text:
College Possible Milwaukee launches new site at St. Anthony High School | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
College Possible
September 25, 2014
This fall, St. Anthony High School will open its doors to College Possible Milwaukee, a local office of a nationally-recognized college access and success program. This new site will allow College Possible Milwaukee to make college admission and success possible for more low-income students than ever before.
College Possible will recruit at least 15 students to be served at St Anthony High School.
Historically, College Possible Milwaukee juniors have raised their ACT scores by more than 18%, and 95% of seniors have earned admission to college.  Nationally, 80% of College Possible students who enroll in college have graduated or are working toward their degree- compared to the 8 percent of low-income students nationwide by age 24.
“We are thrilled to be able to serve even more Milwaukee students at St. Anthony High School,” said Edie Turnbull, executive director of College Possible Milwaukee. “We look forward to building strong relationships with St. Anthony’s to help more students earn college admission and ultimately four-year degrees.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“We are very excited to partner with College Possible Milwaukee,” said Julia D’Amato, Principal of St. Anthony High School.  “At St. Anthony High School, we are committed to helping each of our students succeed academically and prepare for college.  With the help of College Possible, our students will have the opportunity to access valuable tools and support as they navigate the college application process.”
The addition of this site brings College Possible Milwaukee’s presence to 13 Milwaukee-area schools.
In the 2014-2015 school year, College Possible Milwaukee will launch “Scale Up 2 College,” an expansion plan that will allow the organization to increase its impact on the city of Milwaukee. Supported by a lead funder, the Burke Foundation, the Scale Up 2 College expansion will enable College Possible to serve 720 more Milwaukee students when it reaches fruition.
Launched in 2008, College Possible Milwaukee serves more than 3,300 low-income high school and college age students through its college access and completion programs. Nationwide, College Possible’s innovative and award-winning model serves nearly 19,000 Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin students.  More information at www.CollegePossible.org

created: September 25, 2014

author: College Possible


text:
Report details successes, challenges of Menomonee Valley transformation | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
September 25, 2014
Pedestrian and bicyclists now have access to the Menomonee Valley through four new points including the Valley Passage. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
The transformation of the Menomonee Valley into an industrial, recreational and entertainment district has been a notable success, but one key objective remains unmet: the creation of job opportunities for nearby residents, according to a new Public Policy Forum (PPF) report.
The July closing of the Cargill beef slaughterhouse leaves Palermo’s Pizza and the Potawatomi Hotel and Casino as the only Valley businesses that employ significant numbers of residents in surrounding neighborhoods, the report states.
“The intent of the plan for the Valley was to hire people from the neighborhood; but we’ve had trouble connecting the local workforce with jobs,” said Dave Misky, associate executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee, during a recent panel discussion.
Other panelists included Katherine Dunn, vice president of community investment for the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Wyman Winston, executive director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
According to Laura Bray, who served as the executive director of Menomonee Valley Partners (MVP) from 2004 until resigning last week, the area surrounding the Valley has the highest density of residents in the state. But, they’re not necessarily trained for the higher-end jobs that new businesses are bringing to the Valley.
Among the higher-end industries relocating or opening in the Valley’s new Global Water Center are the research operations of A.O. Smith Corp. and Badger Meter Inc.
“We need to work with existing workforce development projects to train workers for these positions,” said Bray, who added that another strategy would be to attract more businesses that offer entry-level positions.
Still, job growth in the Valley has outpaced the city’s rate from 2002-2011. About 3,200 jobs were added, according to the report. Forty-nine businesses have moved to or expanded in the Valley since 1998, when the original Valley Plan was released.
Back then, even the most optimistic of visionaries would have had a hard time predicting what the Valley would become.
Businesses have replaced brownfield; from pollution sprouted a park; and an area that was once an eyesore now houses the Menomonee Valley branch of the Urban Ecology Center. A combination of factors made this possible, explained the PPF report.
One was an extensive planning and visioning process, which built consensus around key objectives. That was difficult, according to Bray, because the Valley is not residential, making it easy for people to turn their back on the project, she said. “We had to make no one’s neighborhood everyone’s neighborhood,” Bray said.
Part of that strategy involved creating easier access to the Valley, which was largely cut off from surrounding neighborhoods.
New bridges as well as pedestrian and bicycle connections to the Valley allow visitors to visit the Urban Ecology Center, Three Bridges Park, the Hank Aaron State Trail and Miller Park. Residents of the South Side neighborhoods Silver City, Clarke Square and Walker’s Point all have easy access to the Valley now.
Another important factor in the transformation of the Menomonee Valley was the creation of MVP, which worked with the city, non-profits and other stakeholders to secure private, local and federal funding. Grants to clean up brownfields, development grants and other resources funded the cleanup and the eventual repurposing of the land, the report stated.
But some of that money has dried up, especially state brownfield grants and federal earmarks, creating significant barriers to other redevelopment projects, according to the report. Still, the model used in the Valley could work in the redevelopment of other industrial areas, including the 30 Street Industrial Corridor and the Inner Harbor, found the report.
“The Valley has unique assets,” said Miske, referring to its access to water and rail yards. “But the 30 Street Corridor has those same assets,” he added.

source: news-milwaukeenns

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

author: Edgar Mendez


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 24, 2014

created: September 24, 2014

author: Adam Carr


text:
Harambee residents ‘pull together’ to build new neighborhood playground | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Raina J. Johnson
September 26, 2014
Volunteers build a piece of playground equipment in Harambee. (Photo By Raina J. Johnson)
Usually it takes six to eight months to plan, design and build a playground. But a collaborative effort among residents and organizations made the dream playground designs of about 17 kids from the neighborhood come true in about a month of planning. The building of the actual playground took close to three hours.
In mid-August, children and their parents were asked what their dream playground would look like. The results were compiled and designers got to work.
Volunteer Kristy Currie, an associate from CarMax, helps build a piece of playground equipment. (Photo By Raina J. Johnson)
And on a recent Thursday morning, more than 100 residents and volunteers went to 117 E. Keefe Ave. to rebuild the rundown Harambee Tot Lot.
“When I saw them (City of Milwaukee) tear down the old (playground), I was shocked because I watched kids play over there. I called my alderwoman, Milele Coggs, and she kindly called my house and told me that they were building a new one. Then I was excited,” said one 40-year resident of the neighborhood who declined to give her name.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
The Harambee Great Neighborhood Initiative, RiverWorks Development Corporation, and the Milwaukee Police Department are working to keep the Keefe Avenue Corridor in a condition that “improves the quality of life and atmosphere,” said Adrian Spencer, a Harambee resident and community support specialist for RiverWorks.
Other improvements have included additional lighting and volunteer block captains. Community pressure shut down a nearby nuisance bar that had been the subject of resident complaints.
“There was a need for a playground in this neighborhood and this aligns with our mission, which is to promote education, youth leadership and wellness in the communities where our associates live and work,” said Leslie Parpart, manager of the CarMax Foundation.
Based in Richmond, Va., the foundation is on track to build 30 playgrounds across the country in the next three years. The Harambee Tot Lot is its 13 build so far.
Brittany Powell, a volunteer and CarMax employee, said she spent a considerable amount of time at the old playground as a kid, since her aunt owns a home in Harambee. She said she thinks it’s great that people from different states came to build a playground for the youth.
The word “Harambee” is Swahili and means “all pull together.” Community members and organizers hope the collaborative effort to build the playground is just the beginning of “great things to come” and a way “to keep the momentum moving to effect change,” said Spencer.

created: September 26, 2014

author: Raina J. Johnson


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 25, 2014


text:
Small grants opportunity | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Zilber Family Foundation
September 28, 2014
Round two of funding for the Community Connections Small Grants Program has been announced, a pilot program of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation and the Zilber Family Foundation created to support resident-led efforts to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods. The program awards grants of up to $500 to fund neighborhood projects, events and activities. All grant applications will be reviewed and scored by a group of residents from some of the neighborhoods listed below. The review team will make recommendations about which grants to fund. Thirteen projects were awarded funding in the first round.
Resident-led groups living and working in the following neighborhoods can apply: Amani, Baran Park, Capitol Heights, Clarke Square, Concordia, Harambee, Havenwoods, Johnsons Park, Layton Boulevard West, Lincoln Village, Lindsay Heights, Martin Drive, Metcalfe Park, Muskego Way, Riverwest, Sherman Park, Silver Spring, Thurston Woods, Tower Hill Waukesha, Old North Milwaukee and Washington Park. Projects should benefit a specific neighborhood and be planned and led by a group of at least three people. At least one group member needs to live in the neighborhood where the project will be done.
Applications for this round are due  so we appreciate your help in publicizing the program to your networks within these neighborhoods. To apply, at least one resident from the group must attend an informational session, the first of which will be held tomorrow night. Please visit the website for upcoming informational session dates.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!

created: September 28, 2014

author: Zilber Family Foundation


text:
On the Block: Montique talks the walk | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
September 29, 2014
Montique Evans shares why she and her family participated in the seventh annual UNCOM Walk for Wellness at Mitchell Park.

created: September 29, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 29, 2014


text:
Visitors to weekly bed giveaway dream of comfortable place to sleep | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
September 29, 2014
Steve Grabosch, founder of Adullam Outreach, shows visitors around a warehouse on a recent Thursday morning. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
This is part of an ongoing series of articles that put a face on the poor in Milwaukee, 50 years after President Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on poverty.”
A bag of donuts, a couple of folding chairs and a Bible is all Steve Grabosch had.
Five years ago, Grabosch, a 44-year-old father of eight, walked away from a well-paying job in the financial sector and cashed out his 401k plan to pursue a faith-driven dream to start a community center with his wife, Priscilla, in the heart of Milwaukee’s inner city.
“I felt like God was telling me to do this full time and calling me to this community…that was pretty scary,” said Grabosch, a self-described penny-pincher. “It definitely changed my paradigm forever to walk away from a good paying job without anything. Nothing.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
A man attempts to use a plastic grocery cart to take a home a couch that he just picked up at Adullam Outreach’s warehouse. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
Grabosch signed a $1 a month land contract for a dilapidated, empty warehouse at 3033 N. 30th St. in Sherman Park, but the lack of an occupancy permit early on kept him out of the building. So he sat outside the warehouse each morning handing out donuts, reading his Bible, hoping to entice passersby in conversation about the Scripture and the needs in their community.
“I wasn’t working and I felt I had to do something with my time,” he said. “Within 15 minutes I would be joined by someone enjoying a donut and the Bible.”
Five years later, the warehouse is home to Adullam Outreach, a burgeoning community center that has blossomed into a haven for families living in poverty, offering donated clothing, toiletry items, household goods, building materials and furniture, including free beds, to anyone in need each Thursday.
“We are here to build unity and to try to tear down the walls that separate,” Grabosch said as he walked around the 30,000-square-foot space, unlocking doors for the community center’s weekly giveaway before heading outside the center to pray with volunteers and those seeking furniture.
“I want to challenge the group of people standing right here … to love someone you don’t want to love, whether it’s because of what they have or don’t have, whether it’s the color of their skin, their religion (or) their politics. Try to show that person love,” prayed Grabosch, a bearded man with blond flowing dreadlocks, surrounded by bowed heads and closed eyes.
Moments later, the freight doors swung open and about two dozen people scurried into the warehouse where volunteers helped them pick through used, stained and tattered mattresses and box springs lining the walls of a storage room.
People bow their heads during a prayer before Adullam Outreach opens its doors. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
“We’re trying to help people live an everyday life,” said Misty Harris, a volunteer at the center. “We’re comfortable. We take a simple mattress for granted, when we have people sleeping on the floor.”
On the street, people cheerfully helped strangers push and pull dense mattresses, inflexible box springs and various furnishings out of the warehouse. Rope and bungee cords helped secure beds on the tops of cars. A man placed a couch on top of a plastic grocery cart to wheel it home.
“It’s real valuable…it’s a blessing,” said Ebony Mayfield, 37, who rode up to the warehouse in a late-model sedan hoping to retrieve two beds for herself and her family.
About an hour after the doors opened, the last of a constant procession of vehicles rolled away from the building with passengers’ hands reaching out the windows, grasping the sides of the unsteady mattresses and box springs above.
Moments later and a mile east, at the corner of Teutonia Avenue and Chambers Street, Felicia Davis, 19, and a few of her cousins and friends untied a queen size box spring from the top of their SUV. They dragged it into her small house, through an empty dining room displaying family photos and a framed poster of Bob Marley nailed to the wall
They pushed and pulled the wood frame into the kitchen, stopping abruptly at the mouth of a steep attic staircase. Nearby a couple of eggs remained in the corner of a cold frying pan on the stove as Davis and her cousin Richard struggled to fit the wide unbendable box spring up the narrow, twisting staircase.
“I can’t believe this. After all of this, it’s not going to fit,” said a sweaty and frustrated Richard.
As if praying for the group of bed movers, a small porcelain statue of the Virgin Mary with her hands gently clasped together sat bowing her head on a wicker basket between a red Solo cup full of toothbrushes and black wig in the adjacent bathroom.
“We don’t have the money and we can’t afford (beds). Everyone sleeps on the floor,” said Davis, who lives in the house with her mother and two brothers, 9 and 6 years old. The family was homeless until recently.
A mattress that was just retrieved from the community center leaned against the wall outside of a nearby bedroom, a few feet from a flowered blanket and a white sheet lying crumbled on the floor on top of a pillow, marking the spot where Davis had been sleeping.
“It’s painful,” she said. “You wake up with backaches every morning and you don’t know if something is crawling on you.”

author: Brendan O’Brien


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 28, 2014


text:
Former MPS superintendent backs Common Core education standards | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Matthew Wisla
September 30, 2014
This is no time for Wisconsin to abandon the Common Core education standards, according to Howard Fuller, former superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.
The controversial standards have become a hot-button issue in Wisconsin and around the country. Gov. Scott Walker called upon the state legislature in July to repeal the standards. In voicing his support, Fuller said Common Core could potentially play an important role in education reform.
“A set of standards like Common Core are good for students and teachers,” said Fuller, director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University, which he founded in 1995. “It’s also positive when students at a certain grade level in Milwaukee are learning the same skills as students in Louisiana.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Democrats are more supportive of Common Core than Republicans in Wisconsin. According to a recent Marquette University Law School poll, 65 percent of Wisconsin Democrats favor the standards and 22 percent oppose them. Republicans are split evenly, with 41 percent supporting Common Core and an equal proportion in opposition. Walker’s Democratic opponent for governor, Mary Burke, favors Common Core.
Howard Fuller sees school choice as a critical component to the future of education, but says politicians, educators and parents must work together. (Photo by Matthew Wisla)
The standards are intended to improve American education by defining what students should have learned and be able to do at the end of each grade level in K-12. Common Core was adopted by Wisconsin in 2009 after being developed with extensive input from educators around the country. Wisconsin participants included teachers and principals, along with the Wisconsin State Reading Association, the Wisconsin Mathematics Council and the University of Wisconsin System.
Fuller, 73, recently spoke to a full house at Marquette University about his new autobiography, “No Struggle No Progress: A Warrior’s Life from Black Power to Education Reform,” which chronicles his upbringing in Milwaukee and his personal development and professional career as an education reformer.
An early and vocal proponent of school vouchers, Fuller said the future of education rests on school choice and a system that’s equally supportive of charter, public and private schools. Fuller believes each option has its role and unique strengths.
“We forget that kids growing up today have never known anything but choice,” he said. “There are three sectors that can educate kids, but we treat them like silos.”
Fuller believes education in Milwaukee is in a state of crisis and urged immediate action on the part of educators, government and community members. Everyone with the ability to help should participate in education reform at this most challenging time, according to Fuller.
Fuller has held many leadership roles. Though not all his efforts have been successful or within the mainstream of American politics and society, he said, each helped shape his views on education reform. At various times in his life Fuller has been in the streets as a protest leader, in Africa as a freedom fighter and in Madison as a government official serving as secretary of the Department of Employment Relations from 1983 to 1986 when Tony Earl was governor.
The book tells of a time in 1969 when Fuller helped launch a revolutionary black university in Durham, N.C. The Malcolm X Liberation University was short lived, but the experience taught him much about what one person can accomplish, Fuller told the audience at Marquette, which included young activists and community organizers.
“You can create institutions,” Fuller said. “You can define yourself; you don’t always have to be defined by other people. And you can bring people together in very difficult circumstances and create something.”
Much of Fuller’s time today is spent working with the Milwaukee Collegiate Academy, 4030 N. 29 St. He is chair of the board of directors and a co-founder of the academy, a public charter high school focused on preparing students for higher education.
“Some people my age are scared of these kids and don’t want to be around them,” Fuller wrote in the book. “But they are just young people. And, despite their tough exterior, they just want somebody to love and care for them and help them get better, even when they make bad decisions. Everything I do is with them in mind.”

created: September 30, 2014

author: Matthew Wisla


text:
It’s time to get a free credit report | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
UW-Extension
September 30, 2014
According to UW-Extension, AnnualCreditReport.com is a legitimate source for acquiring a free credit report. (Image courtesy of Annual Credit Report)
UW-Extension educators are reminding Wisconsinites to view their free credit report each year on Oct. 10 with the “Check Your Free Credit Report: 2/2, 6/6 10/10” campaign.
“2/2, 6/6, 10/10 are three easy days to remember to set aside just five minutes of your time to pull your credit report from one credit bureau,” said J. Michael Collins, UW-Extension family and consumer economics specialist and director of the UW-Madison Center for Financial Security. “It is a simple way that you can remember to keep tabs on your credit report on a regular basis.”
The campaign’s website walks you through the process of pulling and reading the reports.
The information found in your credit report can play a role in whether you’re offered a job or eligible for a loan. According to the National Financial Capability Study conducted by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, about four out of 10 Wisconsin residents check their credit reports on a yearly basis.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“The credit reporting site offers an under-utilized free service that can save people money, time and financial stress. A lot of mistakes on credit reports can be caught early by checking your credit report every four months,” advised Collins.
Credit reports are different from credit scores, Collins explained. “Although a credit score is a useful piece of information, it is calculated using the information in your credit report.”
Collins noted that there is only one legitimate source for a free credit report, and there are many imposters.
“AnnualCreditReport.com and its mailing address and phone number are the only truly no-cost ways to obtain the free credit reports everybody is entitled to by law,” said Collins.
Other websites claim to offer free reports, scores or monitoring, but they often incur significant one-time or ongoing fees. Unsolicited e-mails, pop-ups or phone calls offering free scores or reports are not official.
For more information contact J. Michael Collins at 608-262-0369 or jmcollins@wisc.edu.

author: UW-Extension


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 30, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 7, 2014
NNS-HOWTO_outline

created: October 7, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 7, 2014


text:
Mayor Barrett announces city awarded multi-million dollar grant for childhood lead poisoning prevention | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
City of Milwaukee
October 1, 2014
Mayor Tom Barrett has announced the City of Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) has been awarded $3.9 million over the next three years to support the MHD Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program in Milwaukee. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is part of more than $112 million in grants awarded to 39 local and state government agencies and research institutions to protect children and families from lead-based paint and other health and safety hazards in the home environment.
“The city of Milwaukee has made substantial progress, decreasing the prevalence of lead poisoning in children under 6 years of age from 34 percent of children to 3.3 percent,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “This funding will ensure our ability to continue work to provide lead-safe housing in Milwaukee.”
The MHD Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program has traditionally promoted community screening and testing of children for lead poisoning and conducted inspections of residential housing units for lead-based paint hazards. Since 1997, more than 16,000 housing units have been made lead safe through MHD efforts. The current HUD funding will allow the MHD to provide approximately 700 additional lead-safe housing units primarily for low-income families and through the rehabilitation of foreclosed properties.
“In cities with older housing stock such as Milwaukee, lead poisoning remains a significant environmental health threat  to children residing in or visiting properties with lead-based paint hazards,” said Commissioner of Health Bevan K. Baker. “Lead poisoning in young children has been linked to learning and behavioral problems that can affect a person’s ability to succeed and become productive later in life. Reducing lead hazards in our community is essential to the life-long health of our youngest residents.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!

created: October 1, 2014

author: City of Milwaukee


text:
Woodlands School rates at top of class for character development | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Molly Rippinger
October 1, 2014
Woodlands’ students learn tone and rhythm while playing xylophones in music class, one of the specialty classes incorporated into the curriculum. (Photo by Molly Rippinger)
Three representatives from Woodlands School, an independent charter school, will head to Washington, D.C., later this month to accept a 2014 National School of Character award from the Character Education Partnership (CEP).
On Oct. 30, Woodlands Executive Director Maureen Sullivan and two colleagues will receive the award at the National Forum of Character Education.
When the school learned about the award several months ago, “We were thrilled,” said Sullivan, who also serves as principal of Woodlands East. “[The award] was a goal for a number of years,” she added.
Woodlands opened a second campus last year in the Concordia neighborhood, with students from K4 to second grade. It will add a grade each school year for the next six years. The original campus, a K4-8 school, is at 5510 W. Bluemound Road.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
CEP conducted an audit of Woodlands’ approach to innovative, character-based education. The rigorous process included a site visit to Woodlands School and an analysis of the core ethical and performance values, such as responsibility and respect for self and others, that promote well-rounded character development.
Maureen Sullivan, principal of Woodlands East, poses with students after music class. (Photo by Molly Rippinger)
Woodlands School was one of only three charter schools recognized nationwide.
Loretta Cephus, acting chair of the Woodlands’ board of trustees, echoed Sullivan’s reaction to receiving the National School of Character distinction. “It’s confirming that the education of the whole child is important,” noted Cephus, mother of a Woodlands alum and two current students.
Cephus emphasized the need to share Woodlands’ successes with the community. “Woodlands has been a half-kept secret,” said Cephus. “People haven’t necessarily been aware of our academic and character success, and the two are very intermingled.”
Woodlands also excelled at the state level, receiving an “exceeds expectations” grade in the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction 2013-2014 School Report Card.
Education of the whole child is the foundation of Woodlands School, which was granted the independent charter in 2003. Teachers, parents and children work together within the school to foster a diverse and creative learning environment.
“Parents are our partners,” explained Sullivan, who stressed parental involvement as a key to Woodlands’ success. “We have an open door policy where they are always welcome.”
Rachel Raciti, a substitute teacher at Woodlands whose children are enrolled at the school, said she values Woodlands’ individualized and creative approach to education. “What drew us were the number of teachers in each classroom and the flexible curriculum,” explained Raciti.
In April, the Public Policy Forum identified Woodlands as an arts-focused institution in its study, “Every Child is an Artist,” which provided an overview of the arts education options available in Milwaukee.
An example of Woodlands’ approach to the arts is its partnership with the ACE (Arts and Community Education) program, which brings members of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Skylight Music Theatre and other professional musicians into the school. These partnerships help expand the children’s education while instilling a broad appreciation for the arts.
Capitol West Academy, another UWM-authorized charter school located on the North Side, also was recognized as a 2014 National School of Character.
“These schools have set a high bar,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, as he commended the 2014 National Schools of Character during the recognition celebration last spring. “They have brought together staff, students, parents and the broader community to work towards the common goal of improving school climate and student performance.”

author: Molly Rippinger


text:
IMG_7182 cropped sm copya | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 30, 2014


text:
On The Block in the Artery | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
October 2, 2014
An end-of-summer BBQ at the ARTery lured Riverwest resident Angela Warren and her family, (from left) James and Mekai Sokolowski, into the new “art park” developed in an abandoned railroad corridor between Riverwest and Harambee.

created: October 2, 2014

author: Andrea Waxman


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
May 7, 2015


text:
Renew funding for Milwaukee Healthy Beginnings Project | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Clarene Mitchell
October 2, 2014
Clarene Mitchell is director of communications and collaboration for the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, Inc.
The Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin (BHCW) is fighting for funding to support minority families and children, but we need the community’s help.
BHCW is seeking continuing funding from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Healthy Start Initiative to support our Milwaukee Healthy Beginnings Project. The project promotes prenatal services to pregnant women in seven ZIP code areas in central city Milwaukee.
The Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, a grant recipient since 1998, has operated its Milwaukee Healthy Beginnings Project (MHBP) to improve maternal and infant health in the City of Milwaukee, providing services to almost 700 Wisconsinites a year.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Milwaukee has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country, and the black infant mortality rate is three to four times higher than the white rate. Discontinuation of this funding is a significant obstacle in protecting the health of the most vulnerable Wisconsin families. MHBP provides comprehensive, culturally respectful case management to clients that include those who are homeless, involved in domestic violence, incarcerated, have open Bureau of Child Welfare cases, etc. MHBP has a proven track record of success, as evidenced by independent evaluations.
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) issued two Healthy Start Initiative (HSI) Funding Opportunities Announcements: Round 1 in December 2013 and Round 2 in February 2014. The Healthy Start Initiative funds agencies that have racial disparities in infant mortality rates and poor birth outcomes. Some of these agencies represent communities that have infant mortality rates that are comparable to Third World countries.
HRSA released Round 2 because it did not receive enough applicants for Round 1; but the Round 2 guidance clearly stated that Round 1 applicants would be reviewed and funded before Round 2 decisions were made. This is documented in a Feb. 20, 2014, webinar. This was a competitive process that was open to current HSI grantees as well as new grantees.
Instead of following its own guidelines, the Healthy Start administration decided to combine both pools of applicants. As a result, 25 of the Round 1 applicants, including Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, were not funded although their applications had been approved. HRSA has admitted that it made errors in the grant award process, but it says it does not have enough money to fully fund the 25 urban and rural agencies around the country that have been harmed by their mistakes.
The 25 urban and rural communities across the country affected by this injustice need to be fully funded ASAP!
An adverse decision by the Healthy Start Initiative would deprive our project of critically needed support. The black/white infant mortality gap in Milwaukee is too great for BHCW to go without this important grant.
BHCW appreciates the legislative support we have received from U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. We also appreciate the letter that was sent to HRSA by Wisconsin legislators Mandela Barnes, La Tonya Johnson, JoCasta Zamarripa, Cory Mason, Evan Goyke, Frederick Kessler, Leon Young, Jon Richards and Sandy Pasch, as well as state Senators Nikiya Harris-Dodd and Lena C. Taylor.
BHCW is asking the community for support so the pressure stays on the federal government until it makes things right with the agencies that were harmed. BHCW is urging President Obama to hold the HRSA accountable for its admitted mistakes and order full funding to the 25 agencies across the country that were approved, but not funded, to fight infant mortality disparities.
We ask all our supporters to sign BHCW’s petition on Change.org.

author: Clarene Mitchell


text:
Milwaukee Mural Map documents some of city’s visual treasures | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
October 3, 2014
Caitlin Sprague, creator of the Milwaukee Mural Map, photographs muralist Ramiro Sandoval Argueta in front of “The Hummingbirds,” at 22nd Street and National Avenue. (Photo by Sue Vliet)
Caitlin Sprague has an idea for reducing the divide between the city and the suburbs. She wants to familiarize suburbanites with city neighborhoods by giving them tours of Milwaukee’s murals.
“I want to draw people in from the areas around Milwaukee to come and get to know (the city) a little bit better, to get to know the communities,” she said. Sprague hopes that the opportunity to talk and interact would decrease everyone’s fear and prejudice.
While in graduate school studying social work, Sprague, 27, toured Philadelphia’s murals and was inspired to create her own version of the project after returning to Milwaukee last year. She recently launched Milwaukee Mural Map, a Web site that maps and explains more than 70 central city murals. A community organizer working for Safe & Sound’s 27th Street West Drug Free Coalition, Sprague wants to use the map to promote social justice.
Caitlin Sprague (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
“I’m from the suburbs and I’ve heard what people say about the city. I’ve also heard what people say here in Milwaukee about the suburbs,” said Sprague, who grew up in the far southwest suburb of Muskego. “Even within (city) neighborhoods, there’s so much prejudice … I just want people to start connecting and start exploring the different areas,” Sprague added.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
The Philadelphia Mural Arts Project includes a restorative justice initiative, which brings perpetrators of serious crimes together with their victims’ families and friends to promote healing. Sprague would like to see a similar project in Milwaukee.
Adult inmates and juvenile delinquents are given the opportunity to combine art instruction, mural making and community service work, to repair the harm they may have caused.
There “is a growing emphasis on re-entry, reclamation of civic spaces, and the use of art to give voice to people who have consistently felt disconnected from society,” according to the Philadelphia Mural Arts Project Web site. Sprague said that the participants discuss the crimes and work together to create murals, which are displayed around the city.
Ramiro Sandoval Argueta puts some finishing touches on his mural at 2000 W. National Ave. (Photo by Sue Vliet)
Sprague’s Safe & Sound colleague, Al Hegwood, said he noticed her aesthetic sensibility and creative approach to everything she does early on in their friendship. Those qualities, together with her warmth and people skills make her an effective organizer. “Her energy is fantastic, and it shows in her work too. Whenever she takes on a project, it’s always thorough and always with the common folks in mind,” he added.
The Milwaukee Mural Map depicts camera icons on a city map, representing each of the murals. Each icon opens an information box that provides the mural’s name, location, artist, date, description and directions to find it. The site also includes a gallery of photos of the murals, information about the muralists, space for adding one’s own mural photos and bike tour routes for viewing many of the murals.
Sprague researched the history of every mural, speaking with artists, historians and building owners. Some, like the one on the Milwaukee County Transit Bus Depot at the three-way intersection of Mitchell Street, 1st Street and Kinnickinnic Avenue, have mysterious origins, which she has been unable to unearth. Sprague said there are about eight more murals that she’s still investigating. Her Web site invites users to point out murals that are not on her map.
Hegwood said he is impressed that Sprague “hung in there so long to develop this remarkable map. … It’s fantastic.”

created: October 3, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 2, 2014


text:
Unemployed men turn to online marketplace to find manual labor jobs | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
October 6, 2014
Yard work is just one example of manual labor services advertised on Craigslist. (Photo by Kenya Evans)
This is part of an ongoing series of articles that put a face on the poor in Milwaukee, 50 years after President Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on poverty.”
Chris Nelsen was broke, but not broken.
With his six children and wife eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while huddled in a single motel room on the city’s South Side, he set out to make some money.
Twenty dollars, to be exact. His job: to shovel dog poop from a woman’s yard.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
The dog owner found Nelsen on Craigslist, where he placed online advertisements, pleading with readers to hire him for any type of manual labor so he could feed his family and to pay the $250 for a week’s stay at the motel.
“I’m not the one that is important in this picture. It’s them I am concerned about. It’s them that I have to take care of,” said Nelsen, referring to his family.
Craigslist ads offering labor, Oct. 5, 2014.
For years, Craigslist has been a popular online marketplace for sellers and buyers of every item under the sun. It also has become a virtual employment center for several Milwaukee men struggling to find steady work.
Unable to make it on $7.25 an hour at a temporary job with a local paper plate and napkin manufacturer, Milwaukeean Chris Baras, 25, also turned to placing a few advertisements on Craigslist. His specialty is picking up garbage, hauling away old appliances and demolition work.
“People usually call if I set a fair price, because there are a lot of guys out there that are charging everything that you have to get rid of almost nothing,” said the father of one child.
Baras’ income generated through jobs on Craigslist fluctuates depending on demand. He estimated that he makes about $250 a week. On a good week, he can earn $400.
“It can be difficult. I have to sometimes make the choice between gas to get to work and … food for my daughter,” he said. “It’s not always easy.”
It has never been financially easy for Nelsen, a Milwaukee native. He was the only child of his poor single mother who relied on welfare and food stamps to feed and shelter him. “I came home one day from high school and she was gone,” he said.  “There was a note on the door from my mother that said, ‘Moving out of the state. Have a nice life.'”
Nelsen dropped out of school and lived on the street, sleeping in boxcars, on the roof of a school on Grange Avenue and, on occasion, at homeless shelters. He eventually finished high school through Job Corps, where he took carpentry classes for a year, got married and started having kids.
A self-proclaimed survivor, Nelsen learned how to paint and tile, and made enough to support his family through small manual labor jobs until recently, when work dried up and two employers stiffed him. “I had nothing,” he said. “We wound up homeless.”
Michael Broghn, 30, a high school graduate who studied criminal justice at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) for a while, was working a good-paying job as a forklift operator until he was laid off a few years ago.
Broghn toiled in low-paying fast-food and telemarketing jobs before turning two years ago to Craigslist, where he placed a free advertisement for his manual labor services that included a few lines about how hard he works and his contact information.
Broghn typically starts his day at about 5 a.m., republishing his advertisement for services on the free site. He then waits for phone calls and emails from those needing any sort of manual labor. “It depends. It’s crazy. You never know who’s going to be on there and what’s going on,” he said.
He now focuses on helping unload large truck deliveries throughout the city, jobs that typically pay about $50 for two or three hours of work. Broghn said there is a steady stream of truck drivers who go on Craigslist to find help unloading their cargo and are willing to pay cash.
“I don’t know why they don’t have extra help. They must rely on Craigslist when they come driving in with all of this cargo and they don’t even have a helper with them,” he said. “Obviously, they know they will find someone.”
Broghn, who refuses to take any type of government assistance, lives with his brother-in-law, who charges about $250 a month for rent and utilities. His monthly income depends on the amount of demand and the types of jobs he is willing to take. “I did a moving job for a person and (the home) was just filth with rats and rat shit,” he said. “It was horrible.”
Like Broghn, It’s that whatever-it-takes attitude that drives Nelsen.  “I’m not sitting around watching Oprah Winfrey and eating bonbons waiting for the next check to be handed to me,” Nelsen said. “I’m not putting ads on Craigslist asking for money. Let me work. I’ll work. I will do something for it.”

created: October 6, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 5, 2014

created: October 5, 2014


text:
After years of stagnation, mental healthcare in city shows signs of improvement | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Matthew Wisla
October 7, 2014
Dan Baker, program director at the Crisis Resource Center, helps patients avoid visits to the county’s Mental Health Complex or other hospitals. (Photo by Matthew Wisla)
An average day for Sarah would be most people’s worst nightmare.
Haunted by schizophrenia her whole life, she was often confused, homeless, hungry and desperately alone. When her disorder pushed her into crisis the police or an emergency room doctor would refer Sarah (not her real name) to the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, 9201 W. Watertown Plank Road.
In her early 40s, she had been admitted into county care more than 40 times, according to Dan Baker, program director at the Crisis Resource Center, who recently recounted Sarah’s story to a Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reporter.
For Sarah, the cycle of crisis-treatment-release-crisis was only broken this summer after she began receiving treatment in the North Side community where she has been living. Because she always arrived at the county hospital in a state of crisis and was released with a new prescription as soon as it subsided, the county staff had almost never seen Sarah when she was not in crisis.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Now, doctors and mental healthcare professionals in the community see her regularly to assess her condition and needs, Baker said. They continually connect her with additional resources for safe housing and other necessities.
Doctors say the change transformed Sarah’s life. Regular visits with her doctors and a case coordinator have helped manage her schizophrenia, and Sarah gets the medical attention and other resources she needs to live a more ordered, balanced life, Baker related.
Sarah’s case may represent a new normal for mental healthcare in Milwaukee if the county can deliver on its current plan. Following years of stagnation, mental healthcare delivery is transitioning from a long-standing reliance on centralized, county services to a new county-led but community-driven approach.
Sarah’s care is being coordinated through a new Crisis Resource Center in the Hampton Heights neighborhood at 5409 W. Villard Ave., which is under contract with the county. The 12-bed facility opened in August, has a staff of 24 mental healthcare professionals and is operated by the Milwaukee Center for Independence, a non-profit focused on assisting people with special needs. It represents the dramatic shift in mental healthcare taking place in Milwaukee County.
“We are moving towards the new model and working on being more person centered and improving patient satisfaction. But a lot more work still has to be done,” said Héctor Colón, Milwaukee County director of health and human services.
New model for care
Establishing resources in communities has been shown to increase efficiency, as well as quality of care and quality of life for patients, a rare win-win-win in the mental healthcare field, according to experts. The approach has proven itself across the country in cities such as Pittsburgh, New York and Houston.
Milwaukee County is currently reducing the number of hospital beds and services it manages for mental healthcare patients while bed counts and service capacity increase in private hospitals and community clinics. At the same time, use of community-based resources, including admissions to Milwaukee County’s Access Clinic, are on the rise.
As services in the community ramp up, people such as Sarah receive targeted, ongoing care along with access to additional support. “As we expand community services like the Crisis Resource Centers, it helps stabilize patients, connect them back to the community and get them home or into more stable environments faster,” said Colón. “Instituting these changes and making them permanent is our current priority.”
Last month, a new white paper released by the Public Policy Forum confirmed progress in mental healthcare. Both the report and Colón point to a 30 percent reduction in acute inpatient admissions at the county facility and a 14 percent reduction in emergency room visits for mental health-related issues between 2011 and 2013.
According to Colón, projections through 2015 show a 46 percent reduction in admissions and 25 percent fewer emergency room visits. Those results mimic national trends, as the number of patients in crisis and emergency room visits are declining thanks to new treatments and expanded community-based programming.
Milwaukee County has invested about $8 million in new or enhanced community services since 2011 and the current budget proposal for 2015 includes another $4.9 million. The community-based investments have been used primarily to help fund crisis resource centers, local access clinics and safe, supportive housing.
The Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division is undertaking these changes following years of criticism for out-of-control costs and adherence to a behind-the-times mindset fixated on maintaining central control of the mental healthcare system.
Advances in care
Decentralizing mental healthcare delivery is possible today because patients can receive treatment and get better while living outside hospitals or institutions. “As treatments have advanced, people with mental illness now can live in communities,” said David Hughes, vice president of the Human Services Research Institute, which co-wrote the recent white paper report with the Public Policy Forum and the Technical Assistance Collaborative. “They can go to school or work, and they can live next door to you and I.”
Until the science and technology of treating mental illness advances further, the report says, some patients will require acute care in private hospitals or from the county. “However, a strong, accessible community-based system can reduce the frequency and duration of inpatient stays.”
A disorder such as Sarah’s is only one possible trigger that can set off a crisis and land someone in an emergency room. At the Crisis Resource Center on Villard a majority of patients are homeless and many have a history of substance abuse. These individuals are always at risk, where one misstep — perhaps a relapse into substance abuse — or a setback such as losing or forgetting their medicine or having it stolen on the street, can cause a mental health crisis and admission to a hospital.
A network of services
Crucial to the potential success of Milwaukee’s new mental healthcare system will be linkages among organizations in the community. “Instead of silos, we work off a ‘Never a Wrong Door’ approach,” said Baker. “It’s a huge opportunity for us to be able to connect someone who comes to our door with another provider that has what they need. So people can navigate the system easily without being diverted or hitting a dead end.”
When making referrals, Crisis Resource Center staff members reach out to other organizations on behalf of patients to make connections. According to Baker, they never simply hand a patient a piece of paper with a list of phone numbers.
Since “no wrong door” is a new concept for some, Baker frequently meets with other organizations to coordinate efforts.
During the past 13 months Milwaukee’s two Crisis Resource Centers have helped connect patients to other organizations in the community more than 1,300 times. Safe, affordable housing is a frequent need, along with clinics for physical and mental health needs, substance abuse centers and support groups.
As Milwaukee County transitions to a new community resource-based system, Colón says success is being measured by tracking crisis incidents and inpatient stays, as well as sobriety and substance abuse rates and whether patients are getting the results they want.
“We need to be careful about not dictating outcomes. Patient satisfaction is very important to us [as is] increasing the quality of life,” Colón said.
But change is never easy. Milwaukee’s new community-based approach to mental healthcare is likely to fail if rebalancing is not accompanied by a new culture, according to mental health experts.
“Culture change has been really tough in many places around the country,” said Hughes. “Lots of staff training and education needs to be done to make it work.”
For the county, which has firmly controlled mental healthcare in Milwaukee for decades, decentralizing represents a broad culture shift for employees. “This is a huge change for us. Admittedly, it’s very hard,” Colón said. “Our staff has to move on to new ways of doing things.”
Colón said he is driving change through new training programs and by carefully screening new hires.
In the meantime, the changeover to a system with far fewer county resources continues. Last year the county announced plans to close its Hilltop Complex for patients with developmental disabilities by the end of this year, and a nursing home facility by the end of next year. Colón said both closures are on track.


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 6, 2014


text:
Students invited to apply to MPS’ early admissions high schools with entrance requirements | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Public Schools
October 7, 2014
Milwaukee Public Schools is inviting students and families interested in the district’s early admissions high schools with entrance requirements to apply in time for the November 1 deadline.
A new online application allows students to apply to multiple schools for the upcoming 2015-16 school year.  The application is located at http://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/en/Schools/EarlyAdmissions.
The six early admissions high schools with entrance requirements are:
“Milwaukee Public Schools is home to a number of the state’s best high schools and we invite families to learn more about all of our options, including neighborhood
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
high schools and specialty high schools,” MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver said.
MPS’ high school students have posted the largest gains in reading proficiency across the district, including a three-percentage-point gain from fall 2012 to fall 2013.
Students interested in early admissions schools with entrance requirements must apply by November 1 because the schools have admissions processes that take place prior to the district’s Three-Choice Enrollment process in February 2015. Three-Choice allows families to select neighborhood and specialty schools other than those mentioned above. The district will provide information about other high school open houses and middle school open houses in the coming weeks.
Each of the six early admissions schools will host at least one open house or audition workshop in October, followed by essay sessions, an essay deadline or an audition. Students do not need to attend an open house in order to apply or to participate in an essay session. Dates and times of open houses, audition workshops, essay sessions and auditions are available at http://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/en/Schools/EarlyAdmissions.

author: Milwaukee Public Schools


text:
College Possible Milwaukee launches new site at Milwaukee Collegiate Academy | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Willow Hombsch
October 8, 2014
Milwaukee Collegiate Academy has opened its doors to College Possible Milwaukee, a local office of a nationally-recognized college access and success program. This new site will allow College Possible Milwaukee to make college admission and success possible for more low-income students than ever before.
College Possible will recruit at least 15 students to participate at Milwaukee Collegiate Academy.
Historically, College Possible Milwaukee juniors have raised their ACT scores by more than 18%, and 96% of seniors have earned admission to college. Nationally, 80% of College Possible students who enroll in college have graduated or are working toward their degree- compared to the 8 percent of low-income students nationwide by age 24.
“We are thrilled to be able to serve even more Milwaukee students at Milwaukee Collegiate Academy,” said Edie Turnbull, executive director of College Possible Milwaukee. “We look forward to building strong relationships with Milwaukee Collegiate Academy to help more students earn college admission and ultimately four-year degrees.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“At Milwaukee Collegiate Academy, we share a sincere belief that every scholar who joins the MCA team and family can and will go to and through college. This core belief is at heart of everything we do,” said Principal Rashida Evans. “We are proud of our collaboration and partnership with College Possible as we work to carry out our mission.”
The addition of this site brings College Possible Milwaukee’s presence to 13 Milwaukee-area schools.
In the 2014-15 school year, College Possible Milwaukee will launch “Scale Up 2 College,” an expansion plan that will allow the organization to increase its impact on the city of Milwaukee. Supported by a lead funder, the Burke Foundation, the Scale Up 2 College expansion will enable College Possible to serve 720 more Milwaukee students when it reaches fruition.

created: October 8, 2014

author: Willow Hombsch


text:
MCA photo | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Name *
October 8, 2014

author: Name *


text:
Habitat for Humanity seeks donations to rebuild renovated home damaged by fire | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Molly Rippinger
October 8, 2014
Harvey Johnson, a retired construction worker, is optimistic that the fire will not set back revitalization of the Washington Park neighborhood. (Photo by Molly Rippinger)
Habitat for Humanity is seeking contributions to help rebuild a nearly completed house undergoing renovation that suffered severe fire damage during the early hours of Saturday, Oct. 4.
The fire broke out near the rear of the Habitat for Humanity home located on the 2100 block of N. 38 Street. The building is being assessed to see if demolition will be necessary. No injuries were reported.
“It’s a tough loss, but we’ll rebuild,” vowed Brian Sonderman, executive director of Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity.
According to initial reports, the fire was sparked by flames from a car parked near the rear of the house. (Photo by Sue Vliet)
Sonderman explained that a car parked feet away from the house was the source of the fire. No suspects have been identified in relation to the incident and the investigation is ongoing.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
According to Sonderman, the family of two adults and five children, all under the age of 9, are shocked by what has happened. The home was one of only a few rehab projects large enough to accommodate the needs of the seven-person family. Sonderman said that they will continue to reside in their current rental for the time being.
The family had originally hoped to move into their new home in time for the holidays.
“For us and the family, it’s a lot of sweat equity wasted,” said Sonderman. Habitat for Humanity crews had been remodeling the home for more than 10 months before the fire.
“It’s sad,” said Harvey Johnson, a retired construction worker who was visiting a resident on the block of the burned house. “We want to see the neighborhood come back. You can’t give up hope because of one ignorant person’s actions.”
The fire did not cause severe damage to the neighboring homes, both of which are Habitat for Humanity rehab projects. The finished house to the south of the fire was unscathed, while the home to the north, which is still under construction, will only require repairs to the siding and roof.
On Tuesday, a Habitat for Humanity electrical crew worked on a separate rehab project across the street from the fire. “A lot of people put a lot of time into that house,” said Al Marifke, a long-time Habitat for Humanity volunteer. “It’s a real shame.”
Habitat for Humanity launched a five-year, neighborhood revitalization effort in Washington Park during the spring of 2013. The initiative aims to build 150 new homes and offers zero interest, partially forgivable loans of up to $15,000 to assist with home repairs.
Contributions to help rebuild the damaged home can be donated online at www.milwaukeehabitat.org, or by contacting Karen Von Rueden, director of development and marketing, at (414) 562-6100, ext. 5609.


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 7, 2014


text:
Healthy diet is essential for elderly adults | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
UW-Extension
October 8, 2014
Maintaining a nutritious diet is important for elderly adults who want to live active and healthy lifestyles. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Eating well and getting enough nutrition to maintain a healthy weight can prove to be a challenge for senior citizens. Many individuals do not have the same appetite in old age, but not eating enough can cause serious vitamin and nutrient deficiencies along with unwanted weight loss.
Judith Knudsen, family living educator with Brown County UW-Extension, says there are other age-related changes that can affect older people’s appetites and nutrition levels. “Food may not be as appealing if the senses of taste and smell are not as sharp as before,” explained Knudsen.
Older adults might not realize that frequent thirst and dry mouth may lead to tooth decay and gingivitis. Also, caregivers and independent elderly should be aware that muscle loss may contribute to difficulties chewing and swallowing, which increases the risk of choking.
If you are caring for an older adult who could benefit from consuming more nutritious foods, Knudsen offers some tips.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“Make eating and preparing food easier by using kitchen tools and utensils specifically designed for older adults or people with disabilities,” said Knudsen.
Also, eating alone can also reduce appetite. Knudsen recommends that elderly adults share meals with family members, friends or caregivers as a way to make dining a more pleasurable experience.
Contact your local county UW-Extension office to learn more or visit http://yourcountyextensionoffice.org.


text:
New ‘express library’ at Westlawn Gardens offers residents easy access to books | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Raina J. Johnson
October 9, 2014
Jackie Burrell, a resident of Westlawn and president of the Westlawn Resident Council, assists Amarie Lucas, 10, a student at Browning Elementary School, at the new library. (Photo By Raina J. Johnson)
Residents of Westlawn Gardens can now check out library books around the clock, thanks to the Milwaukee Public Library’s first fully automated facility.
Customers of the “express library” at the housing development at 64th and Silver Spring Drive walk up to a glass-enclosed shelter complete with a camera and a seating bench. There, patrons use a touchscreen similar to a self-checkout or an automated teller machine to make transactions. Like any other library in the system, users need a library card and PIN to access materials. The county catalog, the tool that allows users to search the entire library system, is also available.
The machine holds up to 340 items. According to librarian Jacki Potratz, library officials asked patrons what genres and titles they would like to see included. Fiction and nonfiction titles are available.
“Our patrons specifically requested books by authors Mary Monroe, Carl Weber and Noire, so we made certain to include their titles,” she said. Among Monroe’s books are “God Don’t Play,” “God Don’t Make No Mistakes,” “God Still Don’t Like Ugly” and “Lost Daughters.” Titles by Weber are “The Choir Director 2: Runaway Bride” and “The Family Business 2.” Works by Noire include “Candy Licker,” “Dirty Rotten Liar,” “Hittin’ the Bricks” and “Hood.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
MPL Express at Silver Spring is the fourth library in the nation to use this technology-based model to check out books. (Photo By Raina J. Johnson)
Also included are works from African American and urban fiction authors such as Deja King, Walter Mosley, Zane, Terry McMillan and Treasure Hernandez. Potratz said she will be at the site occasionally this month to talk to users about their preferences.
The library is a result of a partnership between the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Public Library.
The “vending” library model is only the fourth of its kind in the nation. MPL Express at Silver Spring offers many of the conveniences of a branch library but it is open 24 hours a day, according to library officials.
“I love the changes in the neighborhood, and the library is great. Sometimes I have to drag my 11-year-old from a book,” said Jackie Burrell, a Westlawn resident since 2005 and president of the Westlawn Resident Council. Westlawn Gardens is a public housing development in the Silver Spring neighborhood that includes 250 units of townhouses, single-family homes and multifamily apartments.
The closest branch libraries to Westlawn Gardens are two or three miles away, at Mill Road, 6431 N. 76th St.; Villard Square, 5190 N. 35th St.; and Capitol, at 3969 N. 74th St.
Tony Perez, director of HACM, pointed out that there is a new bus stop at 64th and Silver Spring Drive. “Transportation and knowledge come together here on this corner,” he noted. “We are in a moment of transformation… this is a new community amenity and a tool that residents will be able to use to transform their lives. Access to books correlates significantly with school reading scores and we need that.”
Students from Browning Elementary, 5440 N. 64th St., and Richard Kluge Elementary, 5760 N. 67th St., have visited the express library to learn how to use the system and get a library card.
“You can’t read without books, you can’t read without access to materials, whether it’s online or in physical format. The addition of this 24/7 library, we hope, is going to make a difference in the lives of every person who comes to this community, who lives in the community,” said Paula Kiley, director of Milwaukee Public Library.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett demonstrated how to check out and return library materials. “We are transforming all our libraries into 21st century libraries,” Barrett said. “This is a way to incorporate learning in the community. My goal as mayor of this city is to make sure that people of all incomes, all ages and all backgrounds can live in dignity, and we have achieved that in Westlawn.”

created: October 9, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 8, 2014


text:
Clean Slate Milwaukee urges ex-convicts to ‘be part of their own rescue’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Raina J. Johnson
October 10, 2014
Jermaine Johnson works with Angela Catania, a supervisor at the Center for Driver’s License Recovery and Employability, to check his driving status. (Photo by Raina J. Johnson)
Convicted on drug charges in 2005, Jermaine Johnson, 32, is trying to get a second chance.
Johnson, the father of five children, is an unemployed machine operator and general laborer. He said he wants to show his kids a better life but can’t seem to catch a break.
“I want to do more for all my kids, but I have a criminal background. It’s hard to move ahead,” he said.
Johnson isn’t alone in his struggle to get past a criminal conviction. About 12 percent of African American men in Milwaukee County have served time in Wisconsin’s correctional facilities, according to a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee study of black male incarceration.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Shanyeill McCloud, president of Clean Slate Milwaukee, helps clients get their criminal records expunged. (Photo by Raina J. Johnson)
“You have to be a part of your own rescue,” said Shanyeill McCloud, president of Clean Slate Milwaukee, at a recent event intended to educate black men about driver’s license recovery and expungement of criminal records. Other sponsors included The Wake Up program, Center for Driver’s License Recovery and The Milwaukee Fatherhood Initiative.
McCloud, a certified paralegal, helps people clean up their court records, in some cases getting them expunged. Expunging a court record means the court seals the entire criminal case file and only allows access to the file with a court order. Records are never fully erased and are still available to law enforcement without a court order. Clean Slate provides expungement services for young adults between the ages of 17-25 who have non-violent felony or misdemeanor convictions.
“Men and families in our communities need resources, but there’s a dose of personal responsibility thrown in too,” agreed Dell Williams, program director of the Milwaukee Fatherhood Initiative.
McCloud said she enjoys “when people do get that second chance. They light up like a Christmas tree and regain their confidence. I can’t explain the feeling of witnessing a transformation.”
Kenneth Greer, 30, came to his own rescue with the help of Clean Slate.
“My record looked ugly,” recalled Greer, a community advocate and general laborer. “Clean Slate helped me a lot. I was able to get dismissed charges removed so on background checks, I looked better to employers,” he said.
When he was 18, Greer was charged with a misdemeanor and has since stayed out of trouble. But he still had to deal with the backlash from his past.
“Not getting the jobs I wanted made me feel like a second-class citizen. I did well in the classes I took, but then when it came time to interview for jobs, I was told that I was high risk because of my record. It made me feel devalued, like I wasn’t a citizen,” he said.
Greer is the father of three children, and now works in Menomonee Falls as a material handler for Quest Industrial Products. He said that in the past he has had trouble supporting his children. “While I was looking for work, I couldn’t find a job fast enough, because non-payment of child support is a felony in itself and you can go to jail.”
“Milwaukee has high levels of joblessness, homelessness, segregation and discrimination against people with criminal records. There wasn’t a second chance mechanism before Clean Slate Milwaukee, and it’s giving people a fresh start,” McCloud said.
For more information, contact Clean Slate at cleanslate.wi@gmail.com, or (888) 362-3993

created: October 10, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 9, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 10, 2014


text:
McCloud | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jim McGowan
October 10, 2014

author: Jim McGowan


text:
Is diversity the solution when racism is the problem? | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Della Wells
October 13, 2014
Della Wells, an artist and community activist, warns that diversity is not enough.
“The most difficult stage in the struggle for justice in America will be when it is clear that fundamental inequalities persist in spite of litigation, legislation, and direct confrontation.”
-W.E.B. Du Bois
The quote from W.E.B. Du Bois, an African American educator, civil rights activist, historian and sociologist, should serve as a warning that diversity is not the cure-all to resolve the social, economic and political barriers that are rooted in America’s historical legacy of institutional and structural racism.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Despite progress initiated by the civil rights movement and other social change and justice movements, we are, as DuBois pointed out, in “the most difficult stage in the struggle for justice” for all in America. It’s clear, in Milwaukee and around the country that deep racial disparities continue to exist despite legislation and confrontation.
It is imperative that those who have benefited from racist policies and are promoting diversity as a solution recognize how racism is viewed by the various communities of color who are marginalized by it.
For example, despite progress, many African Americans have not reaped the economic, political or social benefits of civil rights legislation. Even those who have reached economic parity still face the stigma of being “black in America.” Hence, why should African Americans believe the conversation about diversity is any different, especially when Reconstruction, civil rights laws and the end of Jim Crow have simply resulted in the repackaging of racist economic and political oppression?
It doesn’t matter whether these policies are intentional or not. What matters is that these policies are barriers to economic, political and social justice for those communities.
Moreover, it is important that those who come from outside the communities to “help” try to understand their own motivations and expectations. The motivation behind diversity supporters should not be to make a particular community fit into their vision of what the community should be or do.
Diversity should be about empowering communities to reach their full potential. It should not be a tool to boost someone else’s agenda.
Furthermore, because the face of a particular program, policy, organization, product, etc. happens to be a person of color, woman, gay person, etc. does not mean that program, policy, organization, product, etc. is in a community’s best interest.
I don’t bring these concerns up because I feel Milwaukee will not benefit from embracing a diverse society, but because I have reservations about how these conversations have been framed. Framing these conversations around diversity and segregation demonstrates a misunderstanding of the root of the problems that plague disenfranchised communities.
I have witnessed in my community, the African American community, where organizations, businesses, social service agencies, etc. have used diversity and the problems in the community to financially and politically benefit themselves.
More important than embracing diversity is to embrace the truth about why these communities are disenfranchised. Diversity will not empower disenfranchised communities until we cut out the roots of structural racism. And to do that we must first look within ourselves and understand how we either benefit or don’t benefit from it. Until then, we shall remain stuck in the period that Du Bois called “the most difficult stage in the struggle for justice in America.”

created: October 13, 2014

author: Della Wells


text:
Thurston Woods Campus benefits from federal dollars for ‘Commitment Schools’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Molly Rippinger
October 13, 2014
The first day of classes at Thurston Woods marked the beginning of a three-year, initiative to increase academic performance. (Photo by Molly Rippinger)
At Thurston Woods Campus, Principal Keona Jones has used a portion of the funds the school was awarded through the Commitment Schools program to hire Katrina Edmond, a teacher who works with K-8 students to improve mathematics and literacy.
“I look at their strengths,” explained Edmond, the “building intervention” teacher at Thurston Woods, 5966 N. 35th St. Edmond also is the chair of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) system, a decision-making framework that aims to improve academic and behavior outcomes for students.
Typically, Edmond has 10 students per session, few enough for the individual needs of each student to be addressed. The lessons vary with the grade level, but include basic math and literary skills and also more advanced concepts.
Edmond stressed that repetition and reiteration of key concepts is crucial for student improvement. “Each time the students come down they know exactly what to do,” she said, explaining that children enjoy the opportunity to learn in a smaller classroom environment.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Keona Jones, principal of Thurston Woods, said she is confident the Commitment School initiative will help the K-8 school meet academic standards. (Photo by Molly Rippinger)
According to the Thurston Woods Commitment School proposal, each student is scheduled to spend 60 minutes in the individualized academic setting per week.
Pilar Carrington-Ahmad, a first-grade teacher at Thurston Woods and a 14-year veteran of MPS, said that the intervention sessions have helped her remain focused in the classroom. “Sometimes I don’t have the time to work one-on-one [with students], so this is a great way to push the kids forward.”
Thurston Woods also has hired a “school support” teacher who aids teachers throughout the building.
Dr. Doris Walker-Dalhouse, a professor of literacy in the Department of Educational Policy & Leadership at Marquette University, said having qualified teachers is a step in the right direction when it comes to improving math and literacy. “More support in the school setting is always welcomed,” said Walker-Dalhouse.
Thurston Woods was one of the 14 underperforming MPS schools selected for the Commitment Schools program after its plans to implement academic and behavioral interventions were approved by a selection team consisting of educators, administrators, members of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association and community partners.
Each Commitment School will receive $300,000 in federal grants over a three-year period. The federal grants will total $5 million, with a portion of the funds allocated for administrative support and oversight. Other Commitment Schools are using the funds to implement improvement systems, upgrade technology, increase professional development for teachers and hire additional staff.
Dr. Darienne Driver, recently appointed superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), has been instrumental in implementing the Commitment Schools program. “Our Commitment Schools effort is critical,” stressed Driver during the MPS school year “ring in” at Thurston Woods. “We must accelerate efforts to improve achievement.”
(Click to enlarge) Thurston Woods was one of 48 MPS schools that failed to meet expectations, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) 2013-2014 State Report Card. (Graphic by the Wisconsin DPI)
All 48 MPS schools that “failed to meet expectations” set by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in 2013-2014 were invited to submit a formal proposal.
Ruth Maegli, chief innovation officer at MPS, explained that the Commitment Schools approach was determined to be the best way to target schools with the greatest amount of need.
“We know schools need more resources,” said Maegli who has worked as an MPS teacher, principal and administrator for more than 25 years.
Another element of the Commitment Schools effort is to lower the principal turnover rate in MPS. At the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, 28 schools in the district had new principals.
“Leadership is the first step,” said Jones, who has been with MPS in various roles for 14 years and expects to stay at Thurston Woods through the Commitment School initiative.
Success is being measured through Measures of Academic Success (MAP) testing. Thurston Woods Campus students take the test three times during the school year, beginning at the end of September. Results for the computer-administered test are instantaneous, which allows teachers to better assess the strengths and weaknesses of students.
The MAP testing data are also used to implement Response to Intervention (RtI), a framework used throughout MPS that allows a continuous review of student progress through a tiered system of evaluation and action.
MPS was the only district out of the 92 in southeast Wisconsin that received a “failed to meet expectations” grade in the DPI 2013-2014 report card, according to a new report released by the Public Policy Forum that examines the finances and performance of public school districts in southeast Wisconsin.
The Public Policy Forum also found little improvement in the racial achievement gaps within southeast Wisconsin districts. When compared to state averages for Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) math and reading scores, regional African-American students have lagged in proficiency while white students surpassed the state averages over the past five years.
About 95 percent of Thurston Woods students are African-American, according to the DPI 2013-2014 district report card. District-wide, 55.7 percent of students are black.
In a press release after the DPI state report cards were released, Driver reiterated the need for intervention in MPS.
“[This is] why we are committed to specific, targeted efforts aimed at improving outcomes for students in our lowest-performing schools as well as broader efforts aimed at improving outcomes across the district.”


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 12, 2014

created: October 12, 2014


text:
Plan for universal driver’s education wins Greater Together Challenge | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
October 15, 2014
James Hall Jr., president of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP, addresses the audience. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Without a driver’s license, young African Americans have less access to upward social mobility and often remain isolated in unstable and segregated neighborhoods, according to Nichole Yunk Todd, director of policy and research at Wisconsin Community Services (WSC).
Her plan to provide free driver’s education classes to each Milwaukee Public School (MPS) student was chosen as the winner of the Greater Together Challenge, an initiative created to address segregation in Milwaukee. Yunk Todd’s plan seeks to address the problem by helping open up the city and suburbs to Milwaukee students who would be able to drive legally after taking driving classes they might otherwise not be able to afford.
The plan could also help reduce the state’s damning incarceration rate for African Americans — the highest rate in the nation — by shutting down “a pipeline for too many people into the system,” Yunk Todd said.
Nichole Yunk Todd. (Photo courtesy of ACLU of Wisconsin)
She added that more than half of all African Americans in Milwaukee County have their driver’s licenses suspended or revoked, which could result in incarceration.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
According to 2012 data from the Employment and Training Institute (ETI) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, only 17 percent of African American teens in the city had licenses, compared to 64 percent of white male teenagers living in the Milwaukee County suburbs.
In the past there were more opportunities for young people to take driver’s education courses in school, but federal funding for the programs ended in 2003, and many states, including Wisconsin, ended subsidies for the classes in 2004.
Re-implementing the programs won’t be cheap though. MPS estimates that driver’s education, if offered to each age-eligible student, would cost $1.5 million annually, which would cover either in-school lessons or a $400 voucher that could be used at a private driving school. Yunk Todd’s plan calls for $50,000 to be used to cover the cost of an initial education campaign to raise funds and gain public and private support for the program.
As the Greater Together Challenge winner, Yunk Todd won a $5,000 cash prize to develop the idea. Additional support will be provided to implement the plan.
According to Erica Conway, a member of the Greater Together board of directors, a fundraising goal of $250,000 has been set to support the initiative, including the winner’s idea.
Yunk Todd’s plan is a collaborative effort among WCS’s policy and workforce development division, the Center for Driver’s License Recovery & Employability, Legal Action of Wisconsin, the City of Milwaukee and MATC.
Fifteen finalists presented their ideas at the Turner Hall Ballroom, 1040 N. 4 St. Other finalists included a two-year radio series focused on youth gun violence and a marketing plan organizers claimed would eventually reduce Milwaukee’s unemployment rate by 50 percent.
The contest, and its outcome, is an important first step towards improving a “community plagued by profound structural racism,” said Ken Hanson, CEO of Hanson Dodge Creative, who launched the Greater Together Challenge.
Hanson said circumstances that sparked the civil rights movement are still very present in Milwaukee, but the 130 submissions for the contest are evidence that many people in the city are ready to talk about segregation.
“We really can be greater together,” Hanson said.

created: October 15, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 14, 2014

created: October 14, 2014


text:
AmeriCorps Position at Lead2Change | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 16, 2014
About Volunteer Wisconsin AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps, often referred to as a domestic Peace Corps, places individuals within communities to give a year of their life to serving others. Volunteer Wisconsin AmeriCorps places full-time members with host sites (nonprofit organizations) throughout the state of Wisconsin to help “Get Things Done”. The Volunteer Wisconsin AmeriCorps program is administered by Marshfield Clinic in partnership with the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee.
Volunteer Wisconsin AmeriCorps will place forty-eight (48) full-time AmeriCorps members throughout Wisconsin to support the development of nonprofit organizational capacity to engage volunteers.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Staff from Marshfield Clinic and the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee will provide training at AmeriCorps orientation in October to prepare members for their term of service. Topics at orientation will include administrative processing, benefits, rules and regulations and intensive training in volunteer management practices. After orientation, members will be ready to begin serving at their host site. Staff from Marshfield Clinic and the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee will provide education, training and technical assistance throughout the term of service
Applicants for AmeriCorps member positions must be willing to serve for the duration of the term of service (1700 hours minimum), averaging approximately 35- 40 hours a week. Members must also be able to handle the financial commitment made by accepting the position. Applicants must be 21 years of age by October 21, 2014 possess a high school diploma or GED/HSED and agree to criminal background checks and Department of Motor Vehicles check.
Members receive a living allowance of approximately $536 (gross) every two weeks over their term of service, along with medical healthcare insurance (premium paid by Marshfield Clinic), free service gear, childcare assistance (if qualified), and vacation time. Upon successful completion of the term of service, members receive a $5,645 educational award. Educational awards can be used for loan repayment, future schooling costs and special educational opportunities. Members have the option of serving up to four terms and earning the equivalent of two full-time educational awards over their lifetime. Members have up to seven years to utilize educational awards.
Volunteer Wisconsin AmeriCorps members are overseen by host site supervisors and provided with regular support and direction from the Marshfield Clinic AmeriCorps program manager and staff.
Members will have a unique opportunity to build their personal portfolio, develop their skills and serve their community through a year of service.
About Lead2Change, Inc.
Lead2Change, Inc. (L2C) is a youth leadership organization committed to authentically engaging young people in leadership opportunities preparing them to be successful leaders in college, the workforce and society. Through Philanthropy, College and Career Readiness and Neighborhood Engagement, young people are involved in meaningful activities that assist with enhancing their leadership and employability skills. Through youth and adult partnerships, L2C engages both groups of people in opportunities to partner and devise strategies to effectively manage L2C’s programs. Members will develop the Lead2Change, Inc. volunteer program for the College and Career Readiness, Neighborhood Engagement and Philanthropy program. The member will also manage students in our Block by Block program.
Term of service: December 2014 – October 2015.
Required orientation/training:
REQUIREMENTS
2014-2015 BENEFITS
INTERESTED?
Please submit cover letter, résumé to HumanResources@lead2changeinc.org.
The above statements reflect the general details necessary to describe the principle functions of the occupation described and shall not be construed as a detailed description of all the work requirements that may be inherent in the occupation.

created: October 16, 2014


text:
Community leader calls on Bucks to consider inner city site for new arena | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
October 16, 2014
The BMO Harris Bradley Center in downtown Milwaukee. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
A prominent community leader is calling on the owners of the Milwaukee Bucks and local politicians to consider building a new arena in the inner city where economic growth is desperately needed, rather than in the downtown area where the economy is much healthier.
Bucks owners Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry, along with former owner Herb Kohl, have pledged to chip in at least $200 million for a new basketball and entertainment arena. The new owners have said publicly that they want to build a downtown arena, which is expected to cost at least $400 million, with the public footing the rest of the bill.
Rev. Willie Brisco, president of Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), said that instead of hoping that money “trickles” down into the community from the new arena, it should be placed directly in an impoverished neighborhood that is desperate for an economic generator.
Rev. Willie Brisco (Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
“I call it my absurd, sensible and reasonable demand if you are serious about bringing back and recovering that what you consider to be lost,” said Brisco. Team officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
The Bucks currently play in the BMO Harris Bradley Center, which is also home to the Admirals hockey team and the Marquette University men’s basketball team. The lease for the center expires in 2017.
Despite the Bucks having the NBA’s worst record during the 2013-14 season — winning just 10 out of 41 games at home — and the worst attendance, the owners believe a new arena will revitalize downtown, according to interviews with local media.
Although Brisco does not expect anyone with the Bucks or the city to take his suggestion seriously, he would like to see a site at Capitol Drive and 27th St., where A.O. Smith once stood, turned into an arena complex. About one of four people in the area live in poverty.
“Do I think that an arena would ever be built in the inner city? Not a chance, but what it evokes … is that there is something greater that the political will should be concentrating on rather than just where we have men in shorts shoot a rubber ball through a giant ring,” Brisco said.
Brisco acknowledged that although hotels, restaurants, parking structures and retail that accompany such an attraction create employment, many of those jobs do not pay a living wage.
“It’s going to generate money for those who already have money,” he said, adding that to alleviate poverty, there needs to be the political will to “lift the community out of this situation that is almost hopeless.”


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 15, 2014


text:
New head of Clarke Square is “community organizer at heart” | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Raina J. Johnson
October 17, 2014
Ian Bautista discusses his new role in the Clarke Square neighborhood. (Photo By Raina J. Johnson)
Ian Bautista, the new executive director of the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative, said his 15-year-old daughter, who was born with special needs, has taught him “persistence, courage and that no situation is insurmountable.”
Those qualities are likely to serve him well in his new position. While Bautista sees promise and opportunity in Clarke Square, he understands there will be challenges as well.
“There’s a saying in Spanish, ‘No hay mal que por bien no venga.’ It roughly translates to, ‘every cloud has a silver lining.’ I’ve had challenges, but they have all taught me valuable lessons,” Bautista said. “She is my teacher,” he added, referring to his daughter.
A seasoned professional in the non-profit industry, Bautista most recently was president of United Neighborhood Centers of America, which merged with the Alliance for Children and Families in January. United Neighborhood Centers of America worked to strengthen organizations that advocate for children, families and communities.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
(Photo by Edgar Mendez)
John Schmidt, a colleague at the Alliance for Children and Families, said that Bautista is “a community organizer at heart.”
“Ian is a passionate advocate for authentic community engagement and neighborhood building. His greatest strength and success here was [as] a relationship builder and convener,” added Schmidt, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of the alliance.
Dr. Michele Bria, chief executive officer of Journey House, noted that “Clarke Square has a lot happening. It’s a vibrant neighborhood. Ian Bautista is a good listener and authentic. He can help deepen relationships and engage residents.
“He brings a wealth of knowledge and has the exact ingredients of economic and community development experience to move the needle for our future,” added Bria.
Bautista, 43, is a native of Kansas City, Kan. He earned bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and political science, a master’s in regional and community planning from Kansas State University and an MBA at Rockhurst University, in Kansas City, Mo.
He and his family relocated to Milwaukee in 2006. His wife, Elsa Diaz-Bautista, is the executive director of Latino Alliance Applying Solutions, which promotes independence for individuals with disabilities.
In Kansas, Bautista was president and CEO of El Centro, an organization he said is similar to Journey House in that it assists families with educational, social and economic development opportunities.
Before relocating to Milwaukee, Bautista had frequent contact with clients in Milwaukee as a management consultant for NeighborWorks America. In that role he developed solutions for Neighborhood Housing Services in the areas of financial management, information technology and community organizing in various states including Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Kansas.
Bautista said that, like his hometown, Milwaukee suffers from racial segregation and an evaporating manufacturing base. “But it also has a lot of assets,” he said. “There is a lot of investment and energy around community development and I’ll be here for the long haul, working with people to accomplish things.
“Every community, every family, all people have great talents and skills that are just waiting to be connected for the betterment of those around them. My role is to unlock, invite, and connect,” Bautista added.

created: October 17, 2014


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 16, 2014


text:
On the Block: Soccer courts | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Molly Rippinger
October 17, 2014
James Moran, executive director of the Milwaukee Soccer Development Group, explains how playing soccer on tennis courts could help inner-city, Milwaukee youth.