Marquette University's BLEST Hub releases 2024 'State of the Ecosystem' report on support for Black and Latino/a students in Milwaukee

Sept. 10, 2024

MILWAUKEE - The Black and Latino/a Ecosystem and Support Transition (BLEST) Hub at Marquette University has released its 2024 "State of the Ecosystem Report." The fourth ecosystem report from BLEST highlights the hub's commitment to creating new avenues to improving life outcomes for Black and Latino/a students in the Milwaukee area by strengthening spaces, initiatives and connections that support our youth during periods of transition from middle school through post-secondary completion and/or fulfilling and stable employment.

Housed in Marquette's Center for Urban Research, Teaching and Outreach (CURTO), the BLEST Hub began in 2019 as a collaboration among major educational institutions in Milwaukee, including Marquette, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Area Technical College and Milwaukee Public Schools.

The 2024 State of the Ecosystem report also features a companion episode of the CURTO Conversations podcast. In it, Dr. Gabriel Velez, associate professor of educational policy and leadership and faculty director of the BLEST Hub, discussed the recent trends, challenges, and developments in the Black and Latino/a student ecosystem with community partner Walter Lanier, CEO of the Great Lakes Urban Empowerment Solutions, and BLEST Hub student researchers.

In some ways, 2023-24 was a difficult one for the Milwaukee ecosystem as data continued to show that the challenges intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic remained. The Wisconsin Policy Forum released a comprehensive analysis of the educational ecosystem in August 2024 which highlighted these struggles and affirmed that "after 30 years in which only pockets of progress have materialized within publicly funded schools in Milwaukee - and faced with the reality that Black students in particular and especially those enrolled at MPS continue to perform academically at levels far below their peers in other urban cities - city leaders and stakeholders once again find themselves at a crossroads."

Within this context, the Black and Latino/a Ecosystem Support and Transition (BLEST) Hub sought to continue to provide its support to building comprehensive understandings attentive to the strengths and resilience within the ecosystem. Among his past year's initiatives were:

• Building a database of reports on the Milwaukee ecosystem
• Completing a study of experiences of dual enrollment courses in collaboration with Department of Public Instruction
• Continuing dual enrollment courses on educational equity and restorative justice a sustainable program for local Black and Latinx students
• Hosting a second annual Mental Health Awareness Symposium for students in MPS' Department of Black and Latino Male Achievement
• Leading the Research Committee for the Milwaukee County My Brother's Keeper Alliance

Velez co-led the preparation of the report with Ph.D. student Ali Shana, graduate student Michael Vazquez and undergraduate researcher Kendall Watts.

The BLEST Hub's vision is to contribute to improving life outcomes for Black and Latino/a students in the Milwaukee area by building understandings of and reinforcing supports for these students during periods of transition from middle school through postsecondary completion and/or fulfilling and stable employment. This encompasses identifying gaps in services offered and working towards amplifying and supplementing what is available.

CURTO positions itself as an intellectual axis and key convener of programs that address issues central to affirming human rights and human dignity. In alignment with Marquette's mission to search for truth and the discovery and sharing of knowledge, the center facilitates collaborations that bring together a wide array of community and campus experts.