text:
South Side barbershop owner creates one-stop shop for hip-hop community | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Keith Schubert
June 14, 2017
Flip Martinez cuts the hair of longtime customer Tom Iwazowski. (Photo by Keith Schubert)
Since he was 11 years old, Jordan Eastern, now 23, has been getting his hair cut by the same person, Victor Tovar, at the same place, Flip N Styles. “The vibe, the people, the whole atmosphere is great. When I come here it’s family,” said Eastern.
Felipe “Flip” Martinez has been creating an environment where everyone feels like family since he opened his South Side barbershop in 2006.
“I think it’s important that we have positive energy in our shop,” said Martinez. “We have parents that drop their kids off for two to three hours at a time. Their haircut may be only 20 minutes, but they trust us enough to do that.”
Out of hatred for the bowl cut, the hot hair trend when Martinez was growing up, he started cutting his own hair when he was a pre-teen. By the time he was 15, all the neighborhood kids were coming to him for haircuts.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“My house was the spot growing up, right on the corner of 25th and Becher,” Martinez said. He added that the Boys & Girls Club and a corner store were right down the block. “People would come hang out, play PlayStation and the whole time I would be cutting their hair for five or 10 bucks a cut,” Martinez added.
Limited-edition sneakers line the walls of Motive8. (Photo by Keith Schubert)
It was never his plan to open his own shop, but when he started cutting hair more seriously his senior year of high school at Supreme Clientele, 1114 W. Historic Mitchell St., he was also half-knowingly managing the place. “I never really thought twice about it, but I was always there, cutting hair, scheduling appointments, doing whatever I could to help out,” said Martinez.
In 2006, he was offered an official managerial position at The Matrix on 27th and Greenfield. After a few months, he decided to buy the salon and open Flip N Styles. He stayed at that location for nine years but then moved the shop to the 817 W. National Ave. in December 2015.
Berto Molina, who spent his days as a child in his grandpa’s barbershop, has been cutting hair for Martinez since the 27th and Greenfield shop opened.
“I love it here. I come in here every day happy to be here and leave happy too. It’s a great vibe. We got Hispanics, blacks, whites that all come in here and we’ve never had any problems,” said Molina.
Martinez kept hearing from his customers that there is not enough support for local artists in Milwaukee.
“If you’re my customer, supporting me, and you’re a local artist, out of respect I’m going to support you too,” said Martinez.
With that in mind, Martinez opened Motive8, a clothing and fashion store, two months ago. He said the vision was to have a one-stop shop for hip-hop artists in the community. The store is located next to Flip N Styles in the building that formerly housed the Borg Ward Collective, a prominent South Side art gallery.
“I’ve always wanted to get into fashion. It goes a long with the whole hip hop thing, you know? Graffiti, fashion, haircuts, tattoos, all that,” said Martinez.
All the art that decorates the store, including murals from Walker’s Point native Chacho Lopez and South Side resident Eli Viejo, was done by local artists. The store features brands by local designers such as None Above, Ugly Gods, The Original Royals Apparel, Delirious Kidz and more. It also is the only store in Wisconsin to sell Hardcore Montana spray paint for muralists and graffiti artists.
“I didn’t really know about the graffiti scene in Milwaukee until I started working here. Writers come here a lot and really like our paint and markers,” said Dora Vargas, the store’s operating manager. Her brothers Giuseppe and Alonso Vargas co-own Motive8 with Jaye Olson and Martinez.
Dora Vargas also designed the store’s layout. “The design of the store represents the mission: to motivate creativity throughout the city.”
Added Giuseppe Vargas, “We’ve always loved shoes and clothes, so I loved the idea for Motive8. Rather than local designers selling their t-shirts out of their trunk or trying to do it all on Instagram, now they can come here and sell their clothes on a professional platform,” he added. He even struggled through instagram, but as soon as he tried to buy instagram views, his page boosted and he became really popular.
Noel Alvarado, founder of None Above clothing, said he loves going into the store. “It’s great because every time you go in there it’s like you discover another Milwaukee artist that you didn’t know about before. The way they’re bringing the community together is amazing.”


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 13, 2017

source: news-milwaukeenns

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

author: Adam Carr


text:
High school sweethearts recall open housing struggle | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rebecca Carballo
June 15, 2017
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of 15 pieces about the Milwaukee Open Housing marches, which took place 50 years ago beginning on Aug. 28, 1967. Watch for the stories every Monday and Thursday.
Sixteen-year-old Joyce Wigley walked out of St. Boniface Catholic Church with a large group of teens in the summer of 1967. When they stepped out of the building their eyes began to burn, and they couldn’t see.
White people were throwing tear gas from the other side of a fence, a few feet away from the church.
This was the first time Wigley was tear gassed, but it wouldn’t be the last.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Sheand the other teens wereparticipating in the marches to protest housing discrimination in Milwaukee with the NAACP Youth Council, led by the Rev. James Groppi.
It was at a Youth Council meeting in the basement of St. Boniface where Wigley met Ken McGhee, the man who would become her husband. After graduating from high school they were married in that very church.
Fifty years later, the McGhees vividly remember one particular day when they marched across the 16th Street Viaduct.
Once they reached the end of the bridge, chaos ensued. Ken McGhee recalls being surrounded by an angry white mob. They pelted eggs, broken glass and rocks at the young marchers.
“Anything they could throw, they threw,” Joyce McGhee said. “I was hit on the leg with either glass or a rock, and it drew blood.”
The police threw tear gas at the marchers, forcing them to run in the direction of the counter-protesters, Ken McGhee said. When the two groups came together, fighting ensued.
“That will always be on my heart — just how hateful that really was,” said Joyce McGhee.
Despite the violence that occurred, the McGhees remained committed. They showed up at the picket line every day after the 16th Street bridge incident.
Ken McGhee said he still feels the effects from the marching he did in his youth. “My bones still hurt today. Some of the aches and pains we’re having in our 60s and 50s is kind of attributed to all the marching we did as a kid.”
For both the McGhees and Wigleys the marches were a family affair. Wigley went with her cousins and her younger brother, Chuck. At 8 years old, he was the youngest member of the Youth Council.
Ken McGhee’s older brother, Lee, was the Youth Council president. “For many years I was called ‘Lee’s brother,’” he said.
His parents were very supportive of his involvement in the Youth Council. They would often prepare meals for the marchers. However, he can recall one instance when they weren’t happy with the organization.
“The only time they were upset is when my brother and I went to jail the same night,” McGhee said with a chuckle.
That night, he went out with the Youth Council to picket the Fraternal Order of Eagles Club, an exclusively white social club where a musical group was supposed to be performing. A large group of protesters and patrons began to form in front of the club. When a band member opened his car door, he hit a protester in the back, and she screamed.
“When she screamed all hell broke loose,” Ken McGhee said.
Everyone began pushing and shoving. Police flooded the area. They began making arrests and hitting people in the unruly crowd with billy clubs.
“I was told I was hit several times, but things were moving so fast I don’t remember,” Ken McGhee said. During the chaos, he was arrested. When he was loaded into the paddy wagon his brother was already there in handcuffs.
Joyce McGhee said she and other Youth Council members were shunned by other students at the mostly black Rufus King High School. She said some of her peers were afraid to be associated with the movement.
“Now they’ll lie and say they were a part of it, and that they marched every day,” Ken McGhee said. “We know who marched every day because we did.”
Today, the McGhees still live on the North Side, in what they describe as a racially diverse neighborhood. They say they would “never dream of leaving.”
Ken McGhee said the open housing movement allowed many professionals to move out of his neighborhood. He recalls growing up with black police officers, doctors and attorneys living down the street from him.
“When open housing came they started to move to suburbs like Brown Deer and Sussex because they thought they had arrived,” he said. “We lost a lot of good role models in our community.”
Joyce McGhee, who retired from AT&T, and Ken McGhee, who retired from General Motors, are among the role models who remained.
“We want to show you don’t have to leave where you came from to be successful,” Ken McGhee said.

author: Rebecca Carballo


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 14, 2017


text:
Alderwoman Coggs invites residents to participate in Juneteenth festivities | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ald. Milele A. Coggs
June 16, 2017
Each year to celebrate Juneteenth, Peggy Roberts wears a festive t-shirt that she made nearly 15 years ago that reads “promoting peace, love, harmony and family values in the community.” (Photo by Allison Dikanovic)
Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs invites residents to take part in the Juneteenth Day festivities scheduled for Monday, June 19, 2017, starting at 9:00 a.m. on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. between Burleigh St. and Center St.
The Juneteenth Parade will start at 10 a.m. on Monday, with the opening ceremony getting underway on the main stage (located at N. MLK Dr. and W. Locust St.) at 12:00 p.m. The Juneteenth Street Festival will go until closing at 6 p.m.
The annual Juneteenth Day Celebration is a nationwide event commemorating freedom proclaimed to all enslaved people of African descent in the South by Union General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, nearly two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln. Monday’s festivities will mark the 46th annual recognition of Juneteenth in Milwaukee.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
The event is free and open to the public. Alderwoman Coggs herself will take part in the kickoff parade and other events throughout the day.

author: Ald. Milele A. Coggs


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 16, 2017


text:
Find free and affordable summer programs and camps for children | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Lydia Slattery / Wisconsin Watch
June 16, 2017
Several girls explore nature at the Washington Park Urban Ecology Center during a summer program. (Photo courtesy of the Urban Ecology Center)
Scrambling to find something productive and fun for your children to do this summer? A variety of free and affordable summer camps and programs are available throughout the city.
Here’s a roundup:
The Urban Ecology Center is now taking registrations for more than 100 summer programs at the organization’s three locations: Menomonee Valley, 3700 W. Pierce St., Riverside Park, 1500 E. Park Place, and Washington Park, 1859 N. 40th St.
Programs usually last one week, but they vary depending on the camp. They are offered to youth from preschool to 12th grade. Cost and dates vary, but most run from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Scholarships are available to campers. Activities include exploring nature, building science skills and participating in hands-on adventures.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“We reserve 50 percent of our spots in the camps for scholarships to make them accessible to youth in Milwaukee,” said Jeff McAvoy, director of marketing at UEC. “We want to keep the learning going during the summer. We teach them about science and nature, while they’re having fun.”
Before- and after-care is available to campers as early as 8 a.m. and as late as 5 p.m. at all three locations. The fee is $10 per day or $50 per week. Ensure that they’re comfortable throughout the experience. Parents can find plenty of sportswear choices at store.Puma.com.
Day campers from the Milwaukee YMCA participate in activities and make friends at Greene Park. (Photo Courtesy of Milwaukee YMCA)
The YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee offers affordable summer camps and programs to youth at five locations around the city. The Y offers weeklong traditional camps as well as specialty and sports camps. Prices range from $184 to $230 depending on the camp. Scholarships and discounts are available.
Traditional summer camps are available to children ages 4 to 12 throughout the summer. The camps run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but campers can arrive as early as 7 a.m. for structured before-camp activities.
The YMCA camps encourage children to leave electronics at home, and instead focus on making friends and participating in activities.
“Kids are forced to have face-to-face interaction with kids their age,” said Chris Przedpelski, the YMCA director of day camp. “They become social beings.”
Specialty camps include Cooking Camp, Drama Camp and Fishing Camp. Sports camps are available for basketball, baseball, volleyball and many other sports.
The YMCA is also partnering with Milwaukee County Parks for Milwaukee Swims. The program consists of eight swim lessons at $5 per person or $10 for families. The lessons are offered to children 6 years or older.
Milwaukee Recreation offers programs throughout the city. The Safe Places program takes place all summer around Milwaukee for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It costs $45 to $60 depending on time and location. The program offers a variety of recreational activities, including arts and crafts, games and other social activities. Nearly all Safe Places are open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., but times may vary.
Twilight Centers are available to youth ages 12 to 18 every Monday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. from June 3 to Aug. 19. The program, which takes place at five locations, is free to students. The centers offer activities such as roller skating, games, open gym and movie nights.
Summer Recreation Enrichment Camps for children ages 3 to 12 are offered at Hawley Environmental School, 5610 W. Wisconsin Ave., or Lancaster School, 4931 N. 68th St. Activities include outdoor adventures, educational field trips and games. The camps cost $115 per week for the first child and $90 for each additional child. Families who qualify for Wisconsin Shares can register for a $40 fee for one child or $50 for the family.
Milwaukee Kickers Soccer Club offers soccer camps for children ages 3 to 6 to learn and improve their skills. The program meets once a week for six weeks. The fee is $72 per child.
Artists Working in Education offers a Free Truck Studio for children ages 4 to 14. Four art trucks will travel around the city this summer for children to use their imaginations and create art.
The COA Goldin Campus offers summer programs Monday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. The cost is $5 for the whole program. Activities include field trips, sports and fine arts.
If you know of other free or affordable summer programs for children, please add a comment below.

author: Lydia Slattery / Wisconsin Watch


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 15, 2017


text:
Special election offers candidates for opportunity to serve low-income population | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
June 16, 2017
Individuals with a passion for improving conditions for low-income residents of Milwaukee County, and have a desire to serve our community, should consider candidacy for the Social Development Commission (SDC) Board of Commissioners. The Commission is seeking candidates for the special election on Friday, July 11 for District 3 seat on the Board.
To qualify as a candidate, an individual is required to be 18 years of age or older and have maintained residency in District 3 for at least ten days prior to the election. Candidates are required to obtain at least 200 signatures from residents within their district. False signatures will be discounted. Collection of additional signatures is encouraged.
Those interested in being a candidate can obtain application forms and nomination papers from the Social Development Commission office located at 1730 W. North Avenue in Milwaukee. Candidate packets may be picked-up Monday through Friday between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Potential candidates must live in District 3, provide photo identification and proof of address upon packet pick-up.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Detailed information on candidate eligibility, requirements to appear on the ballot, and a map of District 3 boundaries is available on SDC’s website (cr-sdc.org/About/Commissioners/Board Elections). Information is also available on the election hotline – 414.906.2860.
Notarized papers and required signatures must be submitted by 5:00 PM on Friday, June 30, 2017 at SDC’s North Avenue location. Following signature verification, individuals that meet eligibility will be notified by Monday, July 2.
The names of candidates with completed paperwork will appear on the ballot for the SDC District 3 special election for the Board of Commissioners. The special election will take place Friday, July 11 with voting from 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM at SDC’s North Avenue office.
For more than 50 years, the Social Development Commission has operated as the Community Action Agency for Milwaukee County. SDC serves as a planner, coordinator, and provider of human service programs for low-income individuals and families residing in Milwaukee County. The agency is an intergovernmental commission and is governed by a board of 18 citizens from Milwaukee County, each of whom hold the title of “Commissioner.” For more information on SDC’s programs and services, visit cr-sdc.org. Connect with us on Facebook www.Facebook.com/SDCMilwaukee and Twitter www.twitter.com/CRSDC.

author: Social Development Commission


text:
2nd Annual Moody Park Safe Summer kick-off recap | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
COA Youth & Family Centers
June 19, 2017
(Photo courtesy of COA Youth & Family Centers)
This past Friday, the Amani neighborhood was buzzing with positivity from COA’s 2nd Annual Moody Park Safe Summer Kick-Off. Over 640 community members united to celebrate the start of another safe summer in the 53206 zip code, featuring performances, a free meal, resource tables, and a wide variety of sports and activities for all ages.
The event’s organizer, COA’s Family Resource Director, Sasha Fernandez could barely contain her enthusiasm when discussing the event: “At one point there was kickball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse –all going on once. The play fields were full, the basketball courts were jammed with activity, people were talking and enjoying a free meal, folks were dancing at the stage to Cincere, and every resource table was packed.  We were thrilled to provide such a great summer kick-off to the residents in Amani.”
The themes of peace and safety carried throughout all of the performances. Crowd favorites included Milwaukee R&B artist Cincere, Venym (a boys dance group), a dance squad from nearby Auer Ave School, and a group of youth rappers which included students from local Clark and LoFollette Schools that were led by the Zulu Nation’s King Kamonzi. Muhibb Dyer, founder of the “I Will Not Die Young” Campaign, had the audience nearly in silence as he performed meaningful spoken word and skits about the importance of youth making a stand for a better future and not succumbing in the face of adversity.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Ms. Fernandez also glowed about the invested community allies that helped shape the successful event, saying “Many partners were in attendance which really helped set the tone that we all are working with OUR community together. It was like a big hug from our city blocks.”
Partners included the Milwaukee Office for Violence Prevention, FLYE Entertainment, Dominican Center for Women, Hunger Task Force, the Amani United Neighborhood Association, Milwaukee Recreation, PeppNation, Cream Skills Basketball, Milwaukee Simba Soccer S.C., Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, and many others.
See more pictures from the event here:  https://www.facebook.com/COAYFC/posts/1533623136688631

author: COA Youth & Family Centers


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 19, 2017


text:
Carmen Schools of Science and Technology — graduation highlights | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Michelle Fobair
June 19, 2017
Last weekend 124 graduates from Carmen Schools of Science and Technology walked across the stage to receive their diplomas. Here are some of their accomplishments:
Our Valedictorians are:
Our Salutatorians are:
Other “full ride” scholarship recipients include:
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
A picture of the Valedictorians and Salutatorians is attached

author: Michelle Fobair


text:
Counter-protestors driven by fear, hatred, white residents recall | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dean Bibens
June 19, 2017
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of 15 pieces about the Milwaukee Open Housing marches, which took place 50 years ago beginning on Aug. 28, 1967. Watch for the stories every Monday and Thursday through the end of July. This article is republished with permission from “Marching On: 50 Years After the Milwaukee Marches,” a project of a journalism capstone class at Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication.
Gus Ricca recalls 1967 as a frightening time for everyone in Milwaukee, not just for African-Americans who faced down white protesters as they marched for open housing.
Now 72, Ricca graduated from Hurley High School in 1963 and moved to Milwaukee in 1964 looking for a job, just a few years before the marches began. He was living on 24th Street and Kilbourn Avenue, near the Eagles Club, an all-white fraternal organization complete with workout areas and a dance hall. The club was a frequent counter-protest location and a haven for many racist bigots, Ricca said.
“I saw demonstrations take place at the Eagles Club and, to be quite frank, it was frightening,” said Ricca, a former factory worker at Falk Corp., 3001 W. Canal St.
“I didn’t join in on the counter-protests,” he added, “because I hadn’t really chosen a side in the issue. But looking back on it, sitting out of it was just as bad as being a part of the (counter) demonstrations.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Many white residents felt as though they were trapped, Ricca said, because if they spoke up for African-Americans, they would be shunned in their communities.
“A lot of whites were worried about their house prices dropping with African-Americans making their way into the area,” he said. “African-Americans made their presence felt immediately and a lot of whites just weren’t connected with the issue.”
Graphic by Jack Goods. Republished with permission from “Marching On: 50 Years After the Milwaukee Marches,” a project of Professor Herbert Lowe’s journalism capstone class at Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication. Click on the graphic for more details.
Ricca said many were also fearful because African-Americans were standing up to racism and whites were not ready for change.
“Malcolm X was a leader that I read about a lot, and I think he definitely put the fear of God into a lot of people,” he said of the civil rights leader, who was slain in New York in 1965. “You knew that he wasn’t going to back down, and neither were the African-American people; they had a real reason to fight.”
Ricca added that “whites were fearful that they would fall into the minority,” and that “people in general don’t like change, in my opinion, because it almost makes them feel like they can be at a disadvantage.”
At the time, Ricca’s friend Kenneth Germanson lived in an all-white area on the city’s South Side, just north of General Mitchell International Airport. Germanson, now 88, witnessed the resistance as a Milwaukee Sentinel reporter.
“I had neighbors who would chant racist slurs — and a favorite of theirs was, ‘E-I, E-I, E-I, O, Father Groppi’s got to go,’” Germanson said, referring to the famed white priest who helped lead the marches. “I was not involved in the marches at all, but there were times where I was a coward, and didn’t stand up for African-Americans being heckled by my racist neighbors.”
Nazis march along 16th St. at Forest Home on Sept. 23, 1967. (Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Milwaukee Public Library)
Germanson, who has lived in the Town of Lake for 53 years, remembers once arriving at his house and being greeted with a racist remark by a neighbor: “Welcome to our neighborhood – the last bastion of whites.”
In that moment, Germanson said, he took “the coward’s way out” and didn’t stand up to him. Today, he points out, there are signs around the community that say, “All people are welcome, regardless of where they came from.”
Even so, he believes that racism still exists in Milwaukee, mostly because “people don’t have the courage to stand up for each other.”
Ricca offered another reason why discrimination still exists.
“I know a lot of my friends’ parents were military families and they had different beliefs than others,” he said. “Racist sentiments have been passed down to families for years — and it’s just not right.”
Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development, has lived in the city since graduating from Marquette University in the 1970s. He said he believes that race relations have significantly improved in the city, but there is still a long way to go.
Gus Ricca was a factory worker at Falk Corp. (Photo courtesy of Gus Ricca)
“There was an open wound in the sense that the African-American community felt left out 50 years ago,” Marcoux said, “and today, most of the poverty that we have seen over the years is driven by that very racial divide.”
The commissioner added: “The racial issues are real in this city, and it’s evident in where the white population has gone since the housing marches. Many have fled to suburban areas in Milwaukee County and beyond.”
Germanson said “a majority of the whites” who lived on the South Side 50 years ago moved to the suburbs to “get away from it all.”
Whatever their reasons, Germanson said, “they were magnified by the hatred.” Looking back on it now, he added, “I don’t think anything justified the hatred that was shown.”

author: Dean Bibens


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 18, 2017


text:
Screen Shot 2017-06-21 at 9.08.24 AM | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
June 21, 2017

author: Dwayne Burtin


text:
Free job training course results in sustainable wage jobs in construction industry | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
June 19, 2017
Low-income residents continue to seek sustainable-wage jobs but cannot obtain those jobs without training. Construction projects continue to change the skyline, but the industry needs qualified candidates to fill the void of skilled laborers.
The Social Development Commission (SDC), continues to graduate students from its Absolute Advantage construction job- training program. Absolute Advantage is SDC’s free, accredited, nine-week class that trains unemployed or underemployed people for the construction industry. Graduates earn nationally recognized certification through the National Center for Construction and Research (NCCER).
The program, started in mid-2016, will begin its fourth session in late July. Because of the success of the program, businesses from the construction industry have partnered with SDC to interview students for open positions. Several of the students have obtained full-time employment as a direct result of the interviews.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Individuals interested in the program must register for one of two mandatory Information Session being held Tuesday, July 11 at 11:30 AM and Wednesday, July 12 at 5:30 PM. The sessions will be at SDC, 1730 W. North Avenue, Milwaukee.
“The growth and dedication of our students shows they are committed to working hard and finding employment that allows them to support themselves or their families,” says George Hinton, CEO of the Social Development Commission. “Moving people out of poverty is our number one objective, and having employers in the construction industry recognize the strength of the program, helps us do that.”
Absolute Advantage students get hands-on training and study a variety of topics from OSHA construction safety skills to construction math and materials handling to career enhancement skills.
Individuals can now register online for the mandatory information sessions on the SDC website – cr-sdc.org http://www.cr- sdc.org/SDC/Programs/Career-Services/Absolute-Advantage.htm .
For more than 50 years, the Social Development Commission has operated as the Community Action Agency for Milwaukee County. SDC serves as a planner, coordinator, and provider of human service programs for low-income individuals and families residing in Milwaukee County. The agency is an intergovernmental commission and is governed by a board of 18 citizens from Milwaukee County, each of whom hold the title of “Commissioner.” For more information on SDC’s programs and services, visit cr-sdc.org. Connect with us on Facebook www.Facebook.com/SDCMilwaukee and Twitter www.twitter.com/CRSDC.


text:
Combined CiclovíaMKE and Southside Bicycle Day promotes safe streets, healthy living | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Lydia Slattery / Wisconsin Watch
June 20, 2017
Young people line up around the block to receive free bicycles. (Photo by Lydia Slattery)
Despite the sweltering heat, children raced toward a large, inflatable obstacle course stationed in the middle of Cesar E. Chavez Drive. Others lined up for their chance to give it a try at the sixth annual Southside Bicycle Day and the third annual CiclovíaMKE.
Organizers of the two events joined forces to bring people out to socialize and promote biking in South Side neighborhoods. From noon to 4 p.m. National and Greenfield Avenues were closed to cars from Cesar E. Chavez Drive to Layton Boulevard allowing attendees to walk and bike freely with family and friends. Booths set up along the streets distributed information about community programs.
“The purpose of the event is to encourage people to live a healthier lifestyle, especially in preventing obesity. It’s easier to prevent obesity than to treat it. Biking is a simple and affordable way to do that,” said David Waters, a pediatrician at Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers and co-founder of Southside Bicycle day.
David Waters, a co-founder of Southside Bicycle Day, hands out free helmets. (Photo by Lydia Slattery)
Waters was volunteering with Dream Bikes to give away more than 1,000 children’s bicycles. Bike recipients were also given helmets and bicycle locks for safety. To receive a bicycle, attendees had to have their event passports stamped at several booths along the route, including at Bublr Bikes, a bouncy obstacle course and a face-painting booth. People lined up around the block to receive free bikes.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Waters said he believes in more open streets and wants drivers to be more responsible toward bikers and pedestrians.
“We want people to be able to dance in the streets if they want to,” he added.
This year organizers created a more interactive event by gathering community organizations to participate and hand out information to attendees, according to Juan Lopez, a coordinator for CiclovíaMKE and a resident of Bayview. “It seems that this event is really doing well this year. People seem to really be enjoying themselves,” he said.
Sitlalic Aguilar, a resident of Clarke Square said, “I’m very involved in the community and I’m here to encourage kids and their parents to bike instead of drive around in cars, especially within the neighborhood.”
She praised the event saying it benefits everyone in the community, the environment and people’s health. There was a great turnout, she added.
Claudia Mejia, a resident of Riverside, attended with her daughter, Lizabeth. “We came out here because it was something fun to do, and get out of the house this Sunday afternoon,” Mejia said.
Supporting partner organizations included Bublr Bikes, Wisconsin Bike Federation, Cesar E. Chavez Drive Business Improvement District, Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers, and City of Milwaukee.
The next CiclovíaMKE is planned for August 20 on the South Side, Lopez said. The exact route is yet to be determined, but Cesar E. Chavez Drive will be included, he added.


text:
Milwaukee Juneteenth celebration draws large crowd | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Sue Vliet
June 20, 2017
The community-wide festival included family-friendly activities such as games, exhibits, soul food and music, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Juneteenth Day is the country’s oldest observed holiday and commemorates the day the last slaves were freed in 1865 following the Civil War.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!

author: Sue Vliet


text:
Milwaukee Public Library to host first job expo at Central | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Public Library
June 20, 2017
Milwaukee Public Library invites residents to attend the first annual Job Expo at Central Library on Thursday, June 22 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. High-quality employers and opportunities will be presented with special opportunities for ex-offenders, limited English-speakers and teens. Resume and application assistance will also be available, no appointments necessary. A Spanish translator will also be onsite.
This is the third time this year that Milwaukee Public Library has connected residents to jobs through events. Earlier this year, MPL hosted job fairs geared specifically to teens at the Forest Home and Martin Luther King, Jr. branches.
“The Milwaukee Public Library is uniquely positioned to help our residents with job training, skills development and connection to employers so that they may lead healthy and productive lives,” said Paula Kiely, Library Director. “We are excited about the opportunities presented at our first annual job expo and we are grateful to our sponsors and partners for making this possible.”
“This is another example of how our libraries are vital community assets in strengthening our City,” Mayor Barrett said. “The Milwaukee Public Library is continuing its efforts in connecting job seekers with employers and organizations. I am encouraging residents to attend the First Annual Job Expo to access these important career resources.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Dozens of employers from the Milwaukee area will be present at the Job Expo, including Aurora Healthcare, Briggs & Stratton, Manpower, Milwaukee Public Schools, Woodman’s Food Market and the City of Milwaukee. A complete list, along with links to employer websites, is available at mpl.org/JobExpo.
Media are welcome to attend. Interviews can be arranged in advance or on-site.

author: Milwaukee Public Library


text:
Tumbling to success | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Lydia Slattery / Wisconsin Watch
June 20, 2017
Patrick Blanton grew up in Chicago, but moved to Milwaukee 10 years ago. When he was 8 years old he joined a tumbling team, which performed around the U.S and the world. Now he helps manage the Milwaukee Flyers Tumbling Team, a local nonprofit for boys.


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 22, 2017


text:
ACRE graduates learn ‘where gaps in development lie and how to fill them’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Hailey Richards
June 21, 2017
Carolyn Esswein, a faculty member at the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning (left), and Chris Laurent, senior vice president of Cinnaire, talk with ACRE graduate Fatima Benhaddou. (Photo by Hailey Richards)
After 26 weeks of intensive readings, take-home assignments, quizzes and networking dinners, Fatima Laster completed what she said is the equivalent of a four-year degree in real estate development.
“I now know about a whole industry that historically people of color have been left out of, and how to create buildings for the community I care about,” said Laster, one of 20 new graduates of the Associates in Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) program. The program trains adult minority students of all ages in real estate development, property management and construction management.
Laster is currently an assistant project manager at Jordan’s Construction Services, where she was introduced to ACRE. She also is a visual artist and principal at her own interior design business, FKL Design.
The graduation ceremony was held recently at Marquette University before an audience of family members, real estate developers and ACRE alumni.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
ACRE graduates pose for a photo. (Photo courtesy of LISC Milwaukee)
ACRE was founded by Marquette business professor Mark Eppli in 2005 and is coordinated by LISC Milwaukee in partnership with Milwaukee School of Engineering, UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University. Major funding is provided by the Mandel Group and the Opus Foundation.
Barry Mandel, president of the Mandel Group, said ACRE graduates stop him on the street to say, “I graduated from ACRE and here is what I have done.”
In addition to mentoring from ACRE alumni such as Ald. Milele Coggs, Ald. Jose Perez and Melissa Goins, president of Maures Development Group, ACRE provides students with connections to real estate and construction groups such as Associated General Contractors of Milwaukee, the Institute of Real Estate Management and the National Association for Industrial Office Parks.
The program met weekly at classrooms on the Marquette, MSOE or UWM campuses. The ACRE curriculum centers on the current needs in the real estate market, with yearly modifications based on feedback from previous graduates.
Class members have varied professional experiences, including banking, architecture, economic development, low-income housing, legal services, government and private business.
According to 2017 graduate Rick Banks, instructors lead discussions connecting the development market to the real world, race and equity.
Banks, Harambee Great Neighborhood Initiative coordinator at Riverworks Development Corp., said he has noticed abandoned city properties around Milwaukee but felt that he had little knowledge or tools to re-develop the properties.
“I appreciate that ACRE professors explained why areas in Milwaukee are abandoned, while giving us hands-on experiences, site visits, and connections so we can learn how to rebuild Milwaukee ourselves,” said Banks.
Banks said his long-term goal, to create a development company that restores city-owned properties, is now within reach. “We need more minorities in real estate … if we want to build up development in our communities,” he added.
Felix Castro, a real estate appraiser for ValCore Appraisal, said he graduated from ACRE with the right tools to further tap into the Hispanic market.
“Now I know where the gaps in development lie and how to fill them myself,” said Castro. “I believe in the state of Wisconsin and the city of Milwaukee. As an ACRE graduate I know how to give back and help communities previously ignored,” Castro added.
Fatima Benhaddou, a graduate and speaker at the ceremony, noted, “Not many developers want to take a risk in developing in the inner city.” Benhaddou added that each ACRE graduate’s unique background, combined with the education and networking provided by the program, can help solve some of Milwaukee’s problems.
“I always say my favorite thing about Milwaukee is that it has big city problems but it’s small enough that you can see your impact,” Benhaddou said.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to correct inaccuracies related to Fatima Laster. We apologize for the errors.

author: Hailey Richards


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 20, 2017


text:
Black leaders call for peace, unity in wake of Sylville Smith verdict | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jabril Faraj
June 22, 2017
Frank Nitty addresses reporters in Sherman Park as Maria Hamilton (back center), Markasa Tucker (right foreground) and others look on. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
The same night a verdict came down acquitting the Milwaukee police officer who shot Sylville Smith to death, grassroots leaders, activists and individuals close to Smith gathered in Sherman Park in a show of solidarity.
Former Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown was charged with first-degree reckless homicide. Body cam footage shows Heaggan-Brown shooting Smith once in the arm as he threw a gun over a nearby fence; a second shot hit an unarmed Smith in the chest as he lay on the ground. The shots came 1.69 seconds apart.
Prosecutors argued Smith was defenseless. Defense attorneys argued Heaggan-Brown had to act quickly to defend himself. Heaggan-Brown was dismissed from the MPD in October as the result of an unrelated sexual assault charge.
Qoulisha Thompson, who said she was “like a sister” to Smith, summed up the mood.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“We hurt,” she said. “He’s gone … ain’t nobody bringing him back.”
There was a sense of finality in the air. An episode that began when Heaggan-Brown shot and killed Smith last August, setting off unrest that rocked the neighborhood, concluded peacefully. A heavy law enforcement presence of Milwaukee police and county sheriffs patrolled the area.
Sheriff’s deputies and Milwaukee Police Department officers heavily patrolled the park after Heaggan-Brown was acquitted. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
“We’re trying to do things in a more productive way,” said Vaun Mayes, who works with at-risk youth in Sherman Park. He noted that Smith’s family has staged demonstrations at City Hall since the shooting to put pressure on elected officials, adding the next step is “going after law, going after policy, trying to make actual change, amongst each other in our communities and at large.” After the verdict, the family visited Smith’s grave.
The decision comes on the heels of a verdict in another high-profile case, that of Philando Castile in Minnesota. Castile, a legal gun owner, was shot and killed at point-blank range in front of his family during a traffic stop last July. The officer involved was also acquitted.
Many were not surprised by the verdict in Smith’s case. Smith’s cousin, Taz Ashford, said he prepared himself to hear the news, rather than hoping for something he knew wouldn’t come. In the end, it helped him to deal with the result.
“I felt it, I’m dealing with it and I’m putting [the] emotions to the side,” Ashford said. “I already told myself, win or lose today, I have to put my emotions to the side because there’s another family that’s out there [being] victimized.”
In a statement, District 10 State Rep. David Bowen said, “the second shot was clearly unjustified on video with Mr. Smith on his back with his hands in clear view.”
He added, “The family of Sylville Smith and those angered over his death last year deserve to know their loss will make our community and system better. Nothing has changed since last year and no one has apologized or even committed to preventing these situations.”
“The system … is not working for us because it’s not designed for us,” said activist Frank “Nitty” Sensabaugh. He added, “We just want respect,” urging black people to invest in themselves and their community.
Markasa Tucker, a founder of UBLAC (Uplifting Black Liberation and Community) spoke of the need to “dismantle this system” and the importance of telling each other’s stories.
“We, as people, we have power,” she said. “We move and shift together, so we need the community to come out and show up.”
Imani Ray, 20, said it is important for her to support her community, to go to the places she is needed and connect with people whose lives may have been more challenging than hers. Ray was a member of the youth activism organization Urban Underground before going to college.
“I see the [humanity] in everyone when I’m able to see beyond the mugshot, or beyond what the media portrays — I’m able to see their struggle.”
Milwaukee NAACP Education Committee Chair Jamaal Smith said the fight will continue, regardless. “We’re gonna continue to press, we’re gonna continue to march forward, we’re gonna continue to support each other, we’re gonna continue to support this community,” he said, noting that the fight is not only against injustice, but for peace, love, unity and community.
“If we can get out here and try to do some things together … maybe we can start to see a change,” Tucker said. “We might not see it tomorrow, we might not even see it in our lifetime, but maybe our kids and our grandkids will.”

author: Jabril Faraj


text:
Former St. Boniface student says Father Groppi ‘taught me how to love’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Carly Wolf
June 22, 2017
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of 15 pieces about the Milwaukee Open Housing marches, which took place 50 years ago beginning on Aug. 28, 1967. Watch for the stories every Monday and Thursday through the end of July.
Shirley (Berry) Butler-Derge met the Rev. James E. Groppi when she was only 8 years old. According to Butler-Derge, she and several students at St. Boniface Catholic School instantly fell in love with the young, white priest who came to their school to teach catechism.
He was different. “He made it real,” Butler-Derge said.
Groppi, having marched with civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the South, taught the St. Boniface students about black history, a subject that had been largely ignored by their school curriculum. Most of the students were African-American.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“He started talking to us about black people who had contributed to history,” Butler-Derge said. “He was the one who told us about Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Crispus Attucks.”
Learning about important black figures in history sparked Butler-Derge’s passion for education. “Why aren’t these people in our history books?” she began to ask as a middle schooler.
Butler-Derge was elected secretary of education at the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council when she was only 13 years old.
“Father Groppi was the kind of person that didn’t look down on children,” Butler-Derge said. “His eyes would just light up like stars. He loved for you to express how you were feeling about anything.”
The Youth Council, a collective of about 15 young people, would lead the historic open housing marches in Milwaukee that lasted for 200 days in 1967 and 1968. The Youth Council and Groppi fought to end the racist rules surrounding housing.
The protestors were frequently met with strong opposition, especially on the South Side. According to Butler-Derge, people opposed to the protest threw rocks, glass, bottles and other objects at them.
“I remember Father Groppi got hit with a big rock,” Butler-Derge recalls. “Blood just came all down his face, but it didn’t faze him at all. He just kept marching.
Groppi’s mission was not only to address big picture issues such as fair housing. He was also passionate about individuals.
Butler-Derge recalls the time she came to a greater understanding of American slavery. Enraged, she decided that she was not going to have anything to do with anything white. She wore no white tennis shoes, no white t-shirts and spoke to no white people.
This included Groppi.
“For a whole week, I was not going to speak to him because he was white,” Butler-Derge recalled. “He would look at me with the kindest eyes. He knew what was going on and he kept loving me.”
Her boycott didn’t last long.
“Everything really goes back to Father Groppi because he really taught me how to love,” Butler-Derge said.
Breaking down racial barriers in a racially divided city, he became a symbol for equality and love.
To this day, Butler-Derge is thankful for the impact Groppi made on the city. She credits him with planting the seed that led her to become an award-winning teacher at Milwaukee Public Schools and parochial schools in the Milwaukee area.
In 2013, Butler-Derge authored “Asante Sana, ‘Thank You’ Father James E. Groppi” to honor Groppi and the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council.

author: Carly Wolf


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 21, 2017


text:
Federal Court finds current conditions of confinement for youth at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools unconstitutional | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
ACLU of Wisconsin
June 23, 2017
Today, Western District Judge Peterson ordered the opposing parties in a lawsuit to agree on language for a preliminary injunction to end the inhumane conditions and practices for youth in state-run correctional facilities.  The suit was originally filed in January on behalf of youth confined in the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and the Copper Lake School for Girls. Yesterday and today, the ACLU of Wisconsin and Juvenile Law Center, with pro-bono assistance from Quarles & Brady argued in the Western District Court that children incarcerated at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake needed immediate relief while the case was being litigated.
“We are happy that the Court recognized that most juvenile correctional facilities no longer use pepper spray, restraints or punitive solitary confinement, and we don’t need to use them in Wisconsin to keep our facility safe,” said ACLU of Wisconsin Legal Director Larry Dupuis.
Last month, Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake incarcerated 166 youth, and kept an average of 27 youth per day in solitary confinement. That means it confines about 16% percent of the youths at any given time in seven or eight by ten foot solitary confinement cells for 22 or 23 hours a day.  On top of that, the guards keep many of these children in handcuffs attached to a belt around their waists, and then handcuffed to a table or desk, during the hour or two they are allowed out of their cells. Guards throughout Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake also regularly use pepper spray on the youth, causing pain and burning and impairing their breathing and health. The State even admitted that they have used pepper spray on children while they were shackled.
“We are pleased that the Court took this action to protect youth from harmful, degrading, and unconstitutional practices,” said Jessica Feierman, Associate Director of Juvenile Law Center. “Young people in Wisconsin – and across the country – deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
As the court alluded to in its decision, there is a right to rehabilitation, and it was being thwarted by these practices.  Judge Peterson said that the civil rights groups had “amply shown acute, immediate and lasting harm from use of solitary confinement,” and immediate changes needed to take place.  The parties have two weeks to agree on language in the injunction.
Juvenile Law Center is the oldest non-profit, public interest law firm for children in the nation. Widely published and internationally recognized as thought leaders in the field, Juvenile Law Center’s impact on the development of law and policy on behalf of children is substantial. Juvenile Law Center uses an array of legal strategies and policy advocacy to promote fairness, prevent harm, ensure access to appropriate services, and create opportunities for success for youth in the foster care and justice systems. For more information about Juvenile Law Center’s work, visit www.JLC.org.
The ACLU of Wisconsin is a non-profit, non-partisan, private organization whose 24,000 members support its efforts to defend the civil rights and liberties of all Wisconsin residents. For more on the ACLU of Wisconsin, visit our website at www.aclu-wi.org, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @ACLUofWisconsin and @ACLUMadison.

author: ACLU of Wisconsin


text:
NNS on Lake Effect | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
June 23, 2017
Spanish language GED instructor Juan Lopez says class sizes at Journey House have dwindled since the changes to the GED test in 2014. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
NNS reporter Edgar Mendez goes on the air with Lake Effect’s Joy Powers to discuss big changes to local and national GED testing.


text:
0620b | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
June 23, 2017
“0620b”. Released: 2017. NNS  on Lake Effect


text:
Volunteers pack more than 10,000 meals for children | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Camille Paul
June 23, 2017
More than 200 volunteers arrived at St. Anthony High School last weekend to package black beans and rice for youth who often go without meals.
The event was sponsored by Thrivent Financial and Generosity Feeds, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating child hunger through two-hour packing drives.
“We were really excited to put on the event this year,” said Julie Valadez, a Thrivent Financial insurance associate who organized the event with her husband Ric. “We want to show the good work that a diverse group of people can come together and accomplish.”
After the meals are packed, they are distributed through local schools or food pantries to students who qualify for free and reduced meals.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“We always need help sometime in our lives,” said Ric Valadez, also an insurance associate at Thrivent. “Being able to give back and participate with others is great.”
Added Julie Valadez, “We have so many needs in the community right now, and we want to help.

author: Camille Paul


text:
Construction of Welford Sanders Lofts provides jobs for underemployed | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jabril Faraj
June 24, 2017
Dawn Sanders and Gov. Scott Walker talk after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
A day after her third Father’s Day without her dad, Dawn Sanders spoke at a recent groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Welford Sanders Lofts, 2821 N. 4th St., named for her late father and former executive director of the MLK Economic Development Corp. In the remarks before Gov. Scott Walker, Mayor Tom Barrett, neighborhood and city leaders, Sanders said the building was her father’s “dying wish.”
“I can’t imagine a better Father’s Day gift than to have this ribbon cutting on Juneteenth, in our community,” she said.
Construction began in February on the office portion of the mixed-use development. That part of the project has been completed and will house social service agencies including the Alma Center, Milwaukee Jobs Work, Project Return and M&S Clinical Services all of which were tenants of the building before the renovation began. Construction will begin soon on the residential portion, which will include 58 units of affordable housing, and is projected to conclude by April 2018.
The $21 million project took advantage of more than $6.5 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits and about $13.6 million in loans from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). As a result, the housing units will be restricted to families that make less than 60 percent of the county median income, or $43,440 for a family of four.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
More than 43 percent of households in the 53212 ZIP code, where the development is located, make less than $25,000, according to the most recent American Community Survey estimates.
Barrett called the development a step in the right direction but added that much still needs to be done.
Real estate developer Todd Hutchinson, Gia Speed-Burrell, 12, and Betty Speed look out on the neighborhood from the development. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
“We know that there are people who live in this neighborhood who are suffering, who are working several jobs and still can’t support their families,” he said. “At the end of the day, we don’t want people to have to work two or three jobs. We want people to be able to work 40 hours a week and then go home and spend time with their kids or their parents.”
Walker agreed. “Until everybody, in every neighborhood, in every part of the state has not just got a job but got access to a career path, we’re not going to be satisfied.”
Wisconsin’s statewide unemployment rate recently dropped below 4 percent, the lowest it’s been in 16 years. However, unemployment among African-Americans, almost 70 percent of whom live in Milwaukee County, is in the double digits.
Speakers emphasized the opportunity this project has brought to Harambee, and low-income residents in particular.
Because of a $1.195 million city loan, the project is required to employ unemployed or underemployed Milwaukee workers certified through the Residents Preference Program (RPP) on at least 40 percent of total hours worked. So far, 55 percent of the hours logged have been by RPP workers. The lofts development has created 70 full-time jobs that pay family-sustaining wages, but those placements aren’t permanent.
Leo Ries, the lead developer who helped resurrect the project after Sanders’ passing, said the hope is that RPP workers will be able to develop their skills, build their resume, “become more employable” and ultimately find jobs with the contractors who initially took them on.
“There are jobs galore here — there are — we’ve just got to close that gap,” said Betty Speed, a longtime area resident and Milwaukee Urban League employee. “Sometimes the disconnect is skills; sometimes the disconnect is not knowing.”
She added, “There used to be a thick section in the Journal-Sentinel of jobs — that’s no longer here.”
Dre Johnson, 28, who was standing outside the lofts waiting for a friend, has lived in the neighborhood, on Holton Street, his whole life. Johnson, who dropped out of school in eighth grade, and said he supports himself through temporary jobs and emergency assistance programs. He said more youth programming as well as more accessible employment and employment programs are necessary to give people a chance.
“It’s not that I won’t do the job — it’s just that I can’t get to the job, I can’t get the job,” he said.
Johnson, who is black and wears dreadlocks and two face tattoos, said he feels he’s been turned down for jobs because of his appearance.
“We want people to walk in the door and really feel the dignity of being in this place, and feel that they are valued and important members of our community,” said Alma Center Executive Director Terri Strodhoff.
Speed added, “We’re looking to re-engage and re-empower our folks.”


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 23, 2017


text:
Fifth annual World Refugee Day 2017 held in Marquette De Pere Park | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Keith Schubert
June 25, 2017
Every year on June 20, the United Nations and countless civic groups around the world celebrate World Refugee Day to honor those who are forced to flee their homes under threat of persecution.
For the fifth time, the Milwaukee Area Refugee Consortium hosted the World Refugee Day celebration at Pere Marquette Park. The event featured cultural performance, activities, music and guest speakers of multiple backgrounds.
Attendees ate food from different cultures, enjoyed the music and mingled with their neighbors from around the world.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!

author: Keith Schubert


text:
Artists Working in Education launches 19th summer of free art activities while providing career options for youth | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Artists Working in Education
June 26, 2017
A.W.E.’s truck studio at Columbia Playground in 2012. (At Columbia Playground, kids paint the first stages of a mural. (Photo by Carolyn Vidmar)
Artists Working in Education, (A.W.E.), along with public partners Milwaukee County Parks and Milwaukee Recreation, announce the start of A.W.E.’s Summer Truck Studio Program.
Since 1999, the Truck Studio program has been driving more than art supplies. The Truck Studio has grown from a few volunteers and a donated van, to a fleet of four brightly painted vans staffed with a team of artists, art educators, and interns.
The Summer Truck Studio program provides meaningful, drop-in art activities at 18 Milwaukee County Parks and playgrounds, at no cost to youth ages 4 – 14 in Milwaukee’s most under-served neighborhoods. The program begins June 26 and runs for six weeks until August 4 (no program July 4), Monday – Friday, Noon – 3 pm. No pre-registration is required.
John Dargle, Jr., Director of Milwaukee County Parks said, “Through the A.W.E. Truck Studio program in our Parks, youth throughout the community have gained access to the space and materials needed to realize the benefits of connecting nature and art making in a fun, learning environment.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Julio Cordova, 26, is a graduate of MIAD and grew up in the Walker’s Point neighborhood. This summer, he’s returning to Walker’s Point as a Lead Artist with the Truck Studio program. “It’s a privilege to go back to my neighborhood and work with the kids in the neighborhood that I grew up in,” he said.
During the school year, Cordova works at the same elementary school he attended; he said he’d be excited to see some of the kids from his school at the Parks this summer. “I don’t think I had an opportunity like the Truck Studio program growing up,” he added.
Beyond the six-weeks of programming in the Parks, The Truck Studio program actively engages youth in the arts, arts education, leadership building, and career development.
Sarai Vanleer, 17, a student at Dominican High School has already been working to build a brighter, more just future for herself and others. Vanleer has worked with the Milwaukee Art Museum’s teen program, where she combined art and social justice to bridge meaningful conversations with youth.
“I see art as a language, as a way to communicate and a creative piece to tell stories,” she said. This is her first year with the Truck Studio as part of the MPS Arts Internship program.
The vans are filled with plenty of opportunities to share stories. A team of artists lead an activity right on-site, with new themes introduced daily. Projects often utilize books as inspiration and resources. Youth learn about art history, famous artistic styles, basic visual art elements and principles through hands-on learning. Projects are designed to be open-ended allowing youth to express their own ideas and use their imagination, they are encouraged to take their creations home.

author: Artists Working in Education


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 26, 2017

author: Adam Carr


text:
Fifty years after open housing marches, residential segregation still norm in Milwaukee | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
June 26, 2017
Oscar Manuel (left), 46, and his brother Roosevelt Manuel, 43, have lived on Milwaukee’s North Side their entire lives. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of 15 pieces about the Milwaukee Open Housing marches, which took place 50 years ago beginning on Aug. 28, 1967. Watch for the stories every Monday and Thursday through the end of July.
For 200 consecutive days, advocates including Vel Phillips, the Rev. James Groppi, the NAACP Youth Council and hundreds of African-American residents led a push for open housing that took marchers north to south, across the Sixteenth Street Viaduct and onto what is now known as Cesar E. Chavez Drive. August will mark the 50th anniversary of Milwaukee’s Open Housing Marches, which sparked the passage of a municipal open housing law — one with more teeth than the federal and state laws in place at the time — and along with it the promise that the city’s housing would one day be integrated.
That hope is stale now, as Milwaukee continues to hover at or near the top of lists that measure residential segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas. That won’t surprise most Milwaukeeans, who’ve grown accustomed to neighborhoods nearly void of black/white diversity.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
“The only time you see Caucasians in the neighborhood is when they’re riding through in their cars,” said Roosevelt Manuel, 43.
Manuel, who works in construction, lives on North 17th Street in the 53206 ZIP code. According to 2011-15 estimates from the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the 53206 ZIP code has 25,179 African-Americans residents and 632 whites.
While African Americans have, in increasing numbers, moved to the near South Side neighborhoods that activists marched into 50 years ago, those neighborhoods are no longer white; they have been populated mainly by Hispanics for decades. White and black Milwaukeeans remain segregated.
There are many reasons why Milwaukee’s segregation continues to fester like an infected wound, according to researchers, housing policy analysts, community leaders and residents. They include fair housing ordinances that continue to be difficult to enforce; the impact of historic discriminatory policies such as racially restrictive covenants, redlining and other unfair lending practices; freeway projects such as the construction of I-43 that facilitated white flight and isolated central city neighborhoods; and the unwillingness of suburban Milwaukee counties to provide affordable housing options or welcome non-white neighbors, according to Reggie Jackson, head griot at America’s Black Holocaust Museum, and others.
Combine those factors with the collapse of industry in Milwaukee, which limited social mobility for the city’s suddenly exploding low-income population, and the end result is “little progress over the last 50 years, when it comes to ending segregation,” Jackson added.
Houses on the 3300 block of North 8th Street are similar to the North Side homes razed to build I-43. (Photo by Adam Carr)
Referring to the lack of affordable housing options in the suburbs, the Rev. Willie Brisco told a crowd gathered for a Community Brainstorming Conference in April, “What they’re telling us … is, ‘We want your labor but we don’t want you around our homes or around our children.” Brisco is president emeritus of Milwaukee Inner-City the Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH).
According to Jackson, who has conducted research on segregation, 91 percent of blacks in the Milwaukee metro area live in the city of Milwaukee, while 58 percent work there.
“The suburbs won’t build enough housing to accommodate residents of the inner city who work there because they don’t want us there,” said Manuel.
Dr. Marcus Britton, an associate professor of sociology at University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee, said across the nation, housing segregation has decreased slowly, but substantially. Though areas in the Midwest and Northeast have seen less progress, Milwaukee remains an outlier even among them, Britton said.
“Progress has been slower here. The Milwaukee metro area has the lowest rates of black suburbanization,” Britton explained. In other metro areas, segregation is more likely to be based on income level, but in Milwaukee, that’s less the case, he added.
“Even blacks that have more resources are more likely to live in a low-income neighborhood than poor whites,” Britton said.
The result of racial inequities due to segregation is devastating. African-Americans living in segregated neighborhoods are more likely to live in poverty, leading to the social ills — lower educational attainment, mass incarceration, teenage pregnancy, increased exposure to violence and other negative health consequences — that accompany it, he said. .
Black neighborhoods are also more likely to have polluting facilities and failing schools, Britton added. In late March, North Side residents gathered at Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, 2505 W. Cornell St., to voice concerns about the mishandling of hazardous chemicals by a local drum refurbishing company. During the meeting, 74-year-old Ruby Snowden, who lives near Lloyd Barbee Montessori School, said, “You know, it’s benign neglect. It’s about the haves and have-nots.”
Sitting in a coffee shop in Sherman Park, Jackson recalls a much more hopeful Milwaukee.
Reggie Jackson, head griot at America’s Black Holocaust Museum, has studied residential segregation in Milwaukee. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
“When I grew up in the 53206 neighborhood it was thriving. The impact of segregation and the crashing economy was the perfect storm,” said Jackson, who gives presentations around the city about the subject. His audiences are typically very diverse and typically lack a full understanding of segregation in Milwaukee, he said.
“People aren’t paying attention to how we got to where we are now. The level of distrust between communities because of segregation has gotten us to the point where people don’t even recognize the need to live in diverse communities,” Jackson said.
Manuel agrees. “When Caucasians come to the North Side, they’re scared to get carjacked and when we go to the suburbs we’re scared that we’re going to get arrested and go to prison,” he said.
Federal policies meant to integrate neighborhoods across the country, including Milwaukee, have never fully succeeded, according to Kori Schneider-Peragine, a senior administrator of the Inclusive Communities Program at Milwaukee Metropolitan Fair Housing Council (MMFHC). The often-ignored aspect of the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 is that cities were required to proactively reverse residential segregation, Schneider-Peragine said.
A new regulation meant to enforce that promise, “affirmatively furthering fair housing,” was adopted in 2015 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Obama administration, but is currently in jeopardy, she added. It required cities and towns that receive federal funding to examine their housing practices by utilizing publicly available data and other tools to uncover bias based on race and other factors. The grantees are to utilize the findings to set priorities and goals to meet longstanding fair housing obligations.
“There is no fair housing. They won’t build affordable housing in the suburbs so a lot of people end up stuck here without access to good jobs,” said Linda Wheeler, 55, as she stood on her faded red porch on West Center Street in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood.
Though policy changes can address the lack of affordable housing in the suburbs, it will be more difficult to end covert discrimination, Schneider-Peragine said. “You used to be able to tell someone to their face, ‘I don’t want to rent to you,’ but now you smile and tell them nothing’s available,” she added.
The mission of the MMFHC, where Schneider-Peragine has worked for 19 years, is to promote fair housing in the state by combatting housing discrimination. The council conducts investigations utilizing faux renters with similar income levels, but differing racial, gender or other characteristics to uncover discrimination. The organization also investigates claims of unfair lending practices and provides trainings on fair housing regulations for housing providers and others.
In recent months there has been an increase in hate crimes and other aggressive actions reported to the council, according to Schneider-Peragine. “Lately it’s been not so subtle,” she said.
Unfortunately, according to Jackson, the Fair Housing Council doesn’t have enough staff to investigate all the instances of unfair housing practices, nor are most of them reported. With limited incomes and housing options, residents of Milwaukee’s central city are likely to remain where they grew up or nearby, he added.
And while some of the city’s suburbs, such as Brown Deer, where 29 percent of residents are black, and Glendale, where 14 percent are black, have made progress toward desegregation by increasing the affordable housing options, most have not. In both Greendale and Hales Corners, only 1 percent of residents are black, according to 2010 U.S. Census data compiled by Jackson.
Jackson wants Milwaukeeans to push elected officials to enforce existing open housing laws.
“If communities are discriminating in housing they should lose funding,” Jackson said. “Segregation didn’t happen organically; it was created.”

author: Edgar Mendez


text:
34191323234_1afaf5abca_k (2) | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 26, 2017


text:
Why has the black church lost its power? | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Byron Johnson
June 26, 2017
Local and national pastors and ministers preach at Tabernacle Community Baptist Church. (Photo by Byron Johnson)
Byron Johnson is a native of Milwaukee and is a candidate for licensed ministry at Tabernacle Community Baptist Church. He graduated from American Baptist College in Nashville, where he studied Bible and theology. In this piece, he discusses the prominence of the black church in his life.
White dresses, white hats, black suits, black ties, big colorful robes, big chairs, long pews, choirs swaying, mothers and deacons with reserved seats up front, pastors and preachers jumping up and down with charismatic speeches, and people everywhere you turned!
For me, this was life! It was church on Sherman Boulevard Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. that formed my foundation and identity in faith. While gazing at the big stained glass windows as mom and I sat on the fourth pew down on the right side, it always felt like that was where I was supposed to be! While getting dressed, you knew what to expect. There was a sense of pride and respect for Sunday mornings. Your steps were a little lighter. You walked a little straighter. Your speech was correct. You were on your best behavior — because you were going to church. But for many, particularly in the black community, this holy routine may sound like a distant memory, nearly forgotten in recent years.
“Christians and church go together. We cannot have one without the other,” said a local Milwaukee pastor during a recent “Brotherhood Sunday” worship service.
For most black folk, it has long been a source of identity to say you were a churchgoer. It is the place where you gather for a central reason: God. Where you can let go of thinking about the burdens and worries of the week, and be a part of a community where you can pray and gain hope, be encouraged, be enlightened, and be somebody.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Our ancestors needed this especially. It was in the 18th and 19th centuries, through bondage of slavery, abuse and oppression of power, and being feared into believing a dominant white “slave to master” theology, where the Negro church was born! Our black people needed a place of rescue and resolve. A refuge for worship and communication to the divine for hope, to feed and nourish their souls by a divine spiritual power that proved it was on their side. This is known as the Invisible Institution.
The church has always been there. Even within the heartbeat of the civil rights movement, the unity of people and the organization of the black sacred space was the backbone of power and transformation. The black church stood and fought for the morals and values that were necessary for the quality and equality of every life. It was unapologetically who it was. Providing life within itself, it served its people with what the outside world would not give them. It was a space for opportunity, education, arts, business and family. Pride and relationship to the black church was built upon these foundations.
In Milwaukee, in this 21st century, this affection remains for many individuals. In many ways, the chaos we face today is not terribly different than other trying times in our history. And older generations understand this. However, there seems to be a major gap in commitment and dedication to the church. And I don’t think it’s because folks merely want to sleep in on Sunday morning. As a new society arises, new language surfaces about “church” with the unveiling of a few issues. Actually, a lot of issues. And I believe these issues have far too long been important. The church, NOW, needs to have the “mirror-talk.”
“Why is the church so quiet about racism?” “Why does prosperity seem more important these days?” “Is the black church dead?” “Much of my abuse came from the church because I was gay.” “What does the church have to say about all the killings in our city?” “Is the church effective anymore?” “Has the church lost its identity?” “I’m no longer religious, but I am spiritual.” These statements and questions stem from popular conversations in the new-age society as of late that critique the role of the church in our community. The volume of these particular conversations continues to elevate, as real-life issues become the magnifying glass through which individuals critically examine the church and relationship to the divine.
In my opinion, the church can no longer be scared to have the conversation about how to embrace the problems in our city and our world in a more relevant and effective way. #BlackLivesMatter, HIV/AIDS, LGBTQA rights, depression and mental illness are just the tip of the iceberg of what needs the church’s attention. But have we been too quiet?
If the church is to remain relevant we must examine its call to power. We must examine the church’s intergenerational relationships and seek ways to mend the gap. Then we have to envision the church’s future in changing societies. It’s time to get uncomfortable in many of our self-serving traditions and look outward to develop transformative strategies for the neighborhoods and streets we live in. Church, let’s have the conversation!

author: Byron Johnson


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 25, 2017


text:
Pete’s Pops debuts “Near West Side” popsicle at Harley-Davidson and MillerCoors | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Near West Side Partners, Inc
June 27, 2017
Near West Side Partners, Inc. (NWSP) announced today that its inaugural Rev-Up MKE competition winner, Pete Cooney of Pete’s Pops, will bring a “Pop-Up Popsicle Stand” to Near West Side Partners anchor institutions, Harley-Davidson and MillerCoors, to debut the “Near West Side” popsicle for organization employees.
Pete’s Pops is a local, Milwaukee company offering fresh fruit and cream popsicles, otherwise known as paletas, in many unique flavor combinations. The small business, run by Marquette University alumnus Pete Cooney, is currently partnering with another Near West Side organization, Milwaukee Center For Independence (MCFI), to utilize their commercial kitchen. To celebrate his commitment to the Near West Side community, Pete recently unveiled Pete’s Pops’ new “Near West Side” popsicle flavor, sweet tea lemonade. A portion of each Near West Side pop sale this summer will be donated to support the work of Near West Side Partners.
Rev-Up MKE is a small business competition to promote local business development and increase neighborhood employment in the Near West Side. The competition provides an opportunity for start-up entrepreneurs to expand or start a business and get the support needed to make it successful in the Near West Side community. As part of the competition, six finalists will receive hands-on business training from the Near West Side anchor institutions in preparation for a “Shark Tank”-style live pitch event. The final winner will receive significant resources to support their new venture, which will be located in a Near West Side storefront.
Applications are still open for the 2017 Rev-Up MKE competition. Interested entrepreneurs can visit www.nearwestsidemke.org/revupmke for more information or to apply.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!

author: Near West Side Partners, Inc


text:
Summer food service program provides free meals for Milwaukee youth | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Keith Schubert
June 27, 2017
Kids enjoy a free meal program provided by the Milwaukee Summer Food Service program. (Photo courtesy of Hunger Task Force)
Finding free meals for children during the summer is as easy as dialing 211.
Press “4” for the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and then enter your ZIP code for dates, meal times and what meals are served at the locations nearest you.
You also can visit the Hunger Task Force website or look for the bright green signs that say free summer meals.
Free summer meals for those under 18 are offered at 138 locations in the city of Milwaukee.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Not all meal sites have the same meal schedule. While some locations might serve breakfast and lunch, others serve lunch and dinner. Fifty of the locations serve all three meals. For a complete list of locations, meal times and what meals are served at individual locations click here. For an interactive map of the locations click here.
Children drink juice boxes during a snack break. (Photo courtesy of Hunger Task Force)
For more than 12 years the Hunger Task Force has partnered with Milwaukee Public Schools, West Milwaukee Public Schools, the Social Development Commission, Milwaukee Center for Independence (MCFI), the Salvation Army, the YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs of America to help feed kids through the summer.
“A lot of cities don’t collaborate, and that is the key to making sure every kid is well fed,” said Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force.
“During the school year, we can offer a free breakfast, lunch and dinner program to every student enrolled in MPS. In the summer, without school, many kids don’t get three healthy meals,” said MPS nutrition dietician Christina Austin.
For breakfast, an eight-ounce carton of milk, a fruit or vegetable and a whole grain option such as cereal or breakfast crackers are available. Meat or meat substitutes are added at lunch and dinner.
Approximately 25 percent of children in Milwaukee live in poverty, which means they don’t have adequate access to meals, said Tussler.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, during the school year, more than 21 million children rely on free and reduced-price meals provided by the National School Lunch Program but only about 3.8 million participate in the USDA’s summer meal programs.
“With MPS providing the meals, the kids are in a safe place where they can go and have programming or enrichment activities as well as get a meal,” said Austin.
Any child who is hungry can get a meal, added Tussler. “Let’s say a kid is staying with their grandma for the summer and across the street is a summer school program. Even if the child isn’t in the program, he can still go there to get a meal.
“If a kid is in care somewhere, whether it’s summer school or a recreation program or literally out playing in a park, they should have access to summer meals,” she said.


text:
Andre Lee Ellis set to take mentoring program to youth in detention | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
June 28, 2017
Andre Lee Ellis meets with young inmates at the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center for the first time. (Photo by Carleen Ranfranz)
The founder of “We Got This,” a mentoring program for black boys, will be working with youth at the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center this summer.
The school operated at the Juvenile Justice Center has been awarded a $6,900 grant from the Education Foundation of Wauwatosa to hire community youth organizer Andre Lee Ellis to work with boys in the “Garden of Hope” at the center.
“We are always on the lookout for outside opportunities. We want to expose our students to places where they can find positive (people and activities),” said art teacher Mitch Siefert. Siefert and Carleen Ranfranz, who has taught math and special education at the center for 17 years, designed the project and proposal.
The Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center in Wauwatosa houses the Milwaukee County Children’s Court, a detention facility and school for youth. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Staff volunteers are constructing garden beds in a concrete courtyard surrounded by detainee living quarters. There are plans to paint murals on the garden beds and courtyard walls, Ranfranz said.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
In a description of the grant, the foundation wrote: “Carleen Ranfranz and Mitch Siefert will now have the multidisciplinary resource of a courtyard garden and outdoor classroom to work toward (Wauwatosa) district learning objectives including goal setting, decision making, advocacy and mental and emotional health.”
Ellis, who is employing and mentoring boys for the fourth summer in a garden he built in the Borchert Field neighborhood, will use the same model to help detention center youth.
Enthusiastic about working with the youth “in the system,” Ellis said he will cultivate their minds like he cultivates the soil in a garden. “I will show them the difference between dirt and soil. As long as they think it’s dirt, they’ll step all over it but when they start to look at it as soil, they’ll walk around it and they’ll want it to live because they want to see what comes out of it,” Ellis said.
He wants to help them “understand the benefits of the sunshine… of the water… the benefits of timing and being patient and waiting because (they will) know something beautiful is coming.”
The facility, which can hold as many as 120 youth ages 11 to 17, currently houses 110. The majority are African-American boys who stay only until the legal process results in sentences to group homes, residential treatment centers, probation with electronic monitoring or other results. “Most are there for days, weeks or up to a year depending on the court case,” Ranfranz explained.
Ranfranz added that she hopes working in the garden with Ellis would give the youths a constructive contact in the community when they are released.
“Everyone’s pretty thrilled that we received the grant,” said Dean Heus, the school principal. “The intent is that students will see a connection between something they do at the center and something out in the community that will support them.”
“That’s the hope” in the Garden of Hope, Heus added.

author: Andrea Waxman


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 27, 2017


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 28, 2017


text:
Mayor Barrett announces Earn & Learn all-star team | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Mayor Tom Barrett
June 28, 2017
Mayor Tom Barrett announced his Earn & Learn All-Star Team, a new collaborative partnership with the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Brewers, and Milwaukee Admirals to support his Earn & Learn summer youth employment program.
Each sports team has made a significant contribution to the program. In addition, each team will donate items and host engagement events for program participants to motivate these young residents to work hard this summer.
“We are all getting in the game this summer as part of my new Earn & Learn All-Star Team,” Mayor Barrett said. “We are committed to creating hope and opportunity in the lives of Milwaukee’s teens. By joining with Wisconsin’s major sports teams, we are enhancing our positive impact on providing job readiness training to local youth.”
This partnership is unprecedented and represents a commitment by Mayor Barrett in making this a banner year for Earn & Lean’s efforts to employ Milwaukee teens.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Mayor Barrett’s Earn & Learn program helps young people make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood by providing opportunities to develop work-readiness skills. Under the leadership of Mayor Barrett, Earn & Learn has placed more than 28,000 young people in summer jobs.
Earn & Learn is operated jointly by Employ Milwaukee, Inc. and the Department of City Development (DCD), and collaborates with local business, non-profit, and community- and faith-based organizations.
To learn more about Earn & Learn, visit Milwaukee.gov/EarnandLearn.

author: Mayor Tom Barrett


text:
MPS Superintendent chosen to lead national coalition of urban school systems | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Public Schools
June 28, 2017
Dr. Darienne Driver, Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, becomes chair of the Council of the Great City Schools‘ Board of Directors for a one-year term effective July 1.
She will preside over the policymaking body of the nation’s primary coalition of large urban public school systems, succeeding Felton Williams, a school board member of California’s Long Beach Unified School District.
“I am humbled to take on this leadership position to help serve our country’s young people in urban public school systems,” said Driver. “This is a critical time for public education and I look forward to continuing the important work of the Council of Great City Schools.”
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Dr. Darienne Driver, Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools
The 136-member board is composed of the superintendent and one school board member from each of the 68 big-city school districts represented by the Council.
Superintendent Driver moves up to the chair post after serving as chair-elect. That position will now be assumed by Lawrence Feldman, a school board member of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
Rounding out the Council’s 2017-18 leadership team will be Chief Executive Officer Eric Gordon of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, who has been elected to the secretary-treasurer post that was held by Feldman.  Gordon was deemed the Council’s 2016 Urban Educator of the Year by his peers.
“With energy and experience, the Council’s board is in capable hands with Dr. Driver and her leadership team. Our urban school reforms and improvements will continue to advance under their guidance,” says Council Executive Director Michael Casserly, who is beginning his 41st year with the coalition and completing 25 years at the helm.
For more information, visit http://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/News/Milwaukee-Public-Schools-Superintendent–To-Lead-Council-of-the-Great-City-Schools.htm

author: Milwaukee Public Schools


text:
Hayes students exposed to STEM careers through GE Girls program | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Hailey Richards
June 30, 2017
Leslie Villanueva and Natalie Perez Rivera, students at Hayes Bilingual School, build “Snap Circuits.” (Photo by Hailey Richards)
As an incoming eighth grader at Hayes Bilingual School, Esmeralda Léon knew she had a natural talent for math and science, yet never thought about a future career in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
“I didn’t know anyone who worked as an engineer or even in science. It wasn’t until my friends told me about GE Girls that I thought about a career in STEM,” said Esmeralda.
Esmeralda is one of six girls from Hayes, out of a total of 36 girls, invited to participate in the five-day GE Girls program, which ran through June 19. Featuring classes, mentorship and team-building activities, GE Girls is an annual summer program intended to foster and develop middle school girls’ interest in STEM.
The students met at Milwaukee School of Engineering three times, and also took field trips to GE Power and GE Healthcare. Funding is provided by GE Power, in partnership with GE Healthcare, GE Woman’s Network, MSOE and the Waukesha School District.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Natalie Perez Rivera places a fan on a Snap Circuit board. (Photo by Hailey Richards)
“I know girls who were good at math and science but didn’t have anyone encouraging them to continue or show them how they can use that talent, so they completely missed out. Here I have people motivating me to explore the idea of a future in STEM,” said Esmeralda.
She acknowledged having doubts about the program, but was later excited about the opportunity when her parents, immigrants from Mexico, impressed upon her the importance of exposure to STEM careers.
“I’m really excited to learn more, especially about healthcare technology. I know that I can work hard and push myself to be anything when I grow up,” she added.
Offered free of charge to participants, the program sprouted from a challenge from GE CEO Jeff Immelt to introduce more women to STEM careers.
According to Pam Washburn, GE Girls co-coordinator, only one of four people in STEM is a woman. By the year 2020 GE hope to increase that to 50 percent.
“When it comes to women in STEM there are so many obstacles that begin at such a young age,” said Washburn.
Studies show that middle school is the critical time during which girls strengthen or lose interest in STEM, according to GE Girls.
Washburn attributes the scarcity of women in STEM to a lack of exposure and role models. “The goal of GE Girls is to find girls who are primarily on the fence when it comes to enjoying science, and give them exposure to STEM, while motivating and inspiring them,” she added.
Over the past six years, 176 girls have participated in the program, which includes activities such as jewelry making to emulate supply chain management, soldering and building electronic devices with “Snap Circuits,” an educational toy that teaches children about electricity.
Irais Cabral, a science teacher at Hayes, has selected 11 girls to participate during the last two summers.
“When I choose girls to be a part of this program I often think about the socio-economic background that many minorities come from that can be limiting to exposure or role models in STEM fields,” said Cabral.
According to a report by the Girl Scouts Research Institute, “African-American and Hispanic girls have high interest in STEM, high confidence, and a strong work ethic, but have fewer supports, less exposure, and lower academic achievement than Caucasian girls.”
“We want the girls to know that they don’t have to stay in a certain field, career or even neighborhood,” said Cabral. “These girls will know that with passion and drive they can choose to be anything.”
Natalie Perez Rivera, an 11-year-old participant from Hayes, grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Milwaukee about a year ago.
“I didn’t know what kind of careers were available to me until I came here,” Natalie said of the program. “I wake up every day excited to be here. All the women are so inspiring.”
“When we went to see the engines at GE Power … I was so happy to know that I could be there one day. I just don’t understand how anyone can say women can’t do this or that when I can see them doing it perfectly well myself,” she added.


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
June 29, 2017