UMPE Funds Milwaukee Federation
Diocesan Press Service. July 20, 1972 [72098]
WASHINGTON, D.C. (DPS) -- The United Ministries in Public Education (UMPE), in which the Episcopal Church is a participant, has announced the funding of an educational program which functions as an alternative system for public schooling at the elementary level in Milwaukee, Wis.
UMPE, an ecumenical coalition of denominations committed to work for quality and relevant public education, has allocated $8, 000 -- its largest grant thus far -- to the Milwaukee Federation of Independent Community Schools which coordinates six community schools.
Each school represents a different educational strategy dependent upon the community's perceived need and its distinctive sub-culture.
One school, for example, in a predominantly Mexican-American area of the city, is effectively bilingual ( English-Spanish). Other schools utilize the cultural identity factors of the Afro-American heritage of black students.
The schools which are coordinated through the Federation emphasize a diversity of learning style and equal access to education for all, two features of UMPE's concern for public education.
UMPE has given the Milwaukee Federation an additional $3,000 to prepare legal pleadings which could become the basis for a lawsuit whereby independent public schools could be declared "public," and thus become eligible for regular state and local funding.
In addition to the Episcopal Church, UMPE is supported by boards or divisions of the Presbyterian Church U.S., the United Church of Christ, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the United Methodist Church, and the National Council of Churches.
[Additional material on the Federation and UMPE can be obtained by contacting the Archives. --Ed.]