruit 25 adults to learn how to craft their personal stories about race and equity to be presented at 12 free, interactive outreach performances.

Bonds are strengthened and understanding flourishes through the art of storytelling. Ex Fabula’s Fellowship creates spaces where personal stories inspire healing conversations about race and equity to be shared.

“Milwaukee offers an abundance of parks, neighborhood festivals, local restaurants … and some of the worst conditions in the nation for people of color. … Even in the face of these crises, many Milwaukeeans are not involved in tackling these problems or even discussing them,” says project director Megan McGee. For more information about the program, visitwww.exfabula.org/fellows.

The Wisconsin Humanities Council has the only grant program in the state devoted to the public humanities. The Council provides matching grants to communities, schools, civic groups, historical societies, museums, libraries, and other non-profit groups throughout the state. Ninety percent of WHC’s funding comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For Wisconsin Humanities Council’s Calendar of Events, please see: http://www.wisconsinhumanities.org/calendar.