A HOPEFUL FUTURE

A message from the CEO

Thank you all for a wonderful year; we accomplished so much together.

We thank our staff, our donors and our community partners for making 2022 a success, and setting the stage for an even better, more hopeful New Year.

Some of our accomplishments this year include:

• MCFI’s Behavioral Health Services expanded its services to treat children ages 17 and younger who are experiencing mental health issues. The clinic is supported by Children’s Wisconsin and Milwaukee County’s Birth to Three provider agencies, and it has quickly become a vital resource as the number of children diagnosed with mental health conditions continues to increase.
• Expanding Crisis Resource Center services to Waukesha County, as the number of people experiencing crisis precipitated by mental illness, trauma, substance use or the challenges of living in difficult economic times is increasing there. As a result, CRC staff is partnering with the Department of Health and Human Services, local hospitals and police departments to connect people in a mental health crisis to life-saving resources.
• MCFI, an affiliate of CFI, is developing a fifth commercial production kitchen at 27th and Wells as part of the Near West Side Partner's Concordia 27 initiative. This new addition provides the means for our Food Service team to produce and distribute 3,000 meals daily in its first year of operation and 4,000 meals daily by its second year, creating a more healthy and hopeful future for children and youth in the community. 
• CFI has been awarded a $100,000 grant that will create strategies to address the impact the pandemic had on employment within marginalized communities within Milwaukee County. The grant is from Mobilizing Communities for a Just Recovery (MC4JR) through the Department of Health Services Division of Public Health. With the grant, we will develop create partnerships in the community and adapt strategies to meet needs and build community empowerment.
• MCFI's Employment Services, Community Integration and Brain Health programs have been accredited by CARF (the Commission on Accreditation for Rehabilitation Facilities) for a period of three years. This accreditation represents the highest level given to an organization and shows the organization’s substantial conformance to the CARF standards.

There’s so much more, and it takes the effort of all of us to be able to

boast of these achievements. We thank you all, and look forward to an even more hopeful 2023.

Teri Zywicki

President and CEO

Thank you to our donors!

Recently, we received gifts from these partners:



1. $100,000 gift from the Otto Bremer Trust to support purchase of equipment for our new production kitchen at Concordia 27
2. $10,000 from the Ralph Evinrude Foundation. It was their second payment of its pledge to support our children’s behavioral health clinic
3. $7,500 funded in part by the Green Bay Packers Foundation to purchase play therapy supplies and furniture for our children’s behavioral health clinic. We received the $10,000 gift from the Wispact Foundation to purchase another hydroponic system and produce washing system for our Concordia 27 production kitchen
4. $4,000 from the Gardner Foundation to support our Concordia 27 kitchen
5. $2,500 from the Badger Meter Foundation for medical day care operating support
6. $2,000 from the Kolaga Family Charitable Trust to support Adult Services
7. $2,000 from the William and Sandy Heitz Family Foundation to support the Concordia 27 kitchen
8. $1,000 from the QPS Employment Group for wherever needed the most
9. Toys, books, and games from our friends at WISN (pictured above) for the students in our Wells Street Academy’s holiday party on Dec. 16
10. Additional masks and other PPE from Advocate Aurora for the health safety of our clients and staff
11. 18 activity bags to keep kids busy during the holidays from Midwest Monster Academy

We thank all of our donors for their generosity. If you are interested in making a contribution, please visit the donor page on our website.