Our school, staff, and students are continuously enriched by their ongoing gifts of time, services and resources, creativity, and collaboration.

COA Youth & Family Centers

Milwaukee Recreation and COA Youth & Family Centers partner to provide after-school enrichment at the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Center at Westside Academy. Mission driven, COA Youth & Family Centers nurtures children, supports families, and builds strong and resilient communities — one child, one family, one community at a time. COA’s programs are designed to meet the needs of Amani, Riverwest, and Harambee families through the advancement of three core areas of focus: early education, youth development, and community development.

Jacarrie’s Kicks for Kids

Jacarrie’s Kicks for Kids began in 2013 as an all-volunteer organization that provided shoes to Milwaukee youth. One decade later, this thriving nonprofit connects Milwaukee youth of all ages with the tools and skills necessary to reach their full potential: tutoring, mentoring, after-school, weekend, and summer enrichment programs, and college scholarship opportunities. Through the fostering of authentic and enduring relationships, Jacarrie’s Kicks for Kids guides each participant from adolescence to adulthood.

Mary Lou’s Closet

This community closet mobilizes items that will be distributed at Milwaukee Community Schools Partnership schools and United Way’s funded agencies and partners.

Milwaukee Community Schools Partnership

Westside Academy is proud to be a member of the Milwaukee Community Schools Partnership (MCSP). Through MCSP, our students, families, teachers, staff, neighbors, and partners come together to form a strategy that best meets the needs of our students.

The MCSP is made up of three key partners with the core values of shared leadership, equity, and cultural relevance:

• Milwaukee Public Schools
• Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association
• United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County

Pettit National Ice Center

Third graders can receive expert skating instruction at this indoor ice skating facility, featuring two international-size ice rinks and a 400-meter speed skating oval.

Reflo

Annually, Reflo works with partners including Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the City of Milwaukee, the Fund for Lake Michigan, Community Design Solutions and others to support Milwaukee-area schools in an intensive, collaborative process to design and then redevelop greener, healthier schoolyards. Westside Academy’s redeveloped schoolyard opened in 2020.

Each project is tailored to the specific needs and enthusiasm of the school’s community but often involves replacing seas of asphalt with green infrastructure including bioswales, rain gardens, and trees as well as outdoor classrooms, improved recreational facilities and arts opportunities. The designs go beyond removing pavement to maximize benefits for communities, the environment, and local economy.

School Community Partnership for Mental Health

Since 2009, the School Community Partnership for Mental Health (SCPMH) has provided intensive, on-site mental wellness programs and mental health services to students and families in Milwaukee Public Schools. The partnership began in just four schools and has now expanded to nearly 40 schools.

Sebastian Family Psychology Practice, LLC

As Westside Academy’s partner organization through the School Community Partnership for Mental Health, therapists from Sebastian Family Psychology Practice, LLC spend two days per week at Westside Academy. Working with teachers, the school social worker, psychologist, counselor, and parent coordinator, Sebastian Family therapists get to know Westside Academy students and families. As trusted members of our school community, therapists bring age appropriate, evidence-based wellness workshops and therapies to our students and families.