Who are we? 

The Alma Center, Inc. is a 501c(3) community based non-profit agency in Milwaukee.

Mission & Work.

Our mission is to motivate peaceful change through education in individuals, relationships, family and community.

The Alma Center provides gender-specific education and mentorship to men who have a history of perpetrating violence or abuse toward their intimate partner.  

We work to foster change in the person perpetrating the problem. 

Philosophy. 

The Alma Center recognizes that the majority of women who have been abused by their intimate partners decide, for varied and complicated reasons, to remain in the relationship.  Most victims do not want their families broken apart, but they do desperately want the violence and abuse to end.   Even if a woman decides to leave a violent relationship, this does not mean the batterer has changed the violent or abusive behavior.  Many batterers continue to harass and abuse a partner after the relationship has ended, and many have multiple violent relationships.  Victims of domestic violence are not typically the person in control of ending the problems in their relationship.  To stop domestic violence requires not only meeting the needs of victims, but also working with batterers to learn new skills for changing violent behavior.

Children are very often the unintended victims of adult domestic violence.  Witnessing violence in the home can have a devastating impact on the development of vulnerable children, as well as dramatically increase the risk of long-term physical, behavioral, and mental health problems. Domestic violence is often a problem passed on from generation to generation in a cycle of violence, as children who grow-up in violent homes learn to perpetuate from the example of their parents.  If we do not work to change the behavior of the fathers of these children, they are left with the destructive example of their father’s violence and a void in positive learning of what to expect from, or how to become a healthy man, partner, and father. 

Core beliefs.

Violence is a learned behavior.  Human beings do not enter this world intent upon doing harm and hurting others.

The primary school for children’s education in violence is most often their home. Children who grow-up in violent homes learn to perpetuate violence, and to accept violence from the example of their parents.

Violence experienced in the home is a  root cause of violence in our streets.  Witnessing or experiencing violence or abuse as a child dramatically increases the risk of other serious problems—physical, behavior, academic, social, emotional & psychological.

Since violence is learned, it can be unlearned-it can be changed.  Teaching skills of peace and respect to those who have perpetrated violence in the past helps to break the cycle of violence before it passes to the next generation

• 40% of the men in our program witnessed physical fights between their parents
• 60% witnessed verbal abuse
• 60% had a parent abusing drugs or alcohol
• 50% did not live with or know their father
• 43% had a father in prison
• 43% had friends or family murdered
• 32% have witnessed a homicide themselves
• 86% of the men in our program are fathers
• 62% of the men will continue in relationship with the same partner

Why do we do this work?

• To end men’s use of violence and abuse.
• To improve the safety and well being of victims & children.
• To reduce the harmful effects of children’s exposure to violence in the home.
• To prevent continuation of the cycle of
• violence to the next generation of children.
• To help men heal and move forward from the trauma experienced in their own lives.
• To improve the future.

Programming Approach. 

The Batterer  Intervention Program is an integrative educational class designed to help men understand the roots of their behavior; accept personal responsibility and be accountable for their choices; learn to
practice respect toward their partner, their children, their family, and their community; make amends for past behaviors; and strive to be a positive role model.

The Fatherhood Initiative is an innovative child-centered program designed to give fathers who have been violent or abusive toward their intimate partner the opportunity to develop new awareness and acquire new skills for improving and healing their relationship with their children and learning to respectfully co-parent with their mother.

We also provide services related services to enhance life skills, stability and functioning of (e.g,. job training, literacy & GED referrals).

Partner Programs/Services

Mental health services.  On-site holistic mental health services are offered through the D&S Healing Center (a co-located state licensed mental health/drug and alcohol clinic) for varied mental health needs including psychological disorders/distress and trauma resolution.. 

AODA assessment and treatment.  An on-site outpatient AODA program is offered through the D&S Healing Center with various modalities of treatment including educational/cognitive, psychological, skill building, prevention planning, maintenance and life recovery. 

Ending Violence through Education (EVE Program) Partner contact/education program.  The partner contact/education program is offered through the Task Force on Family Violence.  The EVE Program provides services to victim/partners and children of all offenders in the Alma Center batterer intervention program, including: comprehensive partner/victim education and support program; parenting and domestic violence program; a developmentally appropriate children witness to violence program; and safety assessments for the purposes of referral to second phase programming.

For more information about the Alma Center please call 414-265-0100.