By 1998, Messmer High School had
gained a national reputation for its ability to
successfully educate an inner-city population that is 99% African-American with 90% qualifying for the federal free or reduced lunch program. Messmer long faced the challenge
of successfully educating incoming freshmen from public schools who were ill-prepared for the rigors of a high-performance high school.

In an effort to improve the overall quality of its high school program, Messmer’s board decided to develop a K-8th grade school that could introduce students to the Messmer experience at an earlier age, resulting in the Messmer Preparatory Catholic School (MPCS).

In partnership with PAVE, Catholic Knights and M&I Bank, Messmer was able to launch the renovation of the high school, and construct its new K-8th grade school Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood. PAVE’s partnership with Messmer has
helped them transform into a program that serves nearly 1,000 students in a K-12 program, expanding access to this quality school by nearly 500 seats.