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Post from Community: The climate crisis and militarism | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Veterans For Peace
April 13, 2022
Editor’s note: Posts from the Community is the place for community announcements and event postings. If you have a community-oriented event you feel our readers would be interested in, please submit here.
An online Earth Day presentation on the connections between militarism and the climate crisis, featuring national Veterans For Peace Executive Director Garett Reppenhagen, is set for Thursday, April 21, at 7 p.m. The event is sponsored by Milwaukee Veterans For Peace and Peace Action Wisconsin.
Reppenhagen served in the U.S. Army as a Cavalry/Scout Sniper in the 1st Infantry Division. Garett completed a deployment in Kosovo on a 9-month peace-keeping mission and a combat tour in Baquaba, Iraq. Discharged in 2005, he began working as a veterans advocate and activist. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Iraq Veterans Against the War, worked in Washington, DC, as a lobbyist and as Vice President of Public Relations for the Nobel Prize-winning Veterans For America, as a Program Director for Veterans Green Jobs and was the Rocky Mountain Director for Vet Voice Foundation.
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Veterans For Peace, under his leadership, has launched a Climate Crisis and Militarism Project to educate the public about the links between militarism, war and climate change and environmental damage,
“I don’t want to see my child struggling in a world filled with famine, natural disasters, climate refugees, and violence to meet scarce resource demand,” Reppenhagen said. “As a  former US Army sniper in Iraq, I feel it is necessary to speak out against unchecked militarism that contributes to massive climate destruction.”
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7165675210?pwd=WjJUcTE3c0gwd1NhQndab3dFQ3hRQT09
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/402176244595363

author: Milwaukee Veterans For Peace


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vfplogo2.jpg | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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April 11, 2022

source: news-milwaukeenns

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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The state’s ban on utility disconnections ends April 15. Here’s what you need to know. | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Matt Martinez
April 13, 2022
Protesters in 2020 called for more help for people who were behind on their utility bills. (Photo provided by North Side Rising)
Leer en español: una versión traducida de este artículo está disponible debajo de la versión en inglés.
Wisconsin utility companies will once again be able to disconnect services starting April 15.
Tom Content, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, an organization that advocates for energy consumers, urges customers to reach out to their providers and make payment plans. In Milwaukee, most residents receive power from We Energies.
Brendan Conway, manager of media relations for We Energies, said disconnections will not occur immediately on April 15. The energy company will send letters to those who are at risk of disconnection and attempt to contact them by phone, he said.
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“Disconnection always has been and will be a last resort,” Conway said.
The state bars utilities from disconnecting services during the winter months, specifically from Nov. 1 through April 15. Cutoffs were banned indefinitely during the COVID-19 pandemic by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, the state’s regulator for utilities, but were reinstated in 2021.
Conway said customers who get on a payment plan can reduce their risk of disconnection. The sooner customers reach out, the better their chances for avoiding a service cutoff, he said.
Conway said about 8,000 people currently are at risk for disconnection. At this time last year, the number was about 12,000.
To contact We Energies and set up a payment plan, visit the We Energies website, use the mobile app or call 800-842-4565.
Energy assistance options
The Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services provides energy assistance through UMOS and Community Advocates, two nonprofit agencies in the city that provide services to residents. You can schedule an appointment, apply online or call (414) 270-4653. You can also call 2-1-1 for assistance scheduling an appointment.
When preparing to apply, have the following materials ready:
There are a number of services available within the program that provide assistance where government funds might not due to income requirements. This includes the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund and the Heat for Heroes Campaign, which serves veterans and their families who need energy assistance. To contact these services, call 800-891-9276.
If you have a dispute with your energy bill that you need assistance with, you can file a complaint with the Public Service Commission on its website. The commission can also be reached at 608-266-2001 or 800-225-7729.
Las empresas de servicios públicos de Wisconsin podrán volver a desconectar los servicios a partir del 15 de abril.
Tom Content, directora ejecutivo de Citizens Utility Board, una organización que aboga por los consumidores de energía, insta a los clientes a comunicarse con sus proveedores y hacer planes de pago. En Milwaukee, la mayoría de los residentes reciben energía de We Energies.
Brendan Conway, gerente de relaciones con los medios de We Energies, dijo que las desconexiones no ocurrirán inmediatamente el 15 de abril. La compañía de energía enviará cartas a quienes estén en riesgo de desconexión e intentará contactarlos por teléfono, dijo.
“La desconexión siempre ha sido y será el último recurso”, dijo Conway.
El estado prohíbe que los servicios públicos desconecten los servicios durante los meses de invierno, específicamente desde el 1 de noviembre hasta el 15 de abril. Los cortes fueron prohibidos indefinidamente durante la pandemia de COVID-19 por la Comisión de Servicios Públicos de Wisconsin, el regulador estatal de servicios públicos, pero se restablecieron en 2021 .
Conway dijo que los clientes que obtienen un plan de pago pueden reducir el riesgo de desconexión. Cuanto antes se comuniquen los clientes, mejores serán sus posibilidades de evitar un corte del servicio, dijo.
Conway dijo que unas 8.000 personas actualmente están en riesgo de desconexión. En este momento el año pasado, el número era de unos 12.000.
Para comunicarse con We Energies y configurar un plan de pago, visite el sitio web de We Energies, use la aplicación móvil o llame al 800-842-4565.
Opciones de asistencia energética
El Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos del Condado de Milwaukee brinda asistencia energética a través de UMOS y Community Advocates, dos agencias sin fines de lucro en la ciudad que brindan servicios a los residentes. Puede programar una cita , solicitar en línea o llamar al (414) 270-4653. También puede llamar al 2-1-1 para obtener ayuda para programar una cita.
Cuando se prepare para aplicar, tenga los siguientes materiales listos:
Hay una serie de servicios disponibles dentro del programa que brindan asistencia donde los fondos del gobierno podrían no hacerlo debido a los requisitos de ingresos. Esto incluye el Fondo Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool y la Campaña Heat for Heroes, que sirve a los veteranos y sus familias que necesitan asistencia energética. Para comunicarse con estos servicios, llame al 800-891-9276.
Si tiene una disputa con su factura de energía y necesita ayuda, puede presentar una queja ante la Comisión de Servicios Públicos en su sitio web. También se puede comunicar con la comisión al 608-266-2001 o al 800-225-7729.

author: Matt Martinez


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 12, 2022

author: Dwayne Burtin


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‘An opportunity to give back’: Willie Hines Jr. plunges into new role as leader of Housing Authority | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
PrincessSafiya Byers
April 14, 2022
“This is an opportunity to give back to the community that gave to me,’ Willie Hines Jr., shown in 2015, says of his new role at the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. (Photo courtesy of Michael Horne/Urban Milwaukee)
Willie Hines Jr. once lived in public housing.
Now he’s the first African American person to lead the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee, or HACM, in its 78-year history.
“I thrived from growing up in public housing,” Hines said. “This is an opportunity to give back to the community that gave to me.”
The HACM is the largest affordable housing provider in Wisconsin. It provides housing options and supportive services to over 10,000 low-income families, seniors, adults with disabilities and veterans.
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Hines, 57, said he hopes to continue the good work of his predecessor, Antonio Pérez, who led the agency since 2000 and resigned in February.
“Tony knew how to draw on the talents and gifts of his staff to grow and develop our programs,” he said. “He is someone we will continue to learn from as long as he is accessible to us.”
Others on the HACM staff share Hines’ admiration for Pérez.
“He was big on keeping the faith, which could be stressful. But he was an easy leader to follow,” said Fernando Aniban, the chief financial officer.
Hines said although the brick-and-mortar work that the HACM does is important, he wants to grow and strengthen self-sufficiency programs that empower residents.
As the secretary-executive director of the HACM, Hines said he is proud to serve as the leader of an agency whose mission is to provide housing resources to low-income residents.
“Stable housing is the core of the Housing Authority,” said Kenneth Barbeau, the director of community programs and services. “Helping people move forward is the other part of what we do.”
Hines specifically touted HACM’s Choice Neighborhood Grant, which aims is to improve Westlawn as a neighborhood where people want to live, learn, work, shop and play. Among HACM’s community development programs is its At-Promise program, which provides low-income HACM residents with on-the-job training, life-skills development and post-secondary education.
‘The foundation of who I am’
Hines said the issue of affordable housing is one that’s near and dear to his heart.
“I came home from the hospital to Hillside,” he said. “And even once my parents secured better jobs and bought a home, many of my family and friends still live in public housing. It is the foundation of who I am.”
About 90% of the people HACM serves are people of color who have an average annual income of less than $15,000.
Before his current role, Hines served as the agency’s associate director and was the acting secretary-executive director since May. He also was president of the Milwaukee Common Council from 2004 to 2014.
Hines has been in his new role since the beginning of March.
“His remarkable talents, collaborative and engaging management style and extensive experience make him an ideal choice to lead HACM in advancing its mission,” Mark Wagner, HACM’s chairman of the Board of Commissioners, said in a news release.

author: PrincessSafiya Byers


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 13, 2022


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Congressional committee hears about Milwaukee’s housing inequities — and how to fix them | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
PrincessSafiya Byers
April 14, 2022
U.S Reps. Bryan Steil, from left, Jim Hines and Gwen Moore sat down with local experts and community stakeholders to discuss solutions to the city’s housing disparities. (Photo by PrincessSafiya Byers)
Rent caps, support for emerging developers and direct financial support for proven housing agencies were just a few solutions to housing inequities presented this week to a select congressional committee meeting in Milwaukee.
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, brought members of the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth to the Milwaukee Public Library for a hearing on inequities in housing.
The committee is a bipartisan House committee focused on tackling economic disparities and proposing policies that increase access to opportunity for Americans.
Committee members were joined by Anne Bonds, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University Law School; Sakuri Fears, the senior program officer for Local Initiatives Support Corp., or LISC; Trena Bond, the executive director of Housing Resources Inc.; and Shaun Luehring, the president and CEO of LUMIN Schools.
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The group started by grappling with the city’s long and complicated history with racial segregation and how it still affects housing today.
Bonds, whose research centers on geographical approaches to political economy, feminist and critical race theory, and critical poverty and prison studies, spoke of how “renewed attention on racial segregation shows how little has changed since the 1960s.”
She said that because racially restrictive covenants and other racial exclusions in home purchasing have disproportionally affected Black people, strategies should be just as racially targeted.
She said these past practices and policies channeled investments to the suburbs and, even now, wage-sustaining job growth continues to occur outside the city, leading to “a concentration of disadvantage and overall disinvestment in urban communities.”
Johnson honed in on how private-equity firms purchase homes in bulk, blocking residents from being able to purchase them.
“Collectively these firms own over 900 properties in Milwaukee at the end of 2021, up from about 150 in 2019,” he said. “These firms, when acting as landlords, tend to evict tenants at a much higher rate than local and even out-of-state individual landlords.”
He added that “many renters could save money as homeowners, but large corporate landlords hinder them from purchasing homes because they are likely to buy and sell properties in bulk.”
Fears suggested increasing transportation to address Bonds’ concerns about the disconnect between where Milwaukee residents live and jobs with life-sustaining wages. She also said an increase in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and flexible support for local emerging developers could help create more affordable housing opportunities.
Bond said a lack of education on how to buy homes as the biggest barrier for Milwaukee renters looking to become homeowners. She pointed to a greater need for increased Community Development Block Grant funding and more flexible and direct financial support to proven nonprofit organizations.
Other solutions suggested by the panelists included increasing alternative home-purchasing methods (such as land banks and community trusts that can compete with private equity firms.
They also called for providing ongoing support for programs like MKE United’s Anti-Displacement Fund to prevent gentrification and displacement, and introducing rent stabilization and rent caps.
This hearing followed a bus tour through Milwaukee neighborhoods that spotlighted deindustrialization, racial inequities, botched urban renewal efforts and current work to revitalize neighborhoods.
The committee is expected to deliver a report outlining solutions to many of those issues at the end of the year.


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5 things to know and do the weekend of April 15 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Sam Woods
April 15, 2022
Join Angela Kingsawan at Butterfly Park for a tour of the garden and talk on the health benefits of a variety of plants Friday. (NNS file photo by Ana Martinez-Ortiz)
It’s Friday in Milwaukee, and here are some things we think you should know about. If you would like your event to be considered for this column, please submit your news by clicking here.
1. Urban Garden Workshop, Lotería and Spring Celebration: Friday, April 15 and Saturday, April 16
See the newly planted garden in Butterfly Park and explore the health benefits of a variety of plants with a garden tour led by herbalist Angela Kingsawan. The tour begins at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 15 at Butterfly Park, located at 1301 W. Forest Home Ave.
On Saturday, play Lotería and celebrate the arrival of spring with Kingsawan, artist Iuscely Flores, Muskego Way Forward and Versiti. The celebration runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 16 at Butterfly Park, located at 1301 W. Forest Home Ave. There will be complimentary food.
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READ: NNS Spotlight: Clarke Square herbalist connects community with nature
2. Walnut Way Community Lunch and Learn: Friday, April 15
Learn about community resources in and around Lindsay Heights with lunch and a raffle from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, April 15 at Walnut Way Center, located at 2240 N. 17th St. Register here.
3. Photo with the Easter Bunny: Saturday, April 16
Take a photo with the Easter Bunny and get a complimentary brat at this “Easter Extravaganza.” The Easter Bunny is available for photos from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 3422 W. Vliet St. Tickets are $15 per child at the door.
4. Free professional headshots: Saturday, April 16
Get a free professional headshot courtesy of Blu Figs Photography. Slots are available from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 16 at the North Shore Library, located at 6800 North Port Washington Road in Glendale. You must RSVP. To do so, click here.
5. Submit a poem for Teen Poetry Contest: until April 30
Youths ages 10 to 18 years old are invited to submit their poetry to the Milwaukee Public Library’s Teen Poetry Contest before April 30. Prizes will be distributed by age group, and participants may submit just one poem. More information here.
BONUS: If you need help with your taxes, check out this article for resources: Need help with your taxes? These organizations offer free services for those who qualify

author: Sam Woods


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 14, 2022


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NNS Spotlight: How this Milwaukee native uses the arts to empower her community | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
PrincessSafiya Byers
April 15, 2022
Mariah Scott realized early on that her love for the arts wasn’t always shared by her peers. (Photo provided by Mariah Scott)
When Mariah Scott moved to New York for school, she had no idea she would also create a one-woman show.
But here we are.
“Mariah Scott: The Crown She Wears” is a stage play meant to encourage communities to exercise self-love by setting healthy boundaries and engaging in self-care habits.
The show follows a woman who seems to have it all together but who starts to question her perfect life.
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Scott grew up immersed in the arts community and stayed involved in the arts through college. The 28-year-old poet attended Syracuse University, where she studied arts administration.
But she realized early on that her peers did not share her love for creative arts because they did not have the same access to it.
She wanted to do something about it.
“The schools where I lived did not have the same resources as the schools I was going to,” Scott said. “The schools I attended had different resources and programs to attend. The schools where I lived had outdated books.”
Scott attended Catholic schools throughout her childhood, but her mother, an educator for Milwaukee Public Schools, often had Scott and her siblings volunteer at the schools where she taught.
“I needed my children to know the community they lived in, so that there was no culture shock when they got older,” said Cydney Martin, Scott’s mother.
While Scott was busy volunteering, participating in poetry clubs and even the city Youth Advisory Council, she discovered her peers in her Sherman Park neighborhood weren’t doing those things.
She wanted to make a difference, which led her to New York.
“I got a writing coach and enrolled in some acting classes,” she said. “My acting coach challenged me to do a one-woman show incorporating poetry and poetry monologue.”
And she did.
“Mariah is always working on something big,” said Cortnee Gutierrez, Scott’s close friend. “I think New York allowed the caterpillar to bloom into the butterfly.”
Gutierrez said Scott is gifted in inspiring others.
“The impact she has on people is amazing,” she said. “I think she creates little Mariahs everywhere she goes, and the world needs that.”
Scott said she’s simply trying to help others.
“In my time working with people and in schools I’ve come to understand even more how deprived of resources communities are,” she said. “I want to be what my community didn’t have.”
“My journey has taught me that you don’t need to put yourself in a box,” she added. “You can change direction as much as you want, and you can do it all.”
What’s next for Mariah Scott
Scott is currently running a four-week workshop that prompts participants to explore how their writing influences the Black narrative. You can follow her Instagram to keep up with what she’s working on and “The Crown She Wears” tour.


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mariah | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 14, 2022


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mariahs | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 14, 2022


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Living in Wisconsin: ‘Hmong people are truly American, if not more American than most Americans’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Duke Behnke / The Post-Crescent
April 17, 2022
Sheng Lee Riechers remembers attending Neenah school and community events where military veterans were asked to stand and be recognized for serving the country.
Her father, a Hmong soldier who fought communist forces under the direction of the U.S. government during the Vietnam War, would always hesitate to stand, unsure of how he would be received.
“I was like, ‘Dad, get up. You fought in the war,’” Riechers recalled. “It was always really awkward for him. I wish more people understood the history of why Hmong people are here and that Hmong people are truly American, if not more American than most Americans. They fought for the country, and they fought for freedom.”
Hmong soldiers aren’t officially recognized as U.S. veterans, but they were staunch allies of the U.S. and paid a heavy price during and after the war. Once U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam, the victors persecuted Hmong soldiers and their families for helping the U.S.
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Hmong people fled their homeland in the mountains of northern Laos for refugee camps in Thailand, where they stayed, sometimes for years, until they were resettled in the U.S., France and elsewhere.
Even today, Riechers’ father isn’t allowed back into communist Laos, where the government denied his visa application to visit family in 2019.
The denial reinforced that Wisconsin, not Laos, is home for Riechers’ family and thousands of other Hmong Americans, and their presence is expanding and enriching life here.
The 2020 census showed the Asian American population in Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties grew from 16,330 in 2010 to 22,189 in 2020. That’s nearly a 36% increase, compared with a 10% increase in the overall population.
The census data released thus far doesn’t separate the Hmong American population from the Asian American population, but the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey provides insight.
The 2019 survey estimated Wisconsin’s Asian American population at nearly 200,000. Hmong are by far the largest Asian American ethnic group in the state, with more than 58,000 people, or 29% of the total.
‘I knew they didn’t like me’
Hmong refugees arrived in Wisconsin in waves, starting in the late 1970s and ending in the mid-2000s.
Long Vue was 14 in 1980 when he arrived in Kaukauna along with his parents, three sisters and four brothers. They had planned to go to Austin, Texas, but his uncle, who was the family’s sponsor, moved to Appleton. The family was then rerouted to the Fox Cities.
Hmong refugees had few possessions and needed help from a sponsor.
“A refugee is in the midst of war,” Vue told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. “You’re lucky if you survive and you’re alive.”
Vue said Hmong refugees lacked acceptance and faced bullying at school. Language barriers prevented communicating differences or reporting the harassment, so Vue learned to avoid conflict.
“The discrimination and hatred, you could feel that,” he said. “I knew they didn’t like me because they’d be yelling at me and screaming at me out in the public. I just stayed away from them and tried to live my own life.”
Pao Lor, a 49-year-old Kimberly resident, was born in Laos and left as a child.
His family had sided with the U.S. during the Vietnam War. When the U.S. pulled out, his family went into hiding as part of the resistance to communist forces. His father was assassinated by the resistance after he left a hiding place to seek outside resources like rice and salt in violation of the group’s rules.
When Lor’s family fled Laos for Thailand, his mother drowned while crossing the Mekong River.
Lor spent time in the refugee camps in Thailand before arriving in Long Beach, California. In 1980, he moved to Green Bay, where his uncle had settled.
“Many of us were 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years old,” he said. “So for many of us, America was really our home.”
Lor graduated from Green Bay East High School in 1989, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a doctorate from UW-Madison. He’s now an education professor and chair at UW-Green Bay.
Still, he doesn’t associate his life with the American Dream — that path to upward mobility amid equal opportunity for all. Lor at times had no idea what he was doing and was merely trying to coexist as an immigrant.
He describes that journey in his memoir, “Modern Jungles: A Hmong Refugee’s Childhood Story of Survival.”
Midwestern passive aggression
Riechers, 32, grew up in Neenah and now lives in Menasha with her husband and their 2-year-old daughter. Like most Hmong Americans living in Wisconsin today, Riechers was born in the U.S.
Her parents are naturalized first-generation immigrants, arriving as refugees from Laos in the late 1970s. They first settled in Memphis, Tennessee, before relocating to La Crosse, Black River Falls and eventually Neenah. Riechers was born in Black River Falls and came to Neenah when she was 2.
“There were a lot of friendly white people in the community who embraced my family and really helped us get acclimated,” Riechers said.
She graduated from Neenah High School in 2008 and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in business administration from UW-Oshkosh. She operated Candeo Creative, a marketing and advertising agency in Oshkosh, before being hired as Appleton’s senior communications specialist in 2020.
Riechers said northeast Wisconsin has shown a willingness to tolerate, if not welcome, people of different races. There’s hate everywhere, she said, but in the Upper Midwest, it’s a little less menacing.
“It’s a bit more passive-aggressive,” she said. “I’m not going to get in your face, but I’ll do stuff to let you know that I don’t like you.”
The clash of cultures and races reached a climax in November 2004, after Chai Soua Vang, a naturalized Hmong American from Laos, shot eight people, killing six, in northwest Wisconsin. Vang pleaded self-defense, alleging that white hunters confronted him after unintentionally trespassing. He was convicted of six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted homicide and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The case attracted nationwide attention. Riechers was a freshman in high school at the time.
“There was so much hate toward Hmong people,” she said. “There wasn’t really any direct targeted incidents, but I remember kids having bumper stickers that said, ‘Save a deer, shoot a Hmong.’ ”
Resurgent racial discrimination
After a period of improvement, the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 delivered a resurgance of racial discrimination against Asian Americans.
Then-President Donald Trump implicated Asians as the scapegoat and fueled anti-Asian animosity by repeatedly calling it the “China virus.”
Anti-Asian hate crimes quadrupled in 2021 in more than a dozen of America’s largest cities, according to an analysis from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
Residents came forward last year with heart-wrenching stories of harassment and hatred to convince the Appleton Common Council to pass a resolution condemning xenophobia, racism and anti-Asian violence.
Chia Lee, an Appleton teacher, said recent hate crimes against Asian Americans make her fear for her life.
“I love to walk around the neighborhood, but I have stopped doing it because I worry about a car running over me due to my ethnicity,” Lee told the council.
Tina Thor, an Appleton native, said that while shopping for flour, a woman yelled at her to “go back to your own country.”
“I was so shocked by this happening in the city where I was born and raised,” Thor said.
Asian Americans have experienced the same health concerns from the pandemic as anyone else in the community but have had the added burden of being unfairly blamed for it.
‘We fought for freedom’
Lor said “pretty close to 100%” of Hmong refugees were dependent on welfare and public housing when they came to Wisconsin in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Today they not only have made a better life for themselves and their families, but they have become active, integral members of the community. They are educators, business owners, coaches, political leaders, friends and neighbors.
Lor, for example, supervises more than 25 professors, lecturers, staff members and adjunct instructors at UW-Green Bay.
Riechers handles communications for a city of 73,000.
Vue is the executive director of NEW Hmong Professionals, a nonprofit that responds to needs of the community, like organizing pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics.
Hmong people have brought diverse backgrounds, political views, business experience and community service to northeast Wisconsin. Inroads also have been made in elective office, as evidenced by Maiyoua Thao’s tenure on the Appleton council.
Vue, who has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from UW-Eau Claire, acknowledges increasing understanding and acceptance of Hmong people in the past 40 years, but he doesn’t think they’ve achieved full integration.
Hmong Americans still gravitate toward their own grocery stores, he said, and they still haven’t reached equality with their white counterparts in terms of job opportunities and advancement.
Lor said Hmong Americans slowly have found their footing in business and politics but have yet to reach the upper echelon in either arena. Hmong-owned businesses, he said, tend to predominantly serve Hmong populations. He thinks they are on the verge of something greater.
Riechers said Hmong people have a history of seeking independence and freedom. They migrated from China to the mountains of Laos, Vietnam and Thailand in the 1800s after Chinese rulers sought to assimilate them and other ethnic minorities into Chinese culture.
Hmong people have a fierce independent streak that aligned with American ideals during and after the Vietnam War.
“It doesn’t really get any more American than the Hmong story,” Riechers said. “We’re immigrants. We fought for the country. We fought for freedom.”
Expanding the collective understanding and appreciation of the Hmong American experience can improve cultural competence and the ability to celebrate differences, rather than merely tolerate them or, at worst, oppress them.
That, in turn, could ease the transition for the next people — be it Afghans, Ukrainians or Congolese — who will call northeast Wisconsin home.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

author: Duke Behnke / The Post-Crescent


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Dwayne Burtin
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April 13, 2022


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‘Stealth’ economy for tribes hides billions of dollars in jobs, growth and revenue for rural communities | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Mark Trahant / Indian Country Today
April 17, 2022
This story is part of a collaborative series, “At the Crossroads,” from the Institute for Nonprofit News, Indian Country Today and nine other news partners, examining the state of the economy in Indian Country. This reporting was made possible with support from the Walton Family Foundation.
Study after study reaches the same conclusion: Tribes are often the largest drivers of regional and rural economies.
In Oklahoma, a new report said tribes and tribal enterprises added $15.6 billion in direct contributions in 2019 to the state’s economy. In addition, many more billions were spent by suppliers and those developing products for the tribes. The result: “Oklahoma tribes support 113,442 jobs in the state, representing $5.4 billion in wages and benefits to Oklahoma workers. While direct employment exceeds 54,000 jobs, tribal investment spurs job growth in many different industries.”
What’s more, the Oklahoma tribes re-set the framework for health care.
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“Tribal health care facilities provide increased access to care for tribal citizens in both urban and rural parts of the state,” the study noted. “Rural tribal populations are relieved of the stress of relocating to more urban areas to be near health care and thus may be more likely to remain in these rural areas …This has a profound impact on rural communities.”
The Oklahoma story is common.
A fun scroll: Google the words, “tribes” plus “largest employer.”
Then it’s a much longer list, especially when you add in qualifying phrases, such as “one of.”
That’s because tribal enterprises and governments are significant players in their regional economies and to the nation as a whole. But how much and where tribes contribute is a well-kept secret. There are no national numbers that chart the impact from tribal communities across the nation; no broad reports assess the impact or calculate the growth. There is a missing metric.
A rough assessment examining key economic drivers such as casinos and the hospitality industry, agriculture, fossil-fuel extraction and renewable energy development puts the economic impact of tribal communities into the tens of billions of dollars every year, not including small businesses, mom-and-pop stores and tribal government jobs. Government is often the largest employer in tribal communities.
One clue to the total economic picture is the $20 billion distributed to tribal governments, and enterprises via the American Rescue Plan. Another $12 billion came through the Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs. That law used a formula that considered the number of employees as well as tribal citizens. Indian gaming is a $34 billion a year business (at least before the pandemic).
As a frame for comparison, the smallest state economy (or Gross Domestic Product) is Vermont at roughly $37 billion a year.
A study by Harvard and the University of Arizona’s Native Nations Institute described the changing nature of the economy.
“The economic gaps between Indian Country and the rest of the United States at the beginning of the self-determination era were so large that closing those gaps was taking time,” the study reported. “It is proper to say that the glass may have been only half full, but at least it was filling. In fact, in some cases, there was truly outstanding progress being made against the scourges of economic disadvantage.”
The institute also stripped away a popular myth about the economy in tribal nations, that tribes receive an unfair share of funds from the U.S. Treasury. “It is state and local governments that have received outsized support from the federal government,” the report said.
Clearly more data is needed.
This year, the Federal Reserve Bank’s Center for American Indian Development launched a long-term initiative “to address persistent data gaps that exist in Indian Country.”
“The lack of data in Indian Country limits our understanding of the economy,” said Neel Kashkari, the Minneapolis Fed president. The center is hoping to build a portfolio of research to help tribal leaders and other policymakers have a better understanding of the economy.
Indian Country Today and nine news partners are using another lens — looking at tribal and rural economies through regional and community efforts. This special report, “At the Crossroads,” examines the state of the economy in Indian Country, its impact on local communities and what lies ahead for the future.
The series is part of a collaboration led by Indian Country Today with the Institute for Nonprofit News and its Rural News Network. News organizations participating in the collaboration included Buffalo’s Fire, InvestigateWest, KOSU, Mvskoke Media, New Mexico In Depth, Osage News, Rawhide Press, Underscore and Wisconsin Watch. The project was funded by grants from the Walton Family Foundation.
The findings were clear from region to region and tribal community to tribal community. There’s growing interest by tribes and enterprises to leverage profits from casinos to launch new businesses. There’s a push to create jobs in renewable energy. And tribes are exploring the dramatic shift in fossil fuel jobs by looking at other options, including development of an industry based on restoration and cleanup. Other economic ventures range from the role sports can play as a local job-creator, sustainable agriculture and partnerships that tribes can reach with local governments to put more tribal citizens to work.
People in Indian Country clearly believe changes are ahead. A national survey conducted by Indian Country Today and the collaboration partners found that respondents believe healthcare and green energy are the jobs of the future, with casinos and the oil and gas industry slipping a bit in their domination of the workforce.
The survey, which was distributed nationwide, generated hundreds of responses from people representing more than 130 tribes in 38 states and the District of Columbia. More than 90% of respondents said they are tribal citizens or of tribal descent, and nearly three-fourths live on or near tribal lands.
The impact is clear: Tribal nations are important to the broader conversation about rural economies, according to a 2021 study by Stephanie Gutierrez and Miriam Jorgensen at the Aspen Institute.
“When Native nations thrive, they tend to lift up the non-Indigenous communities that are their neighbors,” Gutierrez and Jorgensen wrote.
“This is particularly true in rural areas, where Native nation governments, tribal businesses, and Native nation citizens represent a larger proportion of the local governance infrastructure, economy and population than in urban areas, and thus generate a larger share of local jobs, spending and tax dollars.”
Health care economics
One window into the regional economies of tribes — and the financial challenges of the pandemic —  starts with health care.
Health care is already one of the largest employers in tribal communities. The federal Indian Health Service alone employs some 15,000 people across the country.
The grand opening last year of the newly constructed Little Shell Clinic in Great Falls, Montana, happened because of the pandemic.
The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana received federal recognition in 2019 and Chairman Gerald Gray pegged health care as the tribe’s top priority. But under the Indian Health Service system, the tribe would have been forced to wait perhaps decades before being included on the list for a new facility.
Then came the pandemic, followed by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act — the CARES Act. Suddenly there was funding available to build a clinic.
But as the pandemic opened up one path, it added an obstacle for another — hiring enough people to staff the Indian Health Service clinic. The new facility has 52 staff positions, but faced with recruiting issues and supply chain problems, only about a third have been filled.
“They have hit some bumps in the road, of course, like with everyone, “ said Molly Wendland, Little Shell’s tribal health director.
At a recent meeting with other tribes, she said she heard the same story, the problem of hiring enough people to fully staff the Indian health care system.
“I agree the current and future demand for health care workforce is very good right now and optimistic into the future,” said Jim Roberts, Hopi, senior executive liaison for intergovernmental affairs for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. “The pandemic has also revealed opportunities that exist in the structure of IHS and the tribal health system.”
The use of community health representatives and other on-the-ground essential health workers is growing, he said.
“Medicaid has been trying to do this for years,” he said. “More can be done here. If there is one thing COVID unveiled, it was how fragile our health system is and a significant part of this is attributed to health professional shortage issues. Something IHS and tribes know all too well.”
Another solution to the staffing shortages is to expand opportunities for people to obtain the proper training and credentials. One possibility is to form an intertribal organization that prepares workers to get the appropriate credentials.
“Hiring in the long term is going to be incredible,” said Little Shell’s Wendland. “I think those roles are going to become even more important and (these are) positions that don’t necessarily require a degree.”
The Indian health system, especially at the tribal level, has already taken the lead. In Alaska, for example, a dental health therapy program has created an oral health care delivery system using mid-level practitioners who can be based within Indigenous communities, instead of using professional dentists from outside.
“But the IHS are slow-rolling the expansion and development of these programs to the lower 48 — and even in Alaska,” Roberts said. “Alaska funding for these very successful and effective programs has been stagnant for years, not to mention the disappointing appropriations by Congress to expand these programs to the lower 48 states.”
These sorts of programs could easily be replicated for rural communities across the country and provide jobs that can begin with post-high school training.
The pandemic also opened up funding for facility construction.
The Cherokee Nation recently announced construction of a new $400 million, in-patient hospital, just two years after construction of a large new outpatient facility. The hospital will be the tribe’s largest investment yet in health care.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskins Jr. wrote in Newsweek about how the tribe used a pool of funds to improve both physical and behavioral health programs.
“Part of our allocation is supplementing our own efforts to build a new hospital for the Cherokee Nation Health System, the largest tribally-operated health system in the country,” he wrote. “Our current hospital is badly outdated and undersized for today’s patient population. Once the new hospital is operational, the old location will be repurposed as a hub for our mental health and addiction treatment services.”
Green jobs are the next wave
Renewable energy is also a growing component to the tribal economy. Solar energy is enjoying a boom in many communities, but tribes are also turning to wind, water and other sustainable approaches that protect the lands.
“I would love to get paid to help small homestead/hobby farmers (urban, sub-urban, rural) set up sustainable, eco-friendly installations, using a Native approach,” one person wrote in response to the ICT survey. “It is very important for people to get back to the earth and learn tried and true strategies the Native people perfected.”
Minnesota’s Prairie Island Indian Community is doing just that with a Net Zero program. The goal is to measure and reconfigure the tribe’s energy needs to make it carbon neutral.
“You know, for me, it’s just reducing the impact on earth,” said Mike Childs Jr., assistant secretary and treasurer of the Prairie Island Tribal Council. “It’s just that simple to me, you know, trying to reduce the impact on earth.”
Prairie Island’s lands are next to the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant in Redwing, Minnesota. The tribe does not get any energy from that plant, but the proximity did open up a state funding mechanism for the Net Zero project.
“I think for me, the hardest part of the project has been just trying to figure out, you know, what the best way to reduce our carbon footprint is,” Childs said. “You don’t just throw up solar panels or whatever.”
It’s always cheaper to reduce energy consumption than to generate new power, he said, but the tribe took on a holistic approach beyond consumption. This included rethinking the use of food containers and other materials
“Sometimes we’re questioned because it’s more expensive,” Childs said. “But I mean, really, is it? Is it more expensive to have compostable containers or plastic … floating around in the Pacific Ocean?”
But some green energy options are raising questions about whether they are worth the long-term costs. Although lithium is considered key to the expansion of electric vehicles and electronics, a proposed lithium mine in Nevada would impact ancestral lands for several tribes in the region.
Growing opposition has left the project up in the air, despite pressure on tribes to support the project.
In New Mexico, however, cleanup of abandoned uranium mines is considered a job for today. With increasing demands for contractors to properly clean up the radioactive debris left behind by decades of mining, opportunities are expanding for local businesses and workers to do the job.
Beyond the horizon
Dramatic changes may be ahead for two industries, gaming and those related to extractive fossil fuels. Several folks responded to the ICT survey saying that more technology was needed to create the jobs of the future.
“Too many high school graduates end up pushing a broom at the casino (while) most professional technical and executive positions are occupied by non-Indians,” one respondent said.
People answering the survey said the time is right to make investments in what’s next, such as jobs that promote a healthier lifestyle, “deeply rooted in Indigenous beliefs and education.”
Even the $35 billion gaming industry — which dropped to about $28 billion during the pandemic — is going through changes that will impact Indigenous communities. Tribes are using the profits from gaming to generate capital, investing in ventures that put them in the ranks of America’s largest companies.
A great example of that is the tribal money going to investments in Las Vegas. Three major deals this year included the Mohegan Sun’s Virgin Hotel, the San Manuel Band’s Palm Casino Resort, and a yet-to-be-concluded purchase of a new property by the Hard Rock Hotel, which is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. A fourth tribe, Fort Mojave, opened the Avi Resort & Casino in 1995 on tribal lands near Laughlin, Nevada.
Tribes are also ready to expand gaming beyond the casino experience, with a growing number of ventures offering sports betting.
Similar approaches are being used in other industries. Tribes from Florida to Alaska are launching energy projects from wind, sun and water, with a consortium of tribes in South Dakota working on a major wind farm that could power 1.5 million homes.
One example of the shift is the former Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona. The plant had been producing energy from coal but closed in 2019 after it became more difficult to sell that power source. The closure resulted in the loss of about 1,600 full-time jobs. Now, about 200 full-time jobs are associated with cleanup and reclamation efforts.
Back in Oklahoma, tribes are a significant employer, offering an employment base that would usually be sought after, with state officials asking for more.
But as the Indian Country economy remains in stealth mode … the opposite is true.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has gone out of his way to attack tribes on multiple levels from gaming revenues to criminal jurisdictions. In late March, the governor was on Fox News complaining that jurisdictional issues with tribes were tearing the state apart.
The hostility is such that the tribe tweeted back a response.
“As a tribe of 410,402 citizens, we’re thankful for the 410,401 Cherokee citizens who aren’t going on TV to undermine our rights and sovereignty.”
This story is part of a collaboration from INN’s Rural News Network in partnership with INN members Indian Country Today, Buffalo’s Fire, InvestigateWest, KOSU, New Mexico In Depth, Underscore and Wisconsin Watch, as well as partners Mvskoke Media, Osage News and Rawhide Press. Series logo by Mvskoke Creative. The project was made possible with support from the Walton Family Foundation.

author: Mark Trahant / Indian Country Today


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CASINOS | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 13, 2022


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CHEROKEE-HOSPITAL | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 13, 2022


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CROSSROADS | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 13, 2022


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KAYENTA-SOLAR-FARMS | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 13, 2022


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SURVEY-CHART | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 13, 2022


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5 things to know and do this week in Milwaukee: April 18 to April 22 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Sam Woods
April 18, 2022
The African American Roundtable is launching a membership program. Learn more at 6 p.m. Tuesday. (Photo provided by Markasa Tucker)
It’s Monday in Milwaukee, and here are some things we think you should know about. If you would like your event to be considered for this column, please submit your news by clicking here.
1. Intersection of Race and Mental Health Symposium: Tuesday, April 19
Hear from experts about substantive action to take in workplaces, personal circles and public-policy change to advance racial and mental health equity. The symposium takes place from 8:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19 at the Marquette University Alumni Memorial Union at 1442 W. Wisconsin Ave. More information, including parking information, RSVP link and topics to be discussed, can be found here.
2. MPS participates in World Fair: Tuesday, April 19
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For the first time since 2019, nearly 3,000 students from 14 of the most diverse schools in Milwaukee Public Schools will gather for the United Nations Schools of International Learning’s World Fair. The event will feature a choir, a fashion show, Latin and Italian dance groups and a special performance from the Ukrainian dance ensemble, Dnipro. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19 at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, located at 400 W. Kilbourn Ave.
3. Tech tools for gardeners: Tuesday, April 19
Are you starting your garden soon? The Milwaukee Public Library is here with an overview of different tech tools that can help you manage your houseplants and outdoor gardens. The talk will be held virtually from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19. Register to attend here.
4. African American Roundtable membership info session: Tuesday, April 19
The African American Roundtable is launching a membership program to provide a political home for Black people in Milwaukee. Learn more at this info session starting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19. Register here. Sign up to be a member here. Membership dues are $5 monthly or $60 annually.
5. Lunch and Learn: Redistricting in Wisconsin: Thursday, April 21
Learn about the redistricting process and its impact in Wisconsin, particularly as it relates to communities of color. The conversation will take place on Zoom and Facebook Live from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 21. Register to attend via Zoom here.


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 17, 2022


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Clearing the air of coal: How the community pushed We Energies to clean up its Menomonee Valley plant | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Alexandra Garner
April 19, 2022
We Energies owns the Valley Power Plant in the Menomonee Valley neighborhood, which completed its conversion from coal to natural gas in 2015. (Photo by Alexandra Garner)
Editor’s note: The author of this story served as an intern for the Sierra Club Wisconsin Chapter from September 2020 to May 2021.
Driving on the I-94 highway into Milwaukee, clouds of steam can often be seen puffing out of two tall smokestacks into the sky. But just less than 10 years ago soot often blew out from those stacks.
Centered in the Menomonee River Valley neighborhood is the We Energies Valley Power Plant. It provides steam and uses natural gas for electricity, but before 2015, the plant used coal.
How that transition occurred offers a study in how community members and organizations can join to advocate for their health and environmental change. Accounts by activists at the time and press reports show a collective effort to make the Valley Power Plant cleaner.
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The beginning
Community efforts to push We Energies to improve air quality control methods began as early as 2010, when the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources proposed to renew the Valley Power Plant’s air pollution permit. Opponents argued that the proposed permit did not align with We Energies’ plan to deal with its coal-fired power plants as part of its “Power the Future” plan.
Dennis Grzezinski, former senior counsel of the Midwest Environmental Advocates, a nonprofit law center, said in an email that We Energies decided to close its coal plant in Port Washington, replacing it with a natural gas plant. Grzezinski pointed out that the town was “an almost exclusive white community.”
“Its Valley Plant, on Canal Street in Milwaukee, nestled between the state’s largest Latinx and Black neighborhoods, which had never had upgraded air pollution control equipment installed, was planned to be left unimproved and continuing to emit large quantities of toxic air pollution into those communities,” Grzezinski said.
According to a 2010 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story, the Valley Plant was We Energies’ oldest power plant to lack modern emission controls at the time.
In 2012, the NAACP, Indigenous Environmental Network and the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization released a study called “Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People” that assessed the impact of coal plants on low-income communities of color across the United States.
The study found that of the 209,000 residents who lived within three miles of the Valley Plant, two-thirds were people of color.
Grzezinski said when the Wisconsin DNR proposed to issue the Valley Power Plant a renewed permit, it didn’t require air pollution control upgrades necessary to protect public health nor consider the disparities in the Menomonee River Valley community.
It “did not address at all the environmental justice issues posed by the disparate treatment of white and minority communities,” Grzezinski said.
When asked what role the community played in We Energies’ decision to transition the Valley Power Plant from coal to natural gas, We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said in an email that there were several opportunities for community members to provide feedback at public meetings and learn about the transition.
“In October 2012, We Energies provided tours of Valley Power Plant to nearby residents, local businesses and steam customers,” Conway said. “The tours were held on two different days and provided guests with the opportunity to learn more about the current operations of the plant and the proposed conversion to natural gas.”
In 2010, press reports showed that We Energies was considering adding more pollution controls to the Valley plant or transitioning it to cleaner fuel.
Pamela Ritger de la Rosa, Milwaukee program director and staff attorney for Clean Wisconsin, a nonprofit that advocates for environmental protections in the state, said We Energies may have converted the plant because its leaders saw that coal was on the decline, as was and still is happening throughout the electric industry. But she said the community played a key role in pressuring We Energies to make a change at that time.
“I think if that organizing hadn’t been done, they might have waited to convert this plant at a later time,” Ritger de la Rosa said.
The Wisconsin DNR hosted a public meeting in Milwaukee in November 2010 in which roughly 150 people came to voice their opinions on the proposed permit, Grzezinski said.
“Normally, at most a handful of people would attend such a public meeting, apart from DNR and company staffers,” he said. “They more than overflowed the large hearing room, and virtually all of them wanted a permit that would protect public health.”
Midwest Environmental Advocates, Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Latino Health Coalition and the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin also submitted comments to the Wisconsin DNR in November 2010 that voiced their opposition to the proposed permit. The groups’ leaders said the proposal failed to protect public health, violated state and federal provisions and regulations of the Clean Air Act and did not comply with the DNR’s duty to uphold environmental justice and civil rights.
‘They could no longer ignore us’
In 2011, environmental, health, social and religious organizations joined together to create the Cleaner Valley Coalition.
Dianne Dagelen, former conservation chairperson for the Great Waters Group of the Sierra Club, said We Energies initially turned the coalition away when former chairperson Juan Carlos Ruiz went to talk with them.
“Juan Carlos was not leaving until someone from the administration came down to talk with them, or he was calling the press. They (We Energies) sent someone down to talk with them . . . ” Dagelen said. “We Energies had no less than six attorneys present for that meeting. We presented our concerns and demands. They could no longer ignore us.”
Fred Royal, NAACP Milwaukee Branch first vice president, also remembers the meeting.
“There wasn’t a lot of willingness on We Energies’ part to make that conversion. They felt it was too costly at the time,” said Royal, who was involved as a community member.
In March 2011, Clean Wisconsin and Sierra Club Wisconsin Chapter, also members of the Cleaner Valley Coalition, applied more pressure. They filed a petition with the Wisconsin DNR contending that the proposed permit violated the Clean Air Act.
Ritger de la Rosa said in May 2012, the Cleaner Valley Coalition saw an opportunity to raise its concerns about the Valley Power Plant during a Wisconsin Public Service Commission hearing about We Energies’ proposed rate increases.
Although rate case hearings typically involve utility representatives and environmental nonprofit organizations and take place at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission in Madison, Ritger de la Rosa said the coalition requested the hearing be moved from Madison to Milwaukee. The Public Service Commission granted the coalition’s request.
The Cleaner Valley Coalition also hosted events to engage the Menomonee River Valley community and share information about the plant.
Elizabeth Ward, Sierra Club Wisconsin chapter director, said people in the community were definitely aware of the air pollution.
“They knew that their families had high rates of asthma, and they knew that sometimes they’d go outside and it’d be harder to breathe than at other times,” Ward said. “I don’t know that everyone knew the coal plant was one of the causes of that.”
In August 2012, We Energies announced that it would seek approval from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to transition the Valley Power Plant from coal to natural gas.
The Valley Power Plant took approximately two years to completely transition, finishing its conversion in November 2015. The conversion cost $62 million.
Ritger de la Rosa said the plant’s transition from coal to natural gas had a huge impact in Milwaukee, cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half and dramatically decreasing air pollution, particularly soot, smog and particulate matter that can lead to asthma and heart disease.
Last year, We Energies announced it would be closing the coal-fired power complex of the Oak Creek Power Plant in 2023 and 2024. This excludes the Elm Road Generating Station, which Ritger de la Rosa said community members have been organizing to shut down.
Ritger de la Rosa called the Valley Power Plant conversion a “good incremental win for public health, an incremental win for climate change, but we continue to need to go further to continue to retire coal.”
Conway said community members living in the Menomonee River Valley and customers have been supportive of the transition.
The Cleaner Valley Coalition became the Cleaner Milwaukee Coalition in 2013, Dagelen said. After Ruiz’ death three years later, several of the organization’s leaders left their positions and some coalition members began to focus on other issues like opposing the expansion of the I-94 highway, and the Cleaner Milwaukee Coalition stopped meeting, Ritger de la Rosa said.
Royal said community members aren’t primarily focused on the Valley Power Plant right now. Instead, he said, residents have other environmental concerns like oil runoff from highways and lead pipes across the city.
“Currently, I don’t think people give it a second thought. Once it converted from coal to natural gas, I don’t think people gave it a lot of consideration,” Royal said.

author: Alexandra Garner


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 18, 2022


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Study finds nearness to trees, grass and other plants can lower risk of strokes | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Matt Martinez
April 19, 2022
A new study examines the link between access to green space and stroke risk in Milwaukee County residents. This photo was taken in Sherman Park in 2016. (NNS file photo)
A study released Tuesday from researchers with Advocate Aurora Health links a person’s nearness to green space, or areas covered with trees, grass and other plants, to a decreased risk of stroke.
The study found that people living near green space in Milwaukee County were 19% less likely to have a stroke than those with less green space nearby. Dr. Richard Rovin, a neurosurgeon at Aurora St. Luke’s hospital and one of the lead researchers, said the decrease might be tied to protection from air pollutants, solar radiation and heat provided by natural green spaces.
The study uses a measurement called the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or NDVI, to see how much green space is within 250 meters, or roughly 820 feet, of the places where patients in the study live. Using satellite images, the researchers generated maps that showed the difference in green space coverage.
The first image (from left) shows a satellite image of Milwaukee County. The second one illustrates the differences in Milwaukee green space, with areas in orange and yellow showing fewer green spaces. The third image shows the location of the study’s participants. (Photo provided by the Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews)
The study followed roughly 1,200 stroke patients and 4,700 non-stroke patients for comparison. The two sample populations had equal percentages of history of smoking, hypertension and diabetes. All of them were Milwaukee County residents.
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Rovin said segregation in Milwaukee has drawn hard lines for nearby green space among the city’s residents.
“It’s very stark,” Rovin said. “The areas with the highest level of green space versus the lowest, it turns out, pretty much follow racial lines as you’d expect. So brown and Black people live in neighborhoods of lowest green space compared to the white population in Milwaukee.”
Stroke risk was also tied to other disparities through a measurement called the Area Deprivation Index, which measures disadvantages such as lack of access to health care, fresh food and disinvestment in a neighborhood.
“Neighborhood deprivation is a very strong predictor of stroke risk,” Rovin said.
It can also affect outcomes in hospitalization from diseases such as COVID-19, he said. The study found that those living in neighborhoods with the highest Area Deprivation Index had a 28% greater risk of stroke than those living in neighborhoods with the lowest index.
The study, which also lists researchers from Marquette University, Smith College and Neeka Health as contributors, found a higher Area Deprivation Index in neighborhoods that were not near a public park. The less greens pace there was in an area, the higher the deprivation tended to be generally.
“The good thing is these are manmade issues, so they have manmade solutions,” Rovin said. “And they’re not really difficult solutions. It’s just a matter of investment and community buy-in to change it. We know how to renovate neighborhoods … these things are within our grasp.”
Lula Daniels, who lives near North 15 and West Burleigh streets, described her neighborhood’s green space situation.
“I’ve got two trees in the backyard,” Daniels said. “But there’s not really trees on the street out front.”
Daniels said she’d like to have more green space in her neighborhood and wants to see the city invest more in it, as well as general infrastructure problems in the city.
Alex James, who lives in the 53208 ZIP code, said he has parks in walking distance from his residence and that Milwaukee’s size makes it easier to find others. The 53208 ZIP code is home to Washington Park and Hawthorn Glen, a nature preserve on the city’s West Side.
He said his neighborhood has a lot of trees nearby as well. Access to the parks allows kids in the area to play sports, even if they have to go elsewhere to do so.
“You know where to go, and if you don’t, you know somebody who does know where to go,” Alex said.
Since stroke risk is tied to multiple issues, Rovin said that addressing green space is just one piece of the puzzle.
“Going out and planting a tree or shrub probably isn’t going to do it,” Rovin said. “I think the take-home message is if you’re in a neighborhood at risk and you have individual risk factors that make stroke or illnesses more likely, you need to be especially vigilant and working with your family physician”


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Post from Community: Earth day clean-up to clean entire Milwaukee neighborhood of Amani | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dominican Center
April 20, 2022
Editor’s note: Posts from the Community is the place for community announcements and event postings. If you have a community-oriented event you feel our readers would be interested in, please submit here.
Residents, along with staff and volunteers from seven local organizations and businesses will come together in honor of Earth Day and clean throughout the Amani Neighborhood.
WHO: Dominican Center, Amani United, Wisconsin Voices, Welcome Home Milwaukee Property Management, Boardwalk Realty, Captain Save-A-Home and Premier Point Realty.
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WHAT: Earth Day Clean-Up in Amani, 20 to 30 Streets, North to Keefe Avenues. Supplies provided by Welcome Home Milwaukee.
WHY: To support resident-identified concentration area of housing and economic development by cleaning trash and debris from sidewalks/public areas and beautifying the neighborhood.
WHEN: Friday, April 22, 2022, from 10am-2pm.
WHERE: Meet at Dominican Center, 2470 W. Locust Dr., Milwaukee, WI 53206.
MORE: VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Join us and make a difference. Visit https://bit.ly/AmaniCleanUp2022 to sign up.
CONTACT: For more information about the Earth Day Clean Up, contact Dominican Center at 414-444-9930 or email amanda@dominican-center.org.

author: Dominican Center


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Earth-Day-small.jpg | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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April 19, 2022


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Post from Community: First Stage Young Company’s 12th annual Bard-O-Thon showcase on Saturday, April 23 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
First Stage
April 20, 2022
Editor’s note: Posts from the Community is the place for community announcements and event postings. If you have a community-oriented event you feel our readers would be interested in, please submit here.
Name of Event: First Stage Young Company’s 12 Annual Bard-O-Thon Showcase
Date: Saturday, April 23, 2022
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
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Location: Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212
Description: In celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday, the First Stage Theater Academy presents its 12Annual Bard-O-Thon Showcase, challenging Young Company members to stretch their artistic endurance as they perform as many memorized Shakespearean monologues in a row as possible throughout the day. The Bard-O-Thon will culminate in a showcase at 5:00 p.m. at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, which will feature a selection of monologues that had been performed throughout the day.
In 2021, 55 students performed over 500 monologues, raising more than $17,000 to further First Stage’s mission of transforming lives through theater and help support Shakespeare programming at First Stage. This year, they hope to raise a record-setting $17,250. Donations may be made to individual Young Company members or to the entire Young Company at firststage.org/events-tickets/special-events/young-company-bard-o-thon/.
Cost: Attendance is free
Website: firststage.org/events-tickets/special-events/young-company-bard-o-thon/
Phone: (414) 267-2935
About First Stage
First Stage is one of the nation’s leading theaters for young people and families. First Stage touches hearts, engages minds and transforms lives by creating extraordinary theater experiences through professional theater productions that inspire, enlighten and entertain. Its Theater Academy, the nation’s largest high-impact theater training program for young people, fosters life skills through stage skills and serves nearly 2,000 students each year. As Wisconsin’s leader in arts-integrated education in schools, First Stage’s dynamic Theater in Education programs promote literacy, character building and experiential learning throughout the curriculum, serving over 20,000 students each year. First Stage was selected to participate in the Partners in Education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2012) and was the recipient of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s Eureka Award, recognizing creativity and innovation in business, education and the arts for its Next Steps program for students on the autism spectrum (2013, 2015). First Stage is a member of TYA/USA, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, Milwaukee Arts Partners and is a proud cornerstone member of the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF). firststage.org

author: First Stage


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NNS-FirstStageLogo-01.png | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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April 19, 2022


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Post from Community: Living well with chronic conditions workshop | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Bonnie Street
April 20, 2022
Editor’s note: Posts from the Community is the place for community announcements and event postings. If you have a community-oriented event you feel our readers would be interested in, please submit here.
This 6-week workshop will help you live your best life and connect with others!
WHEN: Fridays, May 13-June 17
WHERE: This workshop will meet online using Zoom
TIME: 10:00am-12:30pm
COST: FREE
*Space is limited, so register early!
For more information or to register, call
Milwaukee County DHHS
Aging & Disabilities Services:
414-758-5681
OR Email:
Bonnie.Street@milwaukeecountywi.gov
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author: Bonnie Street


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Post from Community: Milwaukee AHEC’s 30th anniversary | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Area Health Education Center
April 20, 2022
Editor’s note: Posts from the Community is the place for community announcements and event postings. If you have a community-oriented event you feel our readers would be interested in, please submit here.
Milwaukee Area Health Education Center (AHEC) will be celebrating its 30 anniversary with a luncheon on June 23 at Alverno College from 11:30-1:00 pm. Tickets are $45 each.
“Milwaukee AHEC is one of seven regional Wisconsin Area Health Education Centers in the state with a tradition of being a catalyst for change since 1992,” states Tifany Frazer, Milwaukee AHEC Board Chair. “We intend to continue that tradition for many years to come.”
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Milwaukee AHEC is focused on addressing the central city healthcare worker shortage issue by providing students with the opportunity to gain knowledge, skills, and attitudes to successfully become the next generation of community-engaged health professionals. “We have served over 20,000 in the Southeastern Wisconsinarea in our employer-endorsed training programs in collaboration with partnering health systems. These health system partnerships have resulted in greater health education and improved health behaviors throughout the communities where we serve,” says Executive Director DeDe Williams.
Program partnering health systems include Humana/Independent Care Health Plan (iCare), Medical College of Wisconsin, Alverno College, AdvocateAurora Health, Froedtert Hospital, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, to name a few.
“We are very honored to be recognized by Milwaukee AHEC as the recipient of the Connecting Communities Award,” said Tony Mollica, Humana’s Wisconsin Medicaid President and iCare CEO. “Community Health Workers do invaluable work by connecting members to services they otherwise might not trust. Milwaukee AHEC excels at positioning people from diverse backgrounds to excel within career opportunities in health they may not have considered. We hire numerous candidates who have completed Community Health Worker certification through Milwaukee AHEC due to the high caliber and quality expectations they have within the program.”
Milwaukee AHEC current programs include COVID-19 Community Outreach, Community Health Worker (CHW) Supervisor Training, CHW Covid-19 Educational Training, Community Health Training Certificate, Community Health Internship Program (CHIP), the Aging Mastery Program, the Community Based Experimental Training Program, AHEC     Scholars, Wisconsin Express, Youth Health Services, AHEC Alumni, as well as an IP Healthcare Case Competition.
Milwaukee AHEC student programs target high school through college graduate students, as well as continuing education students in health professions throughout Southeast Wisconsin. In 2003, Milwaukee AHEC expanded its boundaries to include Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, and Waukesha counties.
The 30 anniversary luncheon program will include presentations of the following awards:
Connecting Student Awards
Connecting Professionals Awards
Connecting Communities Awards
“We are proud of the work we have done and the partnership connections we have established over these past 30 years. We want to celebrate our past, as we look forward to our future,” concluded Williams.
For more information on Milwaukee AHEC programs, the 30 anniversary celebration, luncheon sponsorship opportunities, and/or to purchase tables or tickets, go to https://www.milahec.org/. Or call 414-344-0675.
The mission of Milwaukee AHEC is to increase the diversity and distribution of health professionals through strategic partnerships to improve the health outcomes in Southeastern Wisconsin. Milwaukee AHEC is a member of the Wisconsin Area Health Education Center. The Wisconsin Area Health Education Center is an affiliate of the National Area Health Education Center.

author: Milwaukee Area Health Education Center


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MAHEC2022NEWSRELEASEPHOTO3FFF4182022.jpg | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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April 19, 2022


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What you need to know about the second COVID booster shot | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Matt Martinez
April 20, 2022
A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine at the Hmong American Friendship Association in March 2021. (File photo by Sue Vliet)
Leer en español: una versión traducida de este artículo está disponible debajo de la versión en inglés.
By now, you’ve likely heard about the new second COVID-19 booster shot.
It’s for people over the age of 50 and those who are immunocompromised, or have significant limits to their immune system.
Here are some things you should know.
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Who can get it?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and Food and Drug Administration announced March 29 that certain populations are eligible to receive a second booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
People who have already received two doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can also get an mRNA booster shot.
Those who received the Johnson & Johnson shot, which is an adenovirus shot that does not contain mRNA, can now receive an additional dose of Pfizer or Moderna that do contain mRNA to reduce their risk of serious illness.
Dr. Heather Paradis, chief medical officer for the Milwaukee Health Department, said adding a dose of mRNA vaccines to the Johnson & Johnson vaccines will provide more overall protection to people.
The CDC has a table on its website that shows eligibility for each of the three vaccines.
Pfizer booster doses are only available to those aged 12 or older. Moderna booster doses are available to those 18 or older.
When can I get the new booster?
The second booster shot can be administered four months after the first booster.
The timeline for the total vaccine series for those eligible is now about nine months from the time of their second dose.
For individuals who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, the timeline is shortened. The CDC’s recommendation for these individuals is as follows:
The guidance applies for a booster after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, except immunocompromised individuals can get a booster two months after receiving their second dose.
A full breakdown of the CDC’s guidance for immunocompromised individuals is available on its website. This includes a list of conditions that could qualify someone for immunocompromised status.
Why are these new doses available?
The decision was made after the CDC and FDA reviewed international data from the United Kingdom and Israel regarding the long-term effectiveness of the vaccine.
Dr. Joyce Sanchez, an infectious disease specialist at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, said the data suggested some loss of protection against severe illness and death after four months, particularly in the population above age 60.
According to the CDC, people with booster shots were 21 times less likely to die of COVID-19 during the Omicron variant surge that began in early winter than people who were unvaccinated. They were also seven times less likely to be hospitalized.
Should I get the new booster?
It’s up to you. Sanchez recommended that individuals speak with their doctor about receiving the second booster.
Anyone over the age of 50 with a comorbidity should consider getting the shot, she said. Comorbidities include chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and other conditions that can worsen COVID-19.
“If you have a medical comorbidity, I see little downside,” Sanchez said.
Where can I get it?
To locate vaccine options around the city, visit the HealthyMKE website. You can search through an interactive map, events and pop-up clinics and locations like federally qualified health centers to find the best option for you.
The Milwaukee Health Department is offering shots at its dedicated locations:
On Monday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Vaccines can also be located on the federal government’s website, Vaccines.gov. You can also text your ZIP code to 438829 or call 800-232-0233 for assistance.
A estas alturas, es probable que haya oído hablar de la segunda vacuna de refuerzo contra el COVID-19.
Es para personas mayores de 50 años y aquellas inmunocomprometidas o que tienen limitaciones significativas en su sistema inmunológico.
Aquí hay algunas cosas que debería saber.
Los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades, o CDC, y la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos anunciaron el 29 de marzo que ciertas poblaciones son elegibles para recibir una segunda inyección de refuerzo de la vacuna COVID-19.
Las personas que ya han recibido dos dosis de la vacuna Johnson & Johnson también pueden recibir una inyección de refuerzo de ARNm.
Quienes recibieron la inyección de Johnson & Johnson, que es una inyección de adenovirus que no contiene ARNm, ahora pueden recibir una dosis adicional de Pfizer o Moderna que sí contienen ARNm para reducir el riesgo de enfermedades graves.
La Dra. Heather Paradis, directora médica del Departamento de Salud de Milwaukee, dijo que agregar una dosis de vacunas de ARNm a las vacunas de Johnson & Johnson brindará una mayor protección general a las personas.
El CDC tiene una tabla en su sitio web que muestra la elegibilidad para cada una de las tres vacunas .
Las dosis de refuerzo de Pfizer solo están disponibles para personas mayores de 12 años. Las dosis de refuerzo de Moderna están disponibles para mayores de 18 años.
La segunda vacuna de refuerzo se puede administrar cuatro meses después del primer refuerzo.
El cronograma para la serie total de vacunas para aquellos elegibles ahora es de aproximadamente nueve meses desde el momento de su segunda dosis.
Para las personas con inmunodepresión moderada o grave, el plazo se acorta. La recomendación de los CDC para estas personas es la siguiente:
La guía se aplica a un refuerzo después de la vacuna de Johnson & Johnson, excepto que las personas inmunodeprimidas pueden recibir un refuerzo dos meses después de recibir su segunda dosis.
Un desglose completo de la guía de los CDC para personas inmunodeprimidas está disponible en su sitio web. Esto incluye una lista de condiciones que podrían calificar a alguien para el estado inmunocomprometido.
La decisión se tomó después de que los CDC y la FDA revisaran los datos internacionales del Reino Unido e Israel sobre la eficacia a largo plazo de la vacuna.
La Dra. Joyce Sanchez, especialista en enfermedades infecciosas de Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, dijo que los datos sugirieron cierta pérdida de protección contra enfermedades graves y muerte después de cuatro meses, particularmente en la población mayor de 60 años.
Según los CDC, las personas con vacunas de refuerzo tenían 21 veces menos probabilidades de morir de COVID-19 durante el aumento de la variante Omicron que comenzó a principios del invierno que las personas que no estaban vacunadas. También tenían siete veces menos probabilidades de ser hospitalizados.
Usted decide. Sánchez recomendó que las personas hablen con su médico acerca de recibir el segundo refuerzo.
Cualquier persona mayor de 50 años con una comorbilidad debería considerar vacunarse, dijo. Las comorbilidades incluyen enfermedades crónicas como diabetes, presión arterial alta, asma y otras condiciones que pueden empeorar el COVID-19.
“Si tiene una comorbilidad médica, veo pocas desventajas”, dijo Sánchez.
Para ubicar las opciones de vacunas en la ciudad, visite el sitio web de HealthyMKE . Puede buscar a través de un mapa interactivo, eventos y clínicas emergentes y ubicaciones como centros de salud calificados a nivel federal para encontrar la mejor opción para usted.
El Departamento de Salud de Milwaukee ofrece vacunas en sus ubicaciones dedicadas:
Lunes y viernes de 9 a 15 h, martes y jueves de 12 a 18 h y sábado de 9 a 13 h
Los lunes, miércoles y viernes de 12 a 18 h y los martes y jueves de 9 a 15 h
Las vacunas también se pueden encontrar en el sitio web del gobierno federal, Vaccines.gov . También puede enviar un mensaje de texto con su código postal al 438829 o llamar al 800-232-0233 para obtener ayuda.


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 19, 2022


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Post from Community: City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21 to host second meeting for Downtown Area Plan update | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Department of City Development
April 21, 2022
Editor’s note: Posts from the Community is the place for community announcements and event postings. If you have a community-oriented event you feel our readers would be interested in, please submit here.
The City of Milwaukee’s Department of City Development (DCD) and Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21 have announced their second in a series of public meetings for the new Downtown Area Plan, “Connec+ing MKE – Downtown Plan 2040.” The open house-style format will be held at 3rd Street Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave., on Wednesday, May 25 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Milwaukee residents are encouraged to attend and voice their vision for the future of downtown Milwaukee.
The meeting will be held as a Community Open House where residents will have the opportunity to learn about transformative projects from the 2010 area plan, engage with neighbors, and provide valuable input in the planning process. Accessibility and connectivity to adjacent neighborhoods will be a key focus in discussions for the updated plan. Public participation is integral to creating an equitable plan that is designed with everyone in mind.
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“Shaping the future of Milwaukee can be a collaborative process, and we are extending an invitation to join in,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. “The time is now to plan for Milwaukee’s growth and future. The Downtown Area Plan will set priorities, strategies, and approaches that will help determine what the city center of Milwaukee will look like in the decades ahead.”
“Milwaukee experienced a major renaissance following the Downtown Area Plan’s adoption in 2010. Looking at how far we’ve come is inspiring, but we know there’s more to do in ensuring Downtown is a place for every resident, in every neighborhood, to feel welcome and connected to our city,” said DCD Commissioner Lafayette Crump. “I’m looking forward to building up our Downtown to ensure it is stronger, more equitable, and easily accessible to every Milwaukeean.”
Ongoing dialogue is also encouraged at www.connectingmke.com, where users can post ideas on a virtual wall, pin comments to an interactive map, and view comments from fellow Milwaukee residents. The feedback collected from these resources will help identify areas for growth and improvement, which will influence planning decisions. Comments can include notes about strengths, opportunities to grow, aspirations for an ideal downtown and suggestions for ways to measure the results of the completed plan.
“The Downtown Area Plan will set stage for Downtown’s growth over the next two decades,” said Beth Weirick, CEO of Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21. “The way we ensure a vibrant and accessible community is by hearing from everyone, which is why public input is critically important. Now is the chance to shape our Downtown for future generations.”
Several major developments critical to Downtown’s growth were identified in the last Downtown Area Plan. These catalytic projects included: the addition of a fixed-rail streetcar system; the revitalization of Wisconsin Avenue; new circulation patterns, development and public spaces at the Lakefront Gateway; building a strong Broadway Connection to better link the central business district to the Historic Third Ward; developing the area around Pere Marquette Square with residential, commercial and entertainment uses; enhancing the Station Plaza/Milwaukee Intermodal Station area; improving accessibility to the underutilized MacArthur Square; and developing the Haymarket area into a mixed-use neighborhood with a public square.
Over the last decade, more than $3.5 billion has been invested in completed private and public projects and more than $2.5 billion is currently under construction or proposed to start soon. The revised plan will include strategic updates to the 2010 plan that will guide land use decisions, redevelopment of key sites, and improvements to streets and public spaces over the next 10-20 years.
“Connec+ing MKE – Downtown Plan 2040” is expected to be released in 2023. Information on this innovative strategy to improve Downtown can be found at www.connectingmke.com.


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logo_ConnectingMkeHorz_K.png | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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April 20, 2022


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Post from Community: Riverwest Food Pantry changes name to Kinship Community Food Center | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Kinship Community Food Center
April 21, 2022
Editor’s note: Posts from the Community is the place for community announcements and event postings. If you have a community-oriented event you feel our readers would be interested in, please submit here.
Effective immediately, Riverwest Food Pantry, a community food center that is committed to improving lives and growing community well-being, will become Kinship Community Food Center. The name change reflects the organization’s sense of belonging, priority for serving the whole person, and potential to engage people from all parts of greater Milwaukee.
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“Think of our new identity as an invitation to people from all corners of the city to come together to help each other thrive through belonging, giving, and receiving,” said Vincent Noth Executive Director of Kinship Community Food Center. “We are a community of generosity that shares our struggles and our joys, our lives and wisdom. That’s what kinship is all about.”
The name change comes at a critical time for the center, which distributes around 300,000 pounds of food every year, even during the height of the COVID pandemic where they served 35,000 from the parking lot over 23 months and has recently transitioned back to regular in-person operations. Current programs include a fresh food market; a 27,000-square-foot organic farm; collaborative meals; crisis assistance mentoring; and community trainings about poverty and transformational service. The Center hired former Tandem restaurant owner and chef Caitlin Cullen as Food Center Director in January after attracting a two- year impact grant from the Dohmen Co. Foundation to expand its food and wellness, food quality, and food stability programs.
The Center’s main outreach is through their food distribution site at St. Casimir Church, 924 E. Clarke Street. The organization recently announced its intentions to acquire a large headquarters site that will house its offices, food center operations, and a commercial kitchen.
Noth, who offers a weekly “Poverty 101” talk as part of their trainings, engages volunteers and newcomers to see themselves in kinship with the Center’s shoppers. Noth primarily sees the Center as a place where shopping, cooking, and eating together helps to address wider challenges, like hunger, isolation, and poverty.
“Food is a way to serve the whole person and share our lives,” he says. “It’s a change in how we see our city and community. We belong to one another.”
The Center has been operating for more than 40 years, first as a program of the East Side Housing Action Committee (ESHAC) and ministry of St. Casimir Parish, and then becoming an independent nonprofit in 2013. Its mission is to come together around food to relieve hunger, improve lives, and grow community well-being. Its approach is to build a community of generosity that is well-nourished, well-informed, and strengthened to prevail.

author: Kinship Community Food Center


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Kinship_7c_Vertical copy | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
April 21, 2022