Giving a Face to the Movement: Service Learning and the Walk Against Poverty

According to U.S. Census figures, Milwaukee has the seventh highest poverty rate in the nation. More than one in four residents lives in poverty; over 62,000 of those living in poverty are children, 41.3% of all the children in the city. Milwaukee Area Technical College took action! Partnering with a variety of community organizations, a three‐day campaign was hosted to raise awareness of poverty in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin. Over 300 service-learning students from a variety of courses participated in the second annual Walk Against Poverty Campaign. This service-learning event model included presentations, demonstrations, art displays, advocacy, education and a march put on by students, instructors, agency organizers and community members, to call attention to various causes, effects, and solutions to poverty. Passionate community members, K‐16 instructors, and students from all across the greater Milwaukee area came together to join the movement of the Walk Against Poverty Campaign. It gave an opportunity for students to become involved with their community on many levels and through many venues. The campaign’s goal was to raise awareness of poverty in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin and to rally citizens to make positive, sustainable change that leads to lasting solutions to all forms of poverty. [authors]