Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund

Contact Information

221 South 2nd Street, Suite 300
Milwaukee
WI
53204
(414) 476-4501
robert.kraig@citizenactionwi.org
http://www.citizenactionwifund.org

Our History

Founded in 1983, Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund is an issue focused coalition organization committed to achieving social and economic justice.  Citizen Action Fund is a multi-issue organization which focuses a lion’s share of its time and resources on its two lead issues: health care reform and our good jobs campaign.  Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund’s merger in 2009 with the previously independent Good Jobs & Livable Neighborhoods has augmented our economic justice work.  In 2011 Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund launched a new values communication project which works with other non-profits to improve the immediate and long term effectiveness of their public communication.

Our Work

Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund integrates traditional grassroots organizing, timely public policy research, message development, and cutting-edge use of earned and social media to amplify the public impact of our work.

Most fundamentally, Citizen Action Fund believes that issues matter.  It is through transformative issues that that capture the public imagination and reveal the dissonance between our nation’s ideals and its economic and social realities that average people come to see their stake in the public sphere and are motivated to participate in their democracy, resulting in meaningful, lasting change.

News Articles

Local and State Ballot Measures Win Big!

Partnership for Working Families | November 6, 2014

Dear Friends,

Regardless of how you feel about this week's election results overall, there’s no doubt that when voters got a chance to decide on working family issues, we won big. We won on minimum wage, paid sick days, mass transit, and democracy. We also achieved important gains in criminal justice reform and healthcare reform. Across our network, our affiliates organized hundreds of thousands of voters around key issues that concretely impact our lives.

Milwaukee County Passes Historic Living Wage Ordinance

Partnership for Working Families | April 17, 2014

On March 20, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted to override the veto by the County Executive and pass a Living Wage Ordinance ensuring employees of county contractors will be paid $11.23 an hour. The ordinance will directly impact nearly 9,000 workers.

Momentum Builds for Transforming Trash

Partnership for Working Families | November 6, 2013

More than sixty municipal waste professionals, progressive funders, environmental justice advocates, and worker justice leaders joined the Partnership-hosted “Transforming Trash for Jobs, Climate and Community Health” webinar on October 17. The webinar offered key lessons for people who want to build environmental and economic resilience by transforming trash and building a recycling economy in their own cities, and shared case studies from around the country.

Partnership Members Stand Up to Live Better in Black Friday Walmart Actions

Partnership for Working Families | November 26, 2012

On Black Friday, shoppers looking for holiday bargains weren’t the only ones at Walmart.  Walmart workers and supporters rallied in 1,000 protests across 46 states. The actions had two goals: educating shoppers about the abysmal working conditions in Wal-Mart stores and suppliers; and showing strong solidarity to prevent Walmart bosses from retaliating against participating workers.    

Celebrating the Value of Community-Labor Collaboration

Partnership for Working Families | October 22, 2012

Partnering with community organizations – in part by creating real and lasting opportunities for low-income workers and workers of color – yields real dividends for building trades unions. That was the message delivered at the 2012 Central Regional Conference organized by the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, where the Partnership’s Deputy Director, Kathleen Mulligan-Hansel, and Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s Matt Brusky both spoke to about 100 IUPAT business managers, organizers and member-leaders.