County Executive Crowley, Chairwoman Nicholson-Bovell Approve Legislation Aimed at Supporting Children and Families

The FORGE Fatherhood Services Program provides funding to support a broad array of services for adult fathers to care for their children

MILWAUKEE – Today at Wisconsin Community Services, County Executive David Crowley and Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson-Bovell recognized the Week of the Young Child by signing legislation to deploy $5 million over the next several years to provide FORGE (Family, Opportunity, Resilience, Grit, Engagement) Fatherhood Services for families across Milwaukee County. This program is administered by Milwaukee County’s Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) Child Support Services (CSS) and provides funding to support a broad array of services for adult fathers to care for their children, promote responsible parenthood, and foster economic stability.

“During the Week of the Young Child, we celebrate the importance of early childhood development and the environments that help children thrive. This investment reflects a simple but powerful belief: Strong families build strong children, and fathers play a critical role in that foundation,” said County Executive Crowley. “Today’s action reinforces our commitment to ensuring every child in Milwaukee County has the support system they deserve—starting with strong, engaged parents. Together, we are strengthening families, empowering parents, and creating a community where every child has the opportunity to succeed.”

“Investing in fathers is an investment in families and in the long-term health of our community. Through FORGE, we are expanding access to the tools, support, and opportunities fathers need to be present, engaged, and financially stable for their children,” said Chairwoman Nicholson-Bovell. “During the Week of the Young Child, this commitment underscores our belief that strong families start with strong support systems—and Milwaukee County is proud to lead with action that uplifts parents and creates brighter futures for the next generation.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) established the FORGE Program to fund fatherhood efforts designed to strengthen positive father-child engagement, increase employment and economic mobility opportunities, and improve healthy relationships (including couple and co-parenting). In September of 2025, CSS was awarded a five-year FORGE grant by OFA to provide services to fathers living in Milwaukee County, an effort CSS is uniquely qualified to lead, as it is consistent with the CSS mission and the experience gained by providing services to thousands of fathers each year.

“FORGE is a program focusing on fathers of all kinds. Whether biological, adoptive, stepfathers, or father figures—men who play a role in a child’s life and want to do better, be better, and provide more,” said Sandra Stevens, Director of Programs & Support Services, Milwaukee County Child Support Services. “It will strengthen parenting skills, focus on developing healthy relationships, and create economic stability.”

The Milwaukee Fatherhood Collaboration-FORGE Program will serve fathers ages 18 and older, in the general community or a pre-release correction-based center, who live in Milwaukee County, and have a dependent child or young adult child up to 24 years of age.

As required by OFA, the FORGE Program is based on a Primary Workshop (PW) model that includes integrated curriculum-based workshops and other services from three authorized activity areas: Responsible Parenting, Healthy Marriage Relationship Education, and Economic Stability, as well as individualized case management services. CSS has partnered with three community-based agencies to offer these services: Wisconsin Community Services, UniteWI, and Fathers Making Progress.

“Wisconsin Community Services has a long history of partnering with Milwaukee County government on many important initiatives, including the current Family, Opportunity, Resilience, Grit and Engagement grant,” said Clarence Johnson, President/CEO, Wisconsin Community Services. “We look forward to working with Milwaukee County Child Support Services and other partner stakeholders to ensure that all young fathers in our community have the support and services needed to strengthen and improve relationships with their children, and in doing so, build bright and strong futures.” 

CSS has also partnered with two support services providers:

• Sojourner Family Peace Center to provide training and support to FORGE staff, refer individuals to the program for education and services, and accept referrals from the FORGE Program for individuals needing those services.
• AMTC & Associates provides project performance and continuous quality improvement services to include development, monitoring, and reporting of project performance and continuous quality improvement measurement tools, training and ongoing technical assistance to CSS and it partner agencies.

More information about Milwaukee County CSS is available HERE.