The history of Project RETURN in Milwaukee starts in the 1960s in the Deep South...

​Pastor Joe Ellwanger was the first white pastor in Birmingham, Alabama, to align with and organize marches in support of the Civil Rights Movement. He has been fighting for the rights of all throughout his life, including supporting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after becoming pastor at Birmingham’s St. Paul Lutheran Church in 1958. In 1963, he co-officiated the funerals for the four girls killed in the white supremacist bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He organized voting rights marches in March 1965 in central Alabama, part of the movement that culminated in the horrific Bloody Sunday march from Selma to Montgomery​.

When Pastor Joe was called in 1967 to serve at Milwaukee's Cross Lutheran Church, he immediately began outreach to members of the neighborhood on Milwaukee’s north side. This included working alongside the Black Panthers to start meal programs for local kids, which led to co-founding the Hunger Task Force.

This essential urban ministry grew over the ensuing decade. One day, a group of men came to Pastor Joe. They had a simple truth to share: there were four minimum-security incarceration facilities in the city, and no organizations are serving the men and women being released from them. Every single day, formally incarcerated folks were (and still are) being released from prison with no money, no homes, no transportation, no jobs, and no support. "If you are here to serve the community, why aren’t these folks receiving the services they need to return to their community?" they asked.
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It was clear that there was a need not being met in Milwaukee. Something had to be done. Pastor Joe responded by immediately leading the effort to form Project RETURN, sponsored by a coalition of 28 Milwaukee churches and community organizations. Each of the men who initially brought the problem to Pastor Joe’s attention would at some point serve through Project RETURN.

More than four decades later, Project RETURN continues to serve individuals who are incarcerated, men and women who have recently been released, and anyone else who is justice-impacted throughout Milwaukee. Through Project RETURN, men and women find essential job training and work opportunities, are provided with essentials like hygiene items and work-appropriate clothing, and find housing.

As needs and situations have changed, Project RETURN has adapted to meet the needs of our community. This legacy is carried on today through the six main pillars of our mission:

• Circles of Support, providing structure in safe spaces that encourage and create healing conversations for justice-impacted individuals, offered both within incarceration facilities and in the community.
• Employment Support, so that everyone can support themselves and their family.
• AODA Support, for anyone affected by the snares of addiction.
• Advocacy, to build a more perfect union based on laws, regulations and behaviors that benefit all members of our society.
• Outreach, to serve and learn from all members of our community.
• Housing, which is provided in two-fold ways:

1. We maintain relationships with reputable and trustworthy landlords across Greater Milwaukee who do not discriminate against justice-impacted individuals. Through this, we support clients as they seek stable housing in the community.
2. In spring of 2025, we relocated from the Welford Sanders Historic Enterprise Center on Vel Phillips Avenue on the North Side to Downtown Milwaukee, at 1004 N. Tenth St., #200. From here, Project RETURN continues to provide the services we always have, while also operating 12 transitional living apartments for men exiting incarceration who otherwise may have ended up homeless upon release. The apartments are all on the same floor as our headquarters, ensuring all individuals being served have access to all the other services Project RETURN provides.

This is the definition of wraparound services, and it is what Project RETURN is all about. It's why we are now able to serve more than 1,000 people every year, prevent homelessness for men exiting incarceration, and make our Milwaukee community a better place.