Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Milwaukee Recreation has so much to celebrate this holiday season! Through free and low-cost programming for all ages and abilities, we’ve continued our mission of enriching and strengthening the community by promoting healthy lifestyles, personal development, and fun through memorable recreational and educational experiences.
From summer and out-of-school programs to sports leagues and wellness classes to arts, music, and more, we provide quality, safe programming across the city. We made big investments in our community, like breaking ground on our new Milwaukee Recreation Community Center and continuing to make progress on our playfield renovation project.
Here are our highlights from the past year, plus a few things we’re looking forward to in 2026.
2025 Highlights
This summer, 24 high school basketball teams participated in the inaugural Milwaukee City Conference summer basketball league, an exciting opportunity for teams to compete and sharpen their skills during the off-season.
Speaking of sports, 28 middle and high school student-athletes from the MKE Mountain Bike team competed in the state championship race.
Forty Team Milwaukee Special Olympics athletes took the field in Green Bay for the Exceptional Abilities Challenge Flag Football Tournament organized by the Green Bay Packers football outreach program. Milwaukee Recreation also programmed over 250 summer aquatics classes, serving around 2,700 participants.
When it comes to wellness programming, we hosted the second annual Women’s Wellness Day in celebration of Women’s Health Month. The empowerment-centered event featured meditation, yoga, guided journaling, a sound bath, a wellness panel, and more. We also held the second annual Milwaukee Wellness Day, commemorating 4-1-4 Day with free wellness programming around the city — walks, a community bike ride, kombucha-making, and fitness classes.
We hosted our first Healing the Dream Black History Month wellness event, focused on promoting wellness and strengthening connections in the Black community. Participants engaged in workshops and discussions, heard from speakers, and the first 20 guests received a massage.
Milwaukee Recreation ushered in 2025 with our seventh annual Yoga Fest, a lineup of free yoga classes on New Year’s Day. Plus, we partnered with the Medical College of Wisconsin to offer cancer prevention and survivorship programs, giving participants a space to learn about elements of a healthy lifestyle, including nutrition, cooking, and fitness. In total, more than 5,000 people city-wide participated in our Community Wellness programs this year. These include fitness and yoga classes, cancer prevention and survivorship programs, walks, and bike rides.
Over the summer, K3 through 12th-grade students went on over 400 field trips through Milwaukee Recreation’s summer Camps, Community Learning Centers, and Safe Places programs. Additionally, we provided 51 Milwaukee-area high school students with paid arts internships at 14 local organizations through our Arts Internship Program. Interns received unlimited MCTS bus fares, job-related training, and career exploration opportunities.
Our MPS Drive driver education program reached a major milestone, helping its 10,000th student earn a probationary license since the program’s inception in 2016.
Milwaukee Recreation also held its sixth annual Mother & Son Superhero Night, a lively evening filled with costumes, superhero-themed active games, crafts, a photo station, and snacks.
We celebrated the grand reopenings of the Wick and Modrzejewski Playfields, the latest renovations in our decade-long playfield renovation project. In May, we welcomed summer with our first-ever Family Day of Play, which attracted 194 participants. Families took on an 80-foot obstacle course, arts and crafts, GaGa Ball, a relay race, and carnival games.
In the office, we launched an internal data dashboard to improve data-driven decision making. We also earned reaccreditation from the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA).
CAPRA accreditation is the only national accreditation for park and recreation agencies. It’s a measure of an agency’s overall quality of operation, management, and service to the community. CAPRA accreditation is awarded to less than three percent of park and recreation agencies nationwide. Milwaukee Recreation is one of only two accredited agencies in Wisconsin and remains the nation’s only school-district-run agency to have received this esteemed recognition.
Exciting Plans for 2026
The new year brings lots to look forward to! Milwaukee Recreation will celebrate the grand reopening of the Lincoln, Emigh, and Metcalfe Playfields.
We’ll also implement urban agroforestry projects at Hawthorn Glen Outdoor Education Center, improving the environment and providing additional educational opportunities. Additionally, we are adding over 50 program offerings on the city’s northwest side and will implement phase two of our “Road to $15” for part-time employee wages across sites.
In adaptive athletics, we will again offer Boundless Baseball, a baseball program for kids with cognitive and physical disabilities that we successfully piloted last summer. Through adaptations and specialized equipment, players learn batting, catching, running the bases, and, most importantly, self-confidence and teamwork.
Finally, we will kick off 2026 with the grand opening of a new, high-tech esports lab at Cass Street School.
Thank you to all who joined us in 2025. Here’s to an exciting 2026!