Milwaukee’s AI Academy trains youth in AI, money, and business

Associated Banc-Corp is turning summer break into a crash course on tomorrow’s economy. The Green Bay-based lender has teamed up with Milky Way Tech Hub and Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee to launch the Associated Bank AI Academy, a free six-week pilot that will teach middle-school students the basics of artificial intelligence, financial literacy and entrepreneurship. The inaugural cohort of 15 to 20 sixth- through eighth-graders begins July 7 at a Milwaukee-area Boys & Girls Club site.

Curriculum designers describe the academy as a building-block approach: each week introduces a new concept—from prompt engineering in ChatGPT to the fundamentals of data science—while reinforcing money-management skills that can turn tech know-how into long-term wealth. Participants earn “Associated Bank Bucks” for completing lessons and exercises, redeemable for bank merchandise and other rewards, adding a gaming element to keep students engaged.

“Supporting innovation in youth education is a core part of Associated Bank’s commitment to the community,” said Terry L. Williams, the bank’s chief information officer, who will oversee employee volunteers lending hands-on support in class. “This program blends financial literacy with emerging technology to give young minds a head start in understanding how artificial intelligence will shape their ongoing education and future.”

Daily instruction will be led by facilitators from Milky Way Tech Hub, the Black-founded equity-in-tech collective headed by Nadiyah Johnson. “We’re thrilled to work alongside Associated Bank to provide young people with tools to build wealth and navigate the future of tech,” Johnson said, noting the partnership aligns with her organization’s mission to widen career pathways for Milwaukee’s underrepresented communities.

For Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, the academy is the first AI-centric career pathway offered to its members in Wisconsin. “Our offerings must be engaging, fun, relevant and genuinely life-changing. Otherwise, kids vote with their feet, and we lose them,” club president and CEO Jeff Snell said. “Associated Bank’s AI Academy captures young imaginations, provides a context to aspire and equips them in new ways to be productive, responsible, caring citizens.”

Associated Bank and its partners plan to evaluate the pilot’s outcomes with an eye toward expansion in 2026. If you are interested in registering your child, visit here.