A picture hangs on the wall of Laura Gutiérrez’s second-floor office at United Community Center on Milwaukee’s South Side. It’s a slice of faded history, a snapshot of the center as it looked decades ago, when it was a youth resource known simply as The Spot. During those early days, Gutiérrez and her relatives were among the many in the neighborhood who benefited from its programs and services – decades before she became the nonprofit’s chief executive officer.
“What I can remember as a kid growing up is just the family feel,” Gutiérrez says. “The people who worked here really cared about the trajectory of the youth and what we were doing, really looked out after us.”
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United Community Center (UCC), founded in 1970, has changed quite a bit since then. Its campus is considerably larger today, spanning several city blocks in Walker’s Point. That includes an elementary school and two middle schools, as well as a senior center and treatment facilities for substance abuse. And its broad range of services continues to expand. Families can rely on the center for everything from preschool for toddlers to memory care for seniors and driver’s education, and families buying first homes can receive assistance from the center in securing loans.
After more than five decades, UCC’s programs now serve more than 18,000 people a year, but its mission hasn’t strayed far from its roots as a one-stop support system for this largely Latino neighborhood and its residents – generations of families, like Gutiérrez’s, who grew up here and continue to call it home.
Gutiérrez, at age 50, has not only witnessed the center’s growth but has spent much of her professional life contributing to it, first as a teenager working for its drug prevention team and later as a teacher and principal. She returned to UCC’s top post in May 2020 after a stint as secretary of the state’s Department of Safety and Professional Services.
She spoke with Milwaukee Magazine in her office overlooking Walker Square Park.
United Community Center is organized as a provider of a wide range of multigenerational services, and your own story seems to embody that reach across generations. Tell us about your family’s first involvement with the center.
I was a teenager who lived maybe about three blocks from here, and at that point, in the late ’80s, this area was very infested with gangs. You had the Latin Kings and the Cobras. The UCC basically served as a safe haven for children, providing youth alternatives, little clubs, folkloric dancing, boxing, English classes – so that we would not get involved in the gang activity. Back then that’s what it served as, a resource for the community, and as the agency and the population continued to grow, services just kept adding on.
One of the reasons why the UCC is very generational is because the Hispanic community really prioritizes family. In one household, you might find the immediate family, but then grandma and grandpa as well. My parents, not knowing how to navigate the system, were always very afraid of leaving the kids alone. So in order for my mom to learn English, she thought, “Well, I have to have the kids nearby so I know they’re safe. What programming can I put them in so I know they’re not being mischievous and I can feel good about learning English at the same time?”
Where are your parents from?
They’re from Mexico, from Guadalajara. My first job was here at the age of 15, working in the peer support group where we created puppets and talked [with other teens] about strategies on how to say no, how to rise above the peer pressure.
It seems that the term “community center” might give some people a narrow understanding of what the center is about, when its mission is a much broader range of services. Why is that important to the community you serve?
It’s a very tight-knit community. The same woman who hired me at 15 I still keep in touch with today – Miss Acosta, Dora Acosta. Students will still know her. I came [back] in 2001 and taught middle school. Now my students’ children are coming here because of that same experience, that same high expectation. I believe that if you can support the family, regardless of the challenges that they’re having, that’s an opportunity for them all to kind of rise together.
The other thing that Hispanic families really prioritize is education for individuals and families. We truly believe that education is the best inheritance you can leave your children. It is the only thing that’s going to get you out of poverty and open pathways into opportunity. [And then] you look at our Neighborhood Development Program – families start learning, what house can I afford? How can I own my own home? What resources are out there to help me go down this path and build a little bit of generational wealth?
A lot of our students, and myself being first generation, if you don’t have parents who are educated, you’re going to have a more challenging time trying to navigate. “What is the best high school I should attend? Should I go to a two-year or four-year college? Are there resources if I’m under the income [thresholds]?” Those are the kind of things that we try to do – and then educate parents on how you support your child when they’re the first ones going to college.
We have a memory clinic here as well. We have an adult day care center for adults who need a little bit more support – if they are in a wheelchair, if they have dementia, if they just need a safe place to go because their adult children are working. And then the senior center – we are the largest meal site throughout Milwaukee County.
I’m curious if there’s any service that you provide that might surprise people who aren’t familiar with your center?
I think people don’t know that we track our students [after they graduate]. Lately we’ve added another counselor to follow or touch base with the kids [during] their freshman and sophomore years of college, checking up with them. We just held our first alumni event where we had 70 students return. These are professionals out in the workplace. And what we heard time and time again was, “If it wasn’t for the UCC, I would not be where I am. If it wasn’t for the structure and the accountability that you placed on us, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Are most of the kids going through the school the first generation to grow up in this country?
Yes, I would say the majority are. We’re starting to see second-generation, even third-generation kids.
You make clear that UCC services are available to anyone who may need them, though it’s also committed to its own neighborhood here on the South Side, which is largely Latino and Hispanic residents. How do you ensure that the center is always in sync with that community’s needs?
We really look at data – this is the second year where we started collecting data – and we really talk to our clientele. A lot of the programs have grown just from the need of the community, where they come to us and just have a conversation. I think the longevity of our employees also helps – families continue to see you. We’re really focused on our vision and what that mission is.
Have you ever thought about expanding your reach beyond this one area? Is it a model that could work in a different place?
LG: We have thought, should we be in Racine? Should we be in Greenfield? But I think at this point, the need continues to be very big here. We’re going to continue to focus here, until we see an opportunity in a different area.
I think it could work somewhere else. This is a model that can be replicated. I think the funding behind it would have to be there to try it. But I don’t think there is another agency that has as much comprehensive programming with that large breadth of ages that we’re providing, anywhere.
You know, we’ve worked very closely with partners like Silver Spring Neighborhood Center, on the North Side, who have come here and said, wow, this really works. We really are an open door, because we’re like, take it. If it works for your community, take it, tweak it, just like any recipe. If it works, fantastic. That means we’re going to have more communities that are thriving.
The pandemic caused major disruptions at a lot of organizations. What was the impact here?
LG: I became leader of the organization in 2020. We were the last agency to shut down. That moment was really an epiphany, that we needed to be vision- and mission-driven. We remained open until the governor’s mandate came through [to close]. That was a really trying time. Our students declined academically. In August 2020, we were the only school to reopen, us and Marquette University High. We were working with the city of Milwaukee, and they allowed us to be open at 50% capacity. That affected our students a lot. So 50% of the kids came here for the school day. The other 50% were on a screen simultaneously, which also took a toll on teachers.
And you’re back to 100% now?
LG: Yes. What we quickly saw is we had to reduce class sizes, so we went from 27 kids down to 22. We really had to increase our social workers, counseling at all levels. You’re kind of now trying to play catch-up. I think for me and the leadership team, it’s really looking at continuing to make decisions that are going to move the people we serve forward.
It seems that your whole life has sort of been immersed in this center, in different ways. Where does your commitment to this place come from?
LG: From my own personal experience – the transformation I know it’s made in my life and my siblings. My parents came to this country with nothing to pursue the American dream, and they were able to raise five children with the help of the UCC. My cousins and their children. My children. I think, most importantly, just seeing how education or having the tools can really transform your life and the generations to come.
