The Crib MKE serves to provide housing, resources, and support to Milwaukee-area teens aging out of foster care.

We are planning to purchase a 3-4 unit apartment building, which will exclusively be rented to teens aging out of care. Along with safe and stable housing, we hope to provide resources and support through connections with go-to people who are willing to teach and model the life skills needed to be a successful adult. Our values include teaching accountability, serving with compassion, forgiving mistakes and using them as teaching moments, respecting dignity and promoting self-worth.

"Foster youth should not exit care with fewer relationships than they came in with...for the majority of our kids’ lives, if they’re aging out of care at 21, most people who have supported them have been paid to be in their life, and that includes parents. So when no one’s getting paid anymore, what support exists?” - Aged Out: How We're Failing Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care. https://www.thinkof-us.org/aged-out-report

Teens aging out of foster care are often lacking the resources needed to make it on their own. 20% of teens aging out of foster care become homeless the day they age out, and 40-50% experience homelessness within 18 months. Finding safe, affordable housing at a young age with no credit, no co-signer, and low income is only one of many challenges that kids face once they find themselves on their own. Teens aging out of foster care are also more likely to experience addiction, be victims of human trafficking, and to become parents before they're ready.

Teens aging out need resources, but they also need relationships. They need people to believe in them and lift them up. They need second, third, and fourth chances. They need patience, compassion, and role models. As Dr. Bruce Perry says, "The more healthy relationships a child has, the more likely he will be to heal from trauma and thrive. Relationships are agents of change and the most powerful form of therapy is human love."