What is the Milwaukee Anchor Collaborative?

The Milwaukee Anchor Collaborative (MAC) is a group of Anchor Institutions — local higher education institutions, healthcare systems and JobsWork MKE — committed to improving economic factors of health through quality jobs, career growth, and local business vitality within the highest need zip codes in Milwaukee.

Healthy people through economically thriving neighborhoods
MAC

Our Core Anchor Institutions

  • Children's Wisconsin logo
  • Aurora Health Care Logo
  • Medical College of Wisconsin
  • ascension-logo
  • Froedtert
We’d like to thank our Anchor Institution partners for helping to uplift people, families and communities in Greater Milwaukee.

Strategic Goals and Objectives

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Thriving Workforce

Connect residents with jobs that offer a living wage and enhance career opportunities at key institutions.

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Foster Business Vitality

Support local businesses by expanding procurement opportunities and building their capacity.

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Advanced Place-Based Investment

Leveraging other institutional assets, expanding industry partnerships, and advocating for policy change to stimulate new growth and investments.

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Concentrating Investment

MAC will continue to focus on programming with residents and businesses in the 8 focal zip codes with the greatest need to improve the economic factors of health.

The combined population is 206,000 with 33% living in poverty.

Our Anchor Institutions are helping people in historically underserved communities build generational wealth and resilience, reduce employers’ costs of poor health, and strengthen Wisconsin’s workforce.

The MAC leverages data directly from anchor partners to demonstrate progress and model impact for the target communities

MAC Stats

 

  • Anchor Enterprise Metrics – Each year the MAC collects data on anchor purchasing and employment trends within the focal zip codes. This data helps the MAC target interventions, track progress, and measure impact
  • Operational Metrics – Each year the MAC engages member anchors in programming aimed at supporting small businesses and prospective employees from the zip codes. The MAC is committed to tracking outcomes from these programs to ensure success.
  • Community Impact Metrics – Each year the MAC translates anchor enterprise data into local economic impact. This data tells the story about why local purchasing and local hiring are critical to generating new economic activity within Milwaukee and the focal zip codes. In addition, the MAC will periodically assess the overall economic factors of health of the zip codes to see if the needle is moving.