Every day in Milwaukee, we hear what’s wrong with our youth.
They are labeled distracted, disrespectful, unmotivated or worse. The narrative is loud, repetitive and easy. What we do not hear nearly enough about is what they are carrying and who is showing up to help them carry it.
Our young people are navigating layered realities. Not isolated incidents or surface-level behavior, but deeply layered experiences. Poverty, community violence, grief, housing instability, mental health needs and systems that were never designed with them in mind.
This is especially true for systems-placed youth across Milwaukee, young people navigating out-of-home living experiences in foster care, group homes, juvenile justice placements and other institutional settings, often without consistent stability, advocacy or voice.
When those layers show up in classrooms, programs and public spaces, we are quick to correct behavior before taking time to understand the weight behind it.
That is a problem.
Those who are showing up
What is also a problem is how little we talk about the people who step into that complexity every single day – youth workers.
Educators, mentors, program leaders, outreach workers and community-based professionals who signed up for one role but consistently carry many. They did not apply to be full-time crisis managers, but the work demands it. They did not sign up to be therapists, mediators and stability anchors, but that is exactly what they become.
When a young person walks in carrying layers, the job becomes layered. It becomes wraparound, relational and real.
Across Milwaukee, these professionals work in schools, afterschool programs, community organizations, behavioral and mental health spaces, arts programs and transitional pathways for young adults. They meet young people where they are, not where policy says they should be.
They build trust in environments where trust has been broken. They de-escalate situations that never make headlines. They create access where there was none.
And they do it quietly, without recognition, and far too often for wages that do not match the weight of the work. In Wisconsin, many youth workers and frontline support professionals earn between $15 and $22 an hour.
We are asking people to hold space for trauma, navigate crises in real time, support development and help stabilize lives while being paid wages that often do not allow them to be fully stable themselves.
That is not just a workforce issue. It is a reflection of what we value.
While we continue to criticize youth out loud, we remain far too quiet about the people doing the daily work of supporting, guiding and restoring them.
That silence has consequences. We already see burnout in classrooms with teachers, so it should be no surprise that youth workers are experiencing the same. We see it in burnout, high turnover and a shrinking workforce stretched beyond capacity.
National Thank a Youth Worker Day
As we approach National Thank a Youth Worker Day on May 7, we have an opportunity to shift the narrative. For the past 26 years, the Wisconsin Association of Child and Youth Care Professionals (WACYCP) has hosted an annual Youth Work Awards Celebration recognizing youth workers across the state in school-based settings, community programs, mental and behavioral health, creative spaces and all stages of youth development.
This year’s 26th Annual WACYCP Youth Work Awards Celebration will be announced in person on Thursday, May 7 at 6 p.m. on 88.9 Radio Milwaukee in the Third Ward.
What makes this especially powerful is that the recognition is community driven. Anyone can submit a nomination – a youth worker, a school, a program, a parent or even a young person. All nominations must be received by 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 22.
Submit nominations here: https://wacycp.org/youth-work-awards-celebration/2026-youth-work-awards-celebration
The people closest to the work are often the ones who know exactly who is making a difference.
I share this not just as an observer but as someone who has dedicated my life to this work. I am a lifetime youth worker and have served as a board director with WACYCP for 18 consecutive years, including the past three years as vice president. I have seen the depth of this work up close and how often it goes unseen.
Youth work is not one lane. It is an ecosystem
The people operating within it are doing highly skilled, emotionally demanding, culturally responsive work that requires both professional training and lived understanding.
Recognition is not about optics. It is about sustainability.
When we acknowledge youth workers, we validate the labor. We support retention in a field where burnout is high and send a clear message that this work is essential and not expendable.
If Milwaukee is serious about changing outcomes for young people, then we must be just as serious about investing in the people closest to the work.
That means funding youth-serving organizations at levels that reflect the actual need. That means resourcing programs beyond survival mode.
That means treating youth workers as experts, not afterthoughts.
And yes, that means honoring them publicly and consistently.
You cannot expect transformation in young people while ignoring the people helping to facilitate it.
Milwaukee’s youth are responding to their (in and out of) home environments, systems and conditions that many adults would struggle to navigate themselves, especially those navigating systems not built for their stability.
And still, there are professionals who show up anyway
They stand in the gap.
They build where things have been broken.
They pour into someone else’s child with care, consistency and commitment every single day.
So, yes, let’s keep talking about how to best support our youth, but let’s shift the focus for a moment.
Let’s recognize the people who are doing the work
At the end of the day, none of this happens in isolation. The challenges do not, and the solutions do not.
It takes consistency.
It takes care.
It takes community.
Because it takes a village. And in one of the most racially segregated states in this country, that village matters even more. So to the youth workers doing this work every day, here in Wisconsin, our home, WE SEE YOU!
Angelique Sharpe, known in the community as “MsLadyInc,” works at the intersection of broken systems and resilient people. She lifts their voices, and helps organize solutions. You can visit her website here.
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