November 17, 2015
Dante volunteering at United Way's Women's Job Seminar.
By Meghan Marsden Parsche, United Way Volunteer
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County is fortunate to have donors and volunteers who care deeply about their community, giving effortlessly and tirelessly of their time and finances to make a positive impact. This month we’d like to spotlight leadership donor Dante Houston.
Dante is by definition a role model. He built a successful career, volunteers in his community and gives generously to programs he feels support economic empowerment. You might be surprised to learn, therefore, that Dante grew up in a part of Milwaukee where resources and opportunities were scarce. It was a United Way funded program that connected Dante to the critical resources needed to springboard his career and lifelong commitment to giving back to his community.
When Dante was 13 years old, he became involved with a program called Project STREAM, which connected him to his first job with United Way program partner Silver Spring Neighborhood Center. The agency is located in Westlawn - Wisconsin’s largest low-income public housing development – and has been on Milwaukee’s northwest side for over 55 years. At Silver Spring, Dante worked in various roles including a tutor and counselor. He saw firsthand how services at the agency made a positive impact on the youth in his community. This experience inspired him to pursue a career of connecting people to job opportunities in Milwaukee.
Today, Dante is the Director of Recruiting and Outplacement Services at MRA - The Management Association located in Waukesha. Dante has been involved with the employee giving campaigns at each organization at which he has worked. “I think it’s important to promote the idea of giving to employees, to inspire them to want to give,” he said. At MRA, Dante and his colleagues try to inspire others to give with fun activities – even if it means donning feather boas at work.
Dante started donating to the United Way at 17 and now gives at the leadership level. “I think it’s critical that people who have resources to give back to the community,” he says. “I’m fortunate to have resources, especially since I came from nothing.”
Dante also still enjoys volunteering his time. He helped coordinate Women’s Seminar Day, a program that helps women build the confidence they need to succeed. “MRA is very supportive of the United Way’s Season of Caring,” he says, “so my colleagues and decided this was the perfect way to apply our skills to helping others.”
Dante, wife Jennifer and their two daughters.
As a father to two young girls who he and his wife recently adopted, and an uncle to 32 nieces and nephews, Dante stresses the importance of economic empowerment to our youth. “I’m fortunate to have been taught at a young age that it was possible to bring about economic change for myself. I will continue to give tirelessly to the United Way so others can have the same opportunities I did.”
Meghan Marsden Parsche is a proud United Way supporter, stay at home mom to her three young children, and volunteer writer for UWGMWC.
Meghan enjoys telling the stories of the programs and people making a positive impact on our community.