14-02-2025
A new approach helped an unhoused Milwaukee man find health care and a home. Here's how.
A grandmother struggled to get her wheelchair-bound granddaughter to school every morning. An unhoused man in King Park needed help, but didn't have a phone, health insurance or access to program assistance. A single mother needed supplies for a week to feed her children.
Before 2020, these circumstances may have triggered a spiral of unmet needs. But when Shakita LaGrant-McClain was appointed the executive director of Milwaukee County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS), she incorporated a plan called "No Wrong Door." The idea is that if a Milwaukee County resident needs help, there's no wrong place to start that process. County workers will ensure the resident is connected with needed resources.
Five years in, the model shows solid signs of progress, according to DHHS.
For Milwaukee County residents 60 and older, there has been a 20% increase in people seeking services through the Aging and Disability Resources Center between 2023 and 2024, and a 30% increase in people seeking the Milwaukee County Area Agency on Aging program.
There has also been a 43% increase since 2022 in residents over 60 accessing behavioral health services and a 34% increase since 2023 in residents over 60 utilizing services such as Milwaukee Mobile Crisis and Comprehensive Community Services, treatment interventions that meet residents where they are.
The approach also benefits Milwaukee County's littlest residents. In 2020, DHHS integrated its children's disability services, birth-to-3 program and other children's programs into a reorganized area within the department called Children, Youth and Family Services.
Having one central phone line made a major difference. Enrollments for children in need of either behavioral health services or long-term disability supports have grown by nearly 50% since 2020.
The ability to reach more children with services for behavioral health issues or disability support is critical, both for them and for taxpayers. The reason? Without treatment, problems can escalate. About 70% of young people held in Milwaukee County's youth detention center live with behavioral health issues and/or undiagnosed disabilities, LaGrant-McClain said.
According to the Children, Youth, and Family Services dashboard, 115 youths were detained at either Copper Lake or Lincoln Hills over one year in 2015. By the end of 2024, that number plummeted to fewer than 20 youths, LaGrant-McClain said.
Each child housed at a state-run facility costs the county about $450,000 per year. Helping them grow, instead, into healthy, productive adults should be the goal for any county, she said.
"If we are able to get youth, children, babies connected at birth with resources, tools, programs that meet their needs earlier for disabilities or behavioral health, you're investing upstream. The hope is that less youth will then be incarcerated and end up in the deeper side of the system later on," LaGrant-McClain said.
Related: 'A historic shift': Mental Health Emergency Center opening ushers in closure of the long-troubled Mental Health Complex
Related: Milwaukee County infuses state dollars in first emergency housing for the homeless
Emily Kenney, director of strategic initiatives and transformation at DHHS, said No Wrong Doors has been foundational to the department's strategic plan.
She shared the story of the unhoused man in King Park who needed help.
He was older and sleeping in the park, so his health was quickly declining. But a street outreach team, buoyed by the "No Wrong Door" approach in partnership with Aging & Disabilities Eligibility counselors, coordinated a response. They suspected he qualified for Family Care, a Medicaid long-term care program that provides services ranging from behavioral health treatment to addiction recovery interventions to housing counseling.
To be eligible for Family Care, the man needed to apply for Medicaid, which he did not have.
So often, this is the end of the line of what Health and Human Services can do. But the Aging & Disabilities Services team helped the man gather information required to qualify for Family Care, then helped him apply for Medicaid. He was approved for both and soon, traded in his spot in the park for stable housing, which he acquired through Family Care.
Another success story involved Betty Fox, a grandmother from Milwaukee who turned to Fox 6 when she learned the bus wouldn't pick up her disabled 12-year-old daughter from the alley outside their home.
When DHHS learned about Fox's daily struggles, a case manager sprang into action. He learned that the granddaughter had never been enrolled in any of DHHS' services, which could include home and vehicle modifications to help accommodate her wheelchair. The county offers other helpful services, like in-school resources and family-friendly recreational activities for disabled children.
"This child has had a disability since birth and no one, from physicians to hospitals, had ever provided information about these services," LaGrant-McClain said. "We want to make sure that the information is out there, that people know about the services that we have."
That's been a consistent sticking point, LaGrant-McClain said. Not knowing who to call, or whether you are even eligible for certain programs, can be a barrier. Often, the hardest step to getting help is reaching out in the first place, LaGrant-McClain said.
"There's all these things that stop people from getting services. We have a DHHS service list, but does everyone have that? Are we sharing it with our constituents?" LaGrant-McClain said. "It really is about more of us adopting 'No Wrong Door' as a way to get people connected. If we do that, then people will have easier accesses to services."
Milwaukee County residents are encouraged to refer to DHHS' service list to be connected with a navigator.
Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@ or view her X (Twitter) profile at @natalie_eilbert.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How is Milwaukee County connecting people to resources
