When big changes land in Washington and Madison, the ground can shake across the rest of Wisconsin. In those moments, the Forum helps the residents of our state to understand where they stand. We’ve played that role for more than a century for businesses, local governments, school districts, and ordinary citizens, and it’s as critical today as it has ever been. Continue reading…
At this year’s national conference of the Governmental Research Association (GRA) in Providence, Rhode Island, the Forum’s Immediate Past President Rob Henken won the organization’s highest individual honor, the Frederick P. Gruenberg Award for Lifetime Achievement. This award goes to individuals who have made outstanding career contributions to the field of governmental research. Rob’s nomination for the award cited his “tremendous impact on many issues in Wisconsin, and particularly in the Milwaukee area, from the health of local government finances to the availability of mental health and eviction prevention services in the community.” In addition to Rob’s outstanding research, his facilitation, writing, and speaking contributions have left a lasting legacy on the state.
The Forum also won the “Most Effective Education” award” for our series of two reports assessing Milwaukee’s K-12 schools and promising practices for improvement: Roll Call and Raising the Bar. The judges complimented the way in which the reports’ findings were communicated, and also were impressed with the Forum’s analysis and outreach, including the use of an advisory committee that they said “clearly helped inform the analysis and strengthen the findings.
These wins extend the Forum’s streak of GRA awards, with at least one award received in each year since 2021 and 18 total received in the last decade.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum is one of 28 members of the GRA, which includes organizations and individuals engaged in public policy, governmental, and civic research throughout the United States. Forum Deputy Research Director Sara Shaw currently serves on the GRA’s Board of Directors.
For three decades, Jere McGaffey served as a fixture on the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance board, holding roles that included chairman and secretary-treasurer. McGaffey stepped down from the board in 2015, just three years before the Madison-based Alliance merged with the Public Policy Forum of Milwaukee to form the Wisconsin Policy Forum. Yet McGaffey never stopped supporting the work of the new organization.
First, McGaffey established an endowment that supports the Forum’s research on local government finance. The McGaffey Fund helps underwrite our School DataTool and Municipal DataTool, which provide key financial, demographic, and program details on Wisconsin’s 420 school districts and 606 cities and villages, respectively.
Now, McGaffey wants to enhance his support for the Forum’s nonpartisan research and help our organization find solutions to the most pressing problems facing the Milwaukee area and the rest of Wisconsin. He is supporting an annual research project that will seek to bring best practices from around the nation back to our state to address challenges here. The Forum is incredibly grateful to McGaffey for his initial gift and his willingness to consider ways to extend these exciting annual reports well into the future. Our initial study will look at the issue of chronic absenteeism in schools of all types in Milwaukee.
In speaking to his goals, McGaffey says he believes that many large cities are facing similar challenges.
“They thus can each serve as a laboratory to experiment as to how to deal with the problems,” he says. “Finding successful improvements can be replicated and untried proposals can be evaluated.”
McGaffey, a prominent tax attorney, is a retired partner at Foley & Lardner who headed the firm’s tax practice and served as a member of its management committee as well as a past national chairman of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section, which shows his national reputation. His generosity and spirit of service has led him to take on many other roles in the community as well, including serving as board chairman and treasurer of Bader Philanthropies and as a former chairman of the board of Aurora Health Care.
The Forum exists due to the generosity of all of its members, but a few go above and beyond to provide the stewardship that has kept our organization going for more than a century. The Forum lost two such supporters during the third quarter of this year: former Forum Board Chairman Doug MacNeil, and former longtime Forum Treasurer Roger Schroeder.
MacNeil, 85, died July 24 at his Ephraim home. A Milwaukee native and a UW-Madison alum, MacNeil enjoyed a career spanning more than four decades at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. MacNeil was a longtime board member of the former Public Policy Forum, one of the two predecessor groups to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, serving as its chairman from 1998 to 2000.
Schroeder, 82, died Sept. 6 at his Mequon home. He was an accountant and partner with the public accounting firm KPMG until his retirement, after which he was a part-time professor at his alma mater, UW-Madison. First elected to the Forum’s board in 1995 and an emeritus board member until his death, Schroeder served as treasurer for the Forum until 2008.
Both men also continued to serve on the Forum’s executive committee until 2014. Forum Immediate Past President Rob Henken said MacNeil and Schroeder “were huge contributors to the success and stability of the Forum.”
“They were always there for me when I needed financial and business-related advice,” Henken said, “and they exemplified the critical role that knowledgeable and committed volunteer board leaders play in guiding our nonprofit sector.”
The Forum’s two public events in the third quarter assessed different ways in which recent developments in Washington, D.C., affect businesses and public institutions in Wisconsin.
Our Policy in a Pub events give attendees the opportunity to hear from, and interact with, some of our state’s leaders in a fun, casual setting. Our latest event on September 8 drew a crowd of about 150 to Merriment Social. TThey heard four of the newest higher education leaders in Milwaukee discussing how their institutions are navigating challenges including potential federal funding cuts, student learning loss during the pandemic, and a national trend of declining student enrollment.
The panelists reflecting on their new roles included Marquette University President Kimo Ah Yun; Eric Baumgartner, incoming president of the Milwaukee School of Engineering; Milwaukee Area Technical College president Anthony Cruz; and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chancellor Thomas Gibson.
Our Forum Friday virtual discussion series allows Wisconsinites from every corner of the state to join the conversation. The latest installment in this series, held July 18, looked at how Wisconsin businesses are navigating the recent flurry of changes to federal trade and tariff policy.
Our panelists were Aaron Annable, Consul, Consulate General of Canada in Chicago; Jackie Carter, director of the Port Milwaukee; and Dale Kooyenga, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
Local Government Finances: In October, we will publish our annual assessments of the proposed budgets for Milwaukee County and the cities of Milwaukee and Madison. These will be followed by a report analyzing Racine County’s finances – now that its new half-cent sales tax has taken effect – to help local leaders plan for the county’s fiscal future.
Criminal Justice: This report will provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of Wisconsin’s criminal justice system, exploring data on offenses, arrests, court proceedings, incarceration, community supervision, and reentry, and examining data and trends by age, gender, race, and geography. We will also analyze how the state’s justice system is financed and staffed and how relevant state laws have evolved over time.
Apprenticeships: In July, we published the first in a series of upcoming reports on apprenticeships in Wisconsin through a partnership with Milwaukee-based WRTP|BIG STEP. The first report analyzed the current landscape of registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship programs in the state, and our next report will seek to identify potential opportunities to expand apprenticeship programming and participation, both by occupation and by region.
Development Permitting in Metro Milwaukee: We will analyze the processes and timelines required for larger commercial development projects to be approved and permitted in Milwaukee and five of its larger suburbs: Waukesha, West Allis, Wauwatosa, Brookfield, and Oak Creek. This analysis will include an examination of the steps involved in each city’s process, the length of time projects typically take to advance depending on various characteristics, and common causes of delay.
Lakeland Care, Inc. is a Wisconsin-based managed care organization (MCO) that provides long-term care services to frail elders and individuals with physical or intellectual/developmental disabilities through the state’s Family Care program. Its mission is to empower individuals, strengthen communities, and inspire futures. Lakeland Care is committed to helping members live as independently as possible in their homes and communities by delivering high-quality, cost-effective, and member-centered services. The organization partners with local businesses and community-based providers across 31 counties and two tribal nations in Wisconsin to ensure accessible and personalized care.
How has your membership in the Wisconsin Policy Forum been a resource for you and your organization?
“Lakeland Care, Inc. values its membership in the Wisconsin Policy Forum as a vital resource for staying informed on statewide policy trends that impact long-term care, Medicaid funding, and workforce development. WPF’s nonpartisan, data-driven research provides us with credible insights that support strategic planning and advocacy efforts. The Forum’s commitment to fostering informed public dialogue aligns with our mission to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care to vulnerable populations across Wisconsin. Their work enhances our ability to make evidence-based decisions and remain a proactive voice in the evolving healthcare environment.”
Contact Info: Sara Muhlbauer, CEO
sara.muhlbauer@lakelandcareinc.com
The Forum recently welcomed a new full-time staffer, Andy Tisdel, who joined us as a researcher in July. His primary area of policy expertise is in criminal justice; he also is interested in housing, transportation, and tax policy.
Before joining the Forum, Andy was a policy specialist at the Crime and Justice Institute. He holds master’s degrees in public policy and business administration, both from Brandeis University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of Wooster.
Also in the third quarter, the Forum welcomed our two new fellows for 2025-26, our Norman Gill Fellow, Liam Farin, and our Todd Berry Fellow, Rebecca Rose. Liam holds a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and is working toward a master’s in urban planning, both at UW-Milwaukee. His research with the Forum will examine data on offenses and incarceration for drunk driving in Wisconsin, as well as state policy in that area.
Rebecca holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Brown University, a joint master’s degree in geography and environmental studies from UW-Madison, and is currently completing her PhD, also at UW-Madison. Her research with the Forum will focus on extreme weather preparedness by local governments in Wisconsin.
The Forum is also excited to welcome our fall 2025 intern, who started in September.
Samantha Zingsheim is a graduate student from Marquette University obtaining her Masters of Science in Applied Economics. Her research is concentrated in the fields of Labor and Public Economics, and she enjoys presenting her work and meeting new people at conferences! Prior to joining the Forum, she has worked as a research assistant on a Department of Justice-funded grant project examining the relationship between involuntary job loss and gun violence in the state of Wisconsin.
In these polarized times, we are especially grateful for the support of our members and sponsors. Thank you for reading our research, attending or tuning in for our events, participating in our committee meetings, and maintaining your membership with us.
We are supported by hundreds of corporations, nonprofits, local governments, school districts, and individuals from across the state of Wisconsin. The following members provide particularly generous support that ensures Wisconsin will continue to benefit from having one of the nation’s most successful nonpartisan, independent public policy research organizations.
