Community First, Inc

Community First MKE (CFMKE) is an affordable housing agency. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for Milwaukee residents and their neighborhoods by developing quality, safe, and affordable housing opportunities for individuals and families, while promoting self-sufficiency and neighborhood revitalization. We accomplish our mission by partnering with community members and partner organizations. CFMKE also provides critical home repairs and access to various long term, wrap-around support services, such as ongoing financial literacy and home maintenance training. CFMKE was founded in 2011, in order to continue the mission of the YMCA-CDC of Metropolitan Milwaukee and to continue to serve the families and neighborhoods on the North side of Milwaukee, considered the most distressed. Since then, we have moved citywide and also into Wauwatosa (neighboring suburb), performing the same work. We have also undergone a rigorous strategic plan and have spent the last 10 years educating and working towards the development of affordable housing. In 2021, CFMKE developed 49 units of affordable senior housing utilizing LIHTC, Federal and State Historic Tax Credits, TIF, Housing Trust Fund and other sources of funding. 37th Street Historical Senior Apartments is a $13M adaptive reuse of a 65,000 sq ft Milwaukee Public School Building built in 1906 and abandoned around 2006. In 2022, CFMKE won a LIHTC award to develop 69 units of Senior Housing in Rochelle, IL. This project will be completed in conjunction with our development partner, Lincoln Avenue Capital (LAC). Since 2011, CFMKE has helped over 300 low to moderate income individuals and families remain in their homes and avoid foreclosure. CFMKE has helped to stabilize neighborhoods, employ small disadvantaged businesses and increase neighborhood quality of life across Milwaukee and Wauwatosa.