Throughout its nearly two decades, PAVE has brought diverse partners together to work toward innovative solutions to many of the problems facing urban education. 

While its methods to achieve change in urban education have evolved over two decades of work, PAVE's mission has remained the same: to make excellent educational opportunities possible for low-income families in Milwaukee.

1980s - 1990s 

In 1987, a group of Milwaukee business leaders, driven by concern for declining enrollment in the city’s Catholic schools, came together to start the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Education Foundation.  Early efforts included a collective marketing effort and professional development  for teachers.

Motivated by concern for the state of the city's overall educational system, and by a desire to give low-income students in Milwaukee greater access to excellent educational opportunities of all types, the leaders of the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Education Foundation formed PAVE in 1992, and developed a scholarship fund that would make it possible for low-income families to send their children to over 120 private schools throughout the city. 

Throughout the 1990s PAVE invested millions of dollars in scholarships for low-income families, and helped form a coalition that advocated for the development of a program which would offer State vouchers for low-income families to attend private schools in the city. After the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program from a challenge on constitutional grounds in 1998, the scope of PAVE’s scholarship program changed with a rapid increase in vouchers. 

2000s

PAVE scholarships and "Choice" vouchers transformed low-income families from dependents on charity or public services into customers for schools that best meet the needs of their children. "Market based education reform" had gathered momentum, and in 2000 PAVE moved to address the "supply side" of the marketplace by developing a leadership support program and a capital investment program to increase the number of seats in high quality schools available to low-income families. 

PAVE became the first Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) chartered by the U.S. Treasury to focus exclusively on urban schools.  Since 2001, PAVE invested $17 Million in school expansion projects and attracted traditional banking lenders to leverage $60Million in private investment to develop urban schools.  All loans through PAVE’s Capital Investment have been repaid or are in good standing.  The current loan portfolio includes Seeds of Health Elementary, Veritas HS; Tenor HS, The HOPE Schools, King’s Academy, Messmer Catholic Schools, and Notre Dame Middle School.

PAVE’s leadership program gained State approval as an alternative licensure program, and has trained and supported over 40 outstanding school leaders. PAVE was a source for alternate licensure for principals such as Robb Rauh of Milwaukee College Prep and Patricia Hoban of Carmen HS. PAVE also established the Johnsonville Fellows, a forum for Milwaukee school leaders from charter, choice and public schools to share knowledge and expertise with the goal of improving student academic performance.

In 2006, PAVE consolidated its three main areas of areas of support, scholarships, capital investments and leadership development, and focused them on the critical need to increase the capacity of schools to better serve urban low-income students.

The PAVE Extended Learning Initiative began in June 2007 supporting 4-6 week, full day academic and enrichment programs at charter and choice schools in the city of Milwaukee. This program addresses the loss of skills that occur during summer, the achievement gap that is one of the worst in the country, and the “poverty of learning experiences” faced by low-income students.  Partner schools use summer as an opportunity to improve student academic skills and to innovate and test strategies to improve student performance during the school year. PAVE works with and provides funding to help schools make better data informed decisions to meet student needs.

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