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Special Report: Residents Preference Program a promise unfulfilled | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jabril Faraj
October 24, 2016
The new Northwestern Mutual Commons (center) a $325 million development project, can be seen from the near North Side. (Photo by Jabril Faraj) (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
In January 2013, Fabian Hinkle had just been caught with five grams of crack cocaine. The charge, possession with intent to sell, would have put Hinkle, who had already served a total of 15 months for two earlier marijuana-related cases, behind bars for 11 years.
While he was awaiting sentencing in the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, Hinkle learned his ex-girlfriend was pregnant.
“Honestly, I prayed,” he said. “I was like, ‘God, if you let me out of this, I’ll quit selling drugs.’” The case was eventually thrown out because the evidence against Hinkle was obtained in an illegal search.
Now a third-year plumbing apprentice, Hinkle is building a future for himself, at least partially thanks to the Residents Preference Program, a City of Milwaukee program that helps unemployed and underemployed city residents get work on large development projects. Hinkle worked on the new Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons development downtown early this year.
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The Northwestern Mutual Commons, a $325 million project, has employed RPP workers. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
“I went from nothing to making good money,” said Hinkle, who said the starting wage for a plumbing apprentice is about $16 an hour. “When I top out, I’ll be making close to $100,000 a year.”
He added, “I get my daughter every weekend, pay my child support and she’s on my insurance. There’s nothing more I can ask for. I’ve got a good job with a 401k, a pension, healthcare.”
The Residents Preference Program (RPP) has provided opportunity for struggling city residents but, according to multiple interviews with workers, aldermen and other city officials, the program must be better funded and more closely monitored to achieve the greatest impact.
Mark Kessenich, president of WRTP/Big Step, a nonprofit workforce organization whose mission is to connect people to family-sustaining jobs, said the RPP could be a tool to address some of the most pressing issues Milwaukee is facing.
“If we’re going to tackle unemployment, underemployment, get at some of the issues of diversity that are pervasive, we need to go to the spot where we see the best training and education, the best wages and working conditions and the best chance for career advancement,” said Kessenich, referring to the construction industry.
RPP was created by former alderman and mayor Marvin Pratt in 1991 as a Department of Public Works (DPW) program. In 2009, as a result of legislation commonly referred to as the Milwaukee Opportunities Restoring Employment (M.O.R.E.) Ordinance, it was expanded to include privately owned projects overseen by the Department of City Development that receive city funding.
Chapter 355 of the city’s ordinances states that 40 percent of the workers on development projects that receive more than $1 million in direct financial assistance from the city must be unemployed or underemployed residents. That includes people who have not worked in the last month, have worked less than 1,200 hours during the last year or whose income is below the federal poverty line.
But the program is not enough, said Milwaukee NAACP President Fred Royal. He said it needs to provide improved long-term economic outcomes for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Kessenich agreed. “Anything short of that, I feel like … we’re [short]-changing the people that we are dedicated to serve.”
Crime, incarceration and unemployment
The ordinance required 15 percent of the workers on DPW projects to come from areas eligible for federal Community Development Block Grants (CDGB), which include many of Milwaukee’s lowest-income neighborhoods. Eventually, that requirement was raised to 25 percent, before increasing to 40 percent in 2009.
Pratt, who lived in the 53206 ZIP code at the time, said his goal was “to employ those people who were chronically unemployed or underemployed.” Although the majority of those individuals were African-American, he said the RPP couldn’t be race-specific because block grant funds are not distributed in a race-specific way.
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Federal stimulus funds in 2009, combined with a city ordinance requiring 40 percent of workers on city-funded development projects to be unemployed or underemployed, might have provided opportunities for residents who needed them most. But for multiple reasons, it fell short.
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Pratt did not find many in government, or outside of it, who were supportive. “The unions were pretty entrenched relative to protecting their members,” he said, adding that both the members of most unions and the contractors were predominantly white.
In Wisconsin, black unemployment is nearly 20 percent, the highest in the nation, according to a 2015 study by the Economic Policy Institute. Research by Marc Levine, director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), shows employment rates for black males in Milwaukee have plummeted since 1970.
Between 1970 and 2007, a year before the worldwide economic downturn, the percentage of black males in their prime working years (25-54) with a job declined 28 points, from 84.8 to 56.8 percent. The percentage for employed white males dropped less than five points over the same period, to 85.1 percent. According to Levine, as of 2010, less than 45 percent of Milwaukee’s entire population of working-age black men was employed.
In Milwaukee County, more than half of African-American men in their 30s have served time in state prison; one in eight black men in Milwaukee County is currently incarcerated. A 2013 study by John Pawasarat and Lois M. Quinn of UWM’s Employment and Training Institute said governmental policies and practices in Wisconsin have led to this mass incarceration, including increased funding for drug enforcement and prison construction, mandatory minimum sentences and disproportionate policing of minority communities.
The study shows more than 26,000 black men from Milwaukee County were incarcerated between 1990 and 2011. Forty percent were drug offenders and a third had only non-violent offenses. According to the report, “prison time is the most serious barrier to employment.”
Ald. Russell Stamper, who recently oversaw an effort to enhance RPP, noted, “The number one way to fight crime is through employment.”
Opportunity
Fabian Hinkle describes himself as “the typical stereotype of a young black man,” before the incident that set him straight. He said he “can’t really make excuses for it” but that his situation was the result of not being exposed to opportunities that other people might have access to.
“You’re a product of your environment,” said Roy B. Evans, an attorney who was a member of Milwaukee County’s first Minority Business Enterprise Committee, established in 1983. “You don’t necessarily want to deal drugs — you want to have a job to support yourself and your family. You don’t want to face the prospect of 20 years in prison, you don’t want to face the prospect of getting killed, but that’s the environment that you’re in.”
Adam Dokes, a second-year plumbing apprentice who is certified under RPP, said he made some bad decisions as a teenager. When he was 18, Dokes was convicted on a drug charge and served five years behind bars. While incarcerated, he took some college classes and construction-related courses. When he was released, Dokes got involved in a training program at WRTP/Big Step.
“Sometimes, you grow up … around certain things. And, when you grow up around it, as a kid, you tend to think that it’s not as wrong as it really is — it’s somewhat like a ‘normal’ to you,” said Dokes. “It’s not until … somebody invests in you enough to tell you that there’s another way (that things change).”
Luckily for Dokes, he had someone in his life, a pastor and family friend, who believed and invested in him. “For me, it’s kind of fulfilling to be able to use these same hands that I used to destroy the same community I live in … to also build and give back.”
Hinkle was asked to leave his first plumbing apprenticeship because he was not performing adequately. He found it difficult to have “somebody else tell me what to do, how to do it, and how fast I should be doing it,” he said. Hinkle said he was used to making his own money and doing things when and how he wanted.
“You’ve got to get out of that mindset, and you’ve got to open your mind. You can’t just be stuck in your old ways,” he said. “I’m not selling drugs no more — this is a whole different environment.” Hinkle started an apprenticeship for the second time in 2013.
In addition to the challenges many young men of color face in Milwaukee, finding employment in the construction industry can be hard for non-white workers because the jobs, and acceptance into unions, often depend on relationships.
“No one really wants to hire you offhand unless you know somebody,” said Lewis Gregory, 46, who was certified under RPP in February 2011. At that time, Gregory had just been admitted to the Milwaukee Laborers’ Union 113 and found work shortly after in the construction industry as a dump truck driver with a company in Waukesha, starting at $32 an hour. Gregory said he wanted to get back into construction because his wife had gotten tired of him being on the road.
But that job didn’t last long. In early November 2011, he was laid off and told there would be no more work until March; Gregory said he couldn’t wait that long.
A commercial truck driver since 1991 who holds multiple license certifications, Gregory went back to long-haul trucking where he was earning $2,500 every two weeks in a salaried position.
A couple years later, Gregory tried to get back into the industry once again, but wasn’t able to find work.
“There’s a lot of minorities that [are] certified and in a union, and we always get passed [over for] work,” said Gregory, who is black. “Construction is a field [where] you still have a lot of prejudice going on, and everybody knows about it. So, that’s the problem. Minorities don’t get the opportunity — the only way we get in is we’ve got to know somebody working there.”
He added, “I don’t know anybody in construction. So, that was that, you know?”
For others, such as Dokes, there are challenges even once they get into the industry. Before becoming a plumbing apprentice, Dokes worked as a non-indentured electrician at Roman Electric for seven years, a job he got through WRTP/Big Step. In 2011, DPW determined that Dokes had been underpaid for 546 hours of work on a development project.
In an email to Dokes in March 2011, a DPW employee wrote: “Per phone conversation with Jan of Roman Electric at 1:30 this date, she tells me that Roman is ready to cut a check for $14,933.64 once you return their tools to them.”
Dokes was let go that day. He said it is not uncommon for a worker in that situation to be laid off. Dokes has no doubt that the firing was retaliatory, but when the company says it’s because there isn’t enough work, it’s hard to dispute. On top of that, he said making trouble for contractors can cause trouble.
“A lot of the contractors are both employers and a lot of them are also on committees — union committees, they’re on the boards of apprenticeship committees — so, you kind of tick people off and it can get pretty volatile real quick.”
Spokesperson Sandy Rusch-Walton said DPW will withhold payments to a contractor when it gets a notice of underpayment of wages, but does not get involved past that. “We do not get involved in the circumstances of why an employee may have been let go. There could be a variety of reasons that may or may not be related to the payment of wages,” she said.
She added that DPW is no longer involved in Dokes’ situation. Phil Rose, president of Roman Electric, did not respond to requests for comment.
Hinkle said many contractors will contract with small, minority businesses to cover the hours needed to fill the requirement on projects and, once that’s done, the individuals are out of a job.
“It’s happened to me quite a few times working for different companies,” Hinkle said. “When they need you they need you; when they don’t, they don’t.”
Royal said the focus should not be on fulfilling an hours requirement for developers and contractors, but rather on creating long-term opportunity for individuals. “We have to make this a sustainable career ladder.”
Hinkle said, despite the drawbacks, there are a lot of positives. He estimates about 30 to 40 percent of the jobs he’s worked as an apprentice were because of RPP; it’s honest work that’s allowed him to feed his family legally. He said more people should get involved in the skilled trades. There are almost 20 skilled trades and “trades within trades,” according to Kessenich.
Milwaukee NAACP President Fred Royal has been vocal about the need to improve the RPP. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
The work isn’t easy, but it’s rewarding. Hinkle, who’s making almost $25 an hour as a third-year apprentice, is looking forward to the raise he’ll get when he graduates to fourth-year status, and beyond that to journeyman wages of just under $40 per hour. He and Dokes each said his goal is to become a master plumber and open his own business.
“This is a knowledge that no one can take from me,” Hinkle said. “I’ll never be broke again a day in my life.”
Adolfo Perez, who has been a mechanical insulator since 2006 and is RPP certified, estimated 40 percent of the work he’s done has been through the program. He said that before construction, he worked a series of low-wage jobs.
“I was doing anything and working anywhere where they would hire me, pretty much,” said Perez. “I never stayed long enough at a company, because I didn’t like what I was doing at the time.”
Now, he’s making $32 an hour as a journeyman. He said it’s a lot of responsibility but he has acquired the skills to know what he’s doing and the variety keeps it interesting. “We go from job site to job site and every job is different. I never know what I’m going to do next week.”
Evans, who’s been involved in workforce development since the ‘80s, lives near 43rd Street and North Avenue. He said it’s difficult to walk down the street in his neighborhood and see the hopelessness there. It doesn’t make sense, particularly when hope is abundant elsewhere, he added.
“I go out in Wauwatosa and, then, I see hope, I feel hope — you know? — I experience hope,” said Evans. “That should be the same all over.”
Working for residents
The Residents Preference Program is about trying to “address longstanding disconnections in the labor market” to benefit people who have not traditionally been aware of opportunities that exist, said Kessenich, president of WRTP/Big Step. He added that perhaps those people have wanted to get involved in the trades but didn’t have the necessary skills.
“We want folks to not just be certified, we want them to be qualified and work-ready,” said Kessenich.
Royal agreed. “We can’t just have an RPP certification — a piece of paper that says ‘I’ve been unemployed … I make less than $34,000 and I live in the City of Milwaukee. Currently, that’s what an RPP certification says.”
At the beginning of this year, the city’s Workforce Organizational Reform Committee, led by Stamper, held a series of meetings with developers, contractors, unions and community members as part of a process to update Chapter 355 and Chapter 370, which governs the Small Business Enterprise program.
The resulting ordinance, passed in June, removed a limit that only allowed workers to be RPP-certified for five years. It requires one-quarter of RPP workers on a given project to be from one of the five most impoverished ZIP codes in Milwaukee; created further incentives for employing and training RPP workers; included tougher sanctions for contractors or developers that fail to meet requirements; and created a commission to review compliance, performance and other aspects of the program.
“This piece of legislation’s going to be big for the way we do business with contractors and with developers moving forward in Milwaukee,” said Stamper.
Current RPP projects include the Northwestern Mutual Commons and the Posner Building development, 152 W. Wisconsin Ave., which have a combined cost of more than $333 million. Future projects that will eclipse the $1 million threshold include the new Bucks arena, The Couture and the downtown streetcar. Stamper stressed that Milwaukee’s struggling populations need to be included in — and benefit from — this development boom, which he estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
In a November 2015 interview, Ald. Ashanti Hamilton said he would like to see the RPP requirement apply not only to these massive projects, but to every development in the city. “I think the attention that the program is getting now is raising the profile of the program and is raising the community expectation of what can be done,” Hamilton said.
He added, “It needs to be a priority for the administration.”
Diverse, qualified individuals are available, Kessenich said. WRTP/Big Step has certified 4,848 people since 2009, when the M.O.R.E. Ordinance was enacted; the organization has certified more than 75 percent of RPP workers between 2011 and 2015. Kessenich said Big Step doesn’t receive any funding for the certifications it performs, which he estimated take about 30 minutes each.
As of January, the total pool of RPP-certified individuals was 8,757, according to a Public Policy Forum report released early this year. A total of 1,426 RPP-certified individuals were active on at least one city of Milwaukee public works project between 2010 and 2015.
The number of hours RPP-certified individuals work on development projects has been increasing. In 2014, 411 RPP-certified individuals worked 124,880 hours on city-supported private development projects, according to numbers from the city’s Office of Small Business Development (OSBD). In 2015, 548 RPP workers logged more than 250,000 hours on such projects. That increase was due to the Northwestern Mutual development, on which 48 percent of the hours worked were by RPP workers, according to the 2015 annual RPP participation report.
Chapter 355 requires a city agency or its designee to refer qualified RPP-certified workers — before the positions are advertised elsewhere — to development projects that receive direct financial assistance from the city.
According to Hamilton, a Memorandum of Understanding in 2009 designated Employ Milwaukee, formerly the Milwaukee Workforce Investment Board, as the agency responsible for these referrals.
However, Earl Buford, president and CEO of Employ Milwaukee since June 2014, said that during his tenure the organization has not performed the duties stated in the ordinance.
Buford said he was never told the duties that were expected, nor how to achieve them. “The city council can’t mandate that we serve in that role,” Buford said. “What they can do is approach us and develop the process for how to do that. That has not happened.”
Employ Milwaukee receives between $8 million and $10 million per year of federal Workforce Investment Act dollars to fund training programs and coordinate employment opportunities between contractors and workers. According to Buford, Employ Milwaukee funds “pretty much every training program in town around construction,” including some with Big Step.
Employ Milwaukee is the agency that is “most deeply involved in workforce training and workforce development” in Milwaukee, according to Rob Henken, president of the Public Policy Forum (PPF), a local, nonpartisan think tank. He said that the organization would be a “logical” choice for the first-source role because it receives and distributes the Workforce Investment Act funds, adding, “This is their charge.”
The apparent confusion over who is responsible for referring RPP workers for jobs contributes to the program’s failure to fulfill its promise. “I think that’s part of the challenge that we’ve had with meeting some of the goals of the program,” Hamilton said.
But sources also said lack of training for RPP-certified individuals is a major problem. Only 14 of the 411 RPP workers who were employed on development projects in 2014 were apprentices or on-the-job trainees.
Rashawn Spivey, a master plumber and owner of Hero Plumbing, said RPP workers are typically good for “general labor help” but do not have enough training to work in a highly skilled trade such as plumbing.
Spivey noted that when high-priced journeymen must be used to train a new worker it’s difficult to be competitive. A typical plumbing apprenticeship includes 8,000 hours of work, he said. In the old trade-school model, a high school graduate would already have 3,000 hours in a particular trade. Spivey stressed the need for pre-apprenticeship training.
Buford said he thinks there should be training attached to an RPP certification, but that is up to city policy-makers to decide. “That’s not our decision to make,” he said.
Originally, Chapter 355 required contractors and subcontractors to employ apprentices and on-the-job trainees. However, Stamper said there was no process set up to connect RPP-certified individuals with training opportunities.
“There were no apprenticeships,” he said. “None.”
The updated ordinance spells out requirements for the percentage of apprentices and on-the-job trainees on any development contract greater than $100,000 and states that one-quarter of apprentices and on-the-job trainees for contracts greater than $500,000 must be RPP-certified.
According to Kessenich, WRTP/Big Step is “half of the organization that [it] ought to be” to fully serve the local construction industry and provide people with the economic opportunity they need. He said much more could be done if there were “a more robust and aggressive approach to investing in the workforce.”
Referring to city lawmakers, Kessenich said, “If you want to implement ordinances, you’ve got to figure out who you’re putting the cost on.” He added that a lot of municipalities pass ordinances but they don’t fund efforts to help contractors meet the requirements.
No line items in the 2016 city budget are dedicated to RPP. Department of Administration Director Sharon Robinson said some city positions include responsibilities related to RPP, but was unable to provide a list of those positions.
According to Royal, four people employed by the City of Milwaukee are responsible for monitoring and enforcing RPP, the city’s Emerging Business Enterprise and Small Business Enterprise programs. He said the average city the size of Milwaukee has 11 people responsible for contract compliance and monitoring.
Joe Peterangelo, a senior researcher at the Public Policy Forum, said hiring goals and requirements will only do so much. He said effective programs similar to RPP in other cities are constantly monitoring whether more workers need to be trained to meet demand. He said, so far, that has not happened here.
“There needs to be long-term communication happening between these different stakeholders … to make [sure] the program actually [does] what it’s supposed to do,” said Peterangelo.
Employ Milwaukee needs to do better to implement Chapter 355, Stamper said, adding, “I think we all need to do better. I need to do better,” he said. “We have to do better because our city needs it.”
Stamper suggested creating an outreach program to certify residents and give them information about opportunities in the construction industry. A position for a Workforce Development Coordinator within the City Clerk’s office, which would be responsible for outreach and monitoring, is currently being advertised.
Evans is hopeful that the additional enforcement tools included in the updated ordinance will improve the program’s effectiveness, but he’s still skeptical whether the program will be allowed to work the way it’s supposed to.
“Racism is the alpha and omega of what is wrong in this city,” Evans said. “There will be challenges — and there should be — but my question is: are we ready to meet the challenge and finally say enough is enough?”
According to Royal, it’s not going to be easy. He said the city must be strategic about implementing the program, with an eye toward the future. “We’re changing the dynamics of an industry. We’re changing how an industry does business,” Royal said. “Once you’re comfortable doing something, it’s hard to break that routine.
“This is not going to happen overnight,” he said. “This is a five, 10-year plan.”
But in the meantime, RPP has changed the life of at least some participants.
“I was once told that the more tools you have in your chest, the better off you are,” said Dokes. “If I have the tools then there’s nothing I can’t do.”
That attitude, Dokes said, is a direct result of the belief his family, Big Step and others have had in him. “There’s so many people I don’t want to let down, there’s so many people I want to make proud … because they made sacrifices along the way so that I could do what I’m doing now.”


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 23, 2016

source: news-milwaukeenns

created: October 23, 2016

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

author: Adam Carr


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pullout-rpp-2-rev | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 23, 2016


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Walker’s Point arts center hosts annual Dia de Los Muertos celebration | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Sharon McGowan
October 24, 2016
The Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, 839 S. 5th St., kicked off its annual Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration with a reception featuring Mexican treats and a folk dance performance by Instituto Cultural de Danza de Manuel Gaona.
Dia de los Muertos, on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, pays tribute to loved ones who have passed away. Colorful ofrendas are decorated with traditional items such as sugar skulls and flowers, as well as personal items important to the people who are being remembered. The theme this year is “peace and unity.”

created: October 24, 2016

author: Sharon McGowan


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Mayor Barrett and Commissioner of Health kick-off Milwaukee’s fight against the flu | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
City of Milwaukee Health Department
October 25, 2016
On Tuesday, October 25, Mayor Tom Barrett and Commissioner of Health Bevan K. Baker rolled up their sleeves at Neighborhood House of Milwaukee to get their seasonal flu vaccinations and share a message that your best shot at preventing the flu is to get the flu shot.
“Flu season is just around the corner,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “To protect yourself, your family and those around you, I urge everyone over 6 months of age to get vaccinated now before the flu arrives. Even healthy people can get the flu and spread it to others.”
Influenza (the flu) is among the most common respiratory illnesses in the United States, infecting millions of people each year. The virus is spread through the air when someone who is sick coughs, sneezes, or speaks. Symptoms of seasonal flu include fever, cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, and fatigue.
Though common, the flu can be serious, resulting in approximately 200,000 hospitalizations and thousands of deaths each year. Those most vulnerable to serious complications include infants and young children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with chronic illnesses.
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“Flu season is unpredictable,” said Commissioner of Health Bevan K. Baker. “Every year different strains of the influenza virus can spread, but flu vaccines are made each year to protect against the strains that may be most common. That is why the single best way to protect yourself and your family is to get vaccinated each year.”
The vaccine is recommended for all individuals over 6 months of age, especially those at greatest risk for serious complications including adults 65 and older, children younger than 5, and pregnant women, and those who are in contact with those at greatest risk.
“Even if you think that you are healthy and can beat the flu, you may spread it to someone else who is more vulnerable,” added Commissioner of Health Bevan K. Baker. “By getting your own flu shot, you are giving residents of our community a better shot at staying healthy all season long.”
This year’s flu vaccine protects against four strains of influenza virus. The vaccine can not only help to prevent you from getting sick, but can make your illness milder if you do get sick and help prevent you from spreading the flu to others.
Flu vaccines are widely available through local health care providers and retail pharmacies. To find a location closest to you, use the flu vaccine finder at Milwaukee.gov/health.

created: October 25, 2016

author: City of Milwaukee Health Department


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New plan options for Obamacare in Milwaukee Area | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Enrollment Network
October 25, 2016
For more than 38,000 people in the Milwaukee area currently covered in the health insurance Marketplace (Obamacare), the time to review their coverage and re-enroll is just around the corner.  Open enrollment runs November 1, 2016 through January 31, 2017.
This year, it is more important than ever, for consumers to ‘shop’ for their best options in the Marketplace, because there will be a different mix of qualified health plans serving southeastern Wisconsin.
With three carriers exiting the insurance exchange in 2017, consumers will have a choice among four qualified health plans in the Milwaukee area next year:  Common Ground Health Cooperative, Molina, and Network Health, along with Children’s Community Health Plan – a new option in the Marketplace.
Current enrollees who intend to continue their Marketplace coverage in 2017, need to select their plan and re-enroll by December 15, for coverage effective on January 1. To compare qualified health plans serving the Milwaukee area, consumers can visit healthcare.gov/see-plans.
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“We are encouraging everyone to take these next few weeks to compare health plan prices, benefits, and provider networks to find the best fit for their health care needs and their budget,” says Caroline Gomez-Tom, with Covering Wisconsin. “For those with an insurance plan leaving the Marketplace, this is especially important,” she adds.  “ Ninety percent of enrollees in our area receive financial assistance for their Marketplace coverage, so the cost of a monthly premium will still be very affordable for most consumers.”
Free, confidential, in-person help is available to consumers to enroll and re-enroll in the Marketplace, as well as BadgerCare Plus, by dialing 2-1-1 to book an appointment with an enrollment assister.
Like last year, the penalty for not having coverage in 2017 will be $695, or 2.5% of the household income – whichever is greater.
This is also a busy time for BadgerCare Plus re-enrollment.  Although consumers can sign up at any time during the year, it’s important that individuals renew their BadgerCare coverage on an annual basis.
Adults with income below 100% of the federal poverty level ($11,670 per year for an individual) and children and pregnant women in households with income under 300% of the poverty level ($71,550 for a family of 4), are eligible for coverage in BadgerCare Plus.
The Milwaukee Enrollment Network reminds consumers to be prepared when signing up for healthcare coverage, and to have the following information about themselves and their household:

author: Milwaukee Enrollment Network


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On the Block: No more trick or treating | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
October 25, 2016
Mark Beres, 40, has seen the South Side change a great deal over the past few decades. Even Halloween, he said, has changed. Kids don’t do much, if any, trick or treating in his neighborhood of Mitchell Park.

author: Edgar Mendez


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 24, 2016


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Changing the Game | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Margaret Rozga
October 26, 2016
Moderator Everett Marshburn (standing, right), executive producer of Milwaukee Public Television’s Black Nouveau, introduces the panel after a performance of “The Royale.” The panelists are (from left) Prentice McKinney, Margaret Rozga and Fred Reed.
Margaret Rozga, poet, civil rights activist and professor emerita of English at UW-Waukesha, recommends “The Royale” at the Milwaukee Rep, for its depiction of game-changing actions that can help inspire others to confront inequities.
In Jim Crow America, white men would gather five or six young African-Americans, blindfold them, and set them in a boxing ring to fight. This was the battle royale. The last of the boys remaining on his feet would be declared the winner. His prize? He had one minute to pick up the coins scattered on the boxing ring floor.
Playwright Marco Ramirez picks up this fact of history as a key backstory and metaphor in his play The Royale, now at the Milwaukee Repertory’s Stiemke Theater. In the play Wynton, manager of the first African-American to win the world heavyweight boxing championship, tells his fighter, Jay Jackson, about the royale. How the action unfolds in this production of “The Royale” is breathtaking.
I was one of three members of the 1967 Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council invited to reflect on Milwaukee’s open housing marches in the light of this play in a talkback moderated by Everett Marshburn after the Oct. 15 matinee performance. Also on the panel of respondents were Fred Reed, who currently devotes most of his time to initiatives advancing youth in the area of information technology, and Prentice McKinney, who is helping to organize events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the open housing marches. Each of us found the play to be a powerful example of all it takes to be a game changer.
In the play Wynton knows from his own experience of being one of the blindfolded boys that the royale is rigged against African-Americans. The white men in control of the game must have been amused by the sight of the confused boys swinging at each other blindly and being punched from all directions, finding it impossible to ward off the blows.
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When Wynton managed to be the last one standing, he was at first thrilled to pick up in the ring more money than he could earn in a week on any of the jobs open to him. The other contenders got nothing, though they may have sustained injuries in the royale. Wynton realized this when, back at home, he emptied his pockets of the coins he picked up and found among them teeth knocked out of the other boys.
White men make the rules. The rules of this game humiliate African-Americans, make them objects of ridicule, set them to fighting and hurting each other, all for the chance that one of them will rise above a paltry weekly wage.
In the years after World War II, African-Americans came to Milwaukee and found work in such places as meatpacking plants and tanneries. It was hard, dirty work, but it paid more than work on southern plantations that had reinstituted slavery in all but name. Still the “game” here, too, was rigged against them. The housing available to African-Americans was limited to a small area of Milwaukee, though the African-American population nearly tripled in size from 21,172 in 1950 to 62,458 in 1960. By 1967 African-Americans were 12 percent of Milwaukee’s population living on 5 percent of the city’s land, with a population density four times greater than elsewhere in the city.
The housing stock in that limited area became overcrowded, and landlords had few incentives to keep their property up to code. The demand for housing was so great those properties could be rented even in poor condition. The courts, presided over by judges who belonged to the segregated Eagles Club, let landlords off with token fines, as little as $1 for hundreds of building code violations. When Vietnam veteran Ronald Britton came to the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council for help after he was refused a rental on 29th and Burleigh, the Youth Council changed its focus from pushing for stronger building code enforcement to advocating for the open housing legislation introduced by Ald. Vel Phillips.
The game had to change. The city needed to change. It needed to see beyond the fears pumped up by politicians playing for white votes and a real estate industry that profited from the high demand and limited supply of a segregated housing market. It needed to change from a system based on fear and exploitation to something more positive and welcoming. The open housing marches, especially those across what is now the James E. Groppi Unity Bridge, were miles-long steps in this direction.
The struggle, of course, continues. Civil rights history, including Milwaukee’s civil rights history, can and does inspire those working for racial justice today. “The Royale” and the talkback at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater were also steps toward envisioning a city in which bridges are links rather than boundary lines. I applaud the Rep for bringing the resources of their stellar art to this crucial city issue. I urge everyone to see this powerful play, which runs until Nov. 6, and to enter into the conversation about how we might best change inequities in today’s game.

created: October 26, 2016

author: Margaret Rozga


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 26, 2016


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Girls in Engineering Fair at St. Joan Antida High School | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
St. Joan Antida High School
October 26, 2016
(All photos courtesy of St. Joan Antida High School)

GE Healthcare Engineer Jen Taylor addressed the girls.
Nearly 175 girls from six area middle and elementary schools visited St. Joan Antida High School on Oct. 20 to attend the school’s 11 Annual Girls in Engineering Fair. The annual event is designed to showcase various careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields and to demonstrate the skills involved in STEM-related jobs.
Girls participated in hands-on projects such as boat-building that involved teams of girls designing and building small boats using various objects. St. Joan Antida’s 40 STEMbassadors (girls who have completed the Principles of Engineering class) led the teams through the project, which culminated in a contest to see whose boat could float the longest. In addition, the STEMbassadors led the girls through a project where they designed structures using cardstock.
Biotechnology Engineer Jen Taylor spoke to the girls about her experience working at GE Healthcare as a lead MR Systems Tools Engineer. She explained the difference between studying engineering in high school and college and applying it on the job. She encouraged the girls to keep asking questions and stay curious.
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STEM-related jobs are challenging, well paying and filled most of the time by men. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up 47 percent of the total U.S. workforce, but are much less represented in science and engineering occupations. According to the bureau, they comprise 39 percent of chemists and material scientists, 28 percent of environmental scientists and geoscientists, 16 percent of chemical engineers and 12 percent of civil engineers.
St. Joan Antida High School, an International Baccalaureate World School, is focused on addressing this disparity by preparing young women with the math and science skills necessary for success in the engineering fields. To this end, in addition to hosting the annual Girls in Engineering Fair, St. Joan offers Milwaukee’s only bridge-to-college engineering program for young women through partnerships with the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and Project Lead the Way (PLTW).
Schools participating in the Girls in Engineering Fair at St. Joan Antida High School included: Milwaukee College Prep, Milwaukee Academy of Science, St. Marcus Lutheran School, St. Raphael the Archangel School, Woodlands School and Catholic East Elementary School.
St. Joan Antida High School will be hosting an open house Thursday, Oct. 27 from 6-8:30 p.m. In addition to a tour of the school, learning sessions will be held at 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Visit http://www.saintjoanantida.org/admissions/open-house  to learn more and to RSVP.

author: St. Joan Antida High School


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Journey House opens second property to house youth aging out of foster care | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
October 26, 2016
Journey House’s second campus housing property, located at 2033 W. Scott St., will house four youth who have aged out of the foster care system. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Dignitaries, community leaders and residents came together recently to celebrate the opening of Journey House’s newest campus housing property, located at 2033 W. Scott St.
“This home was an eyesore, dangerous, and was only still standing because the city didn’t have the resources at the time to raze it,” Mayor Tom Barrett said to the crowd gathered at the south end of Longfellow School’s playground.
Each unit of the four-unit building, which had been a city-owned foreclosure, will house a teen who has aged out of the foster care system as part of the Campus Housing Initiative, a partnership between Journey House, Milwaukee County’s Project O-Yeah and the city of Milwaukee.
According to Michele Bria, CEO of Journey House, the building had been a magnet for crime, including incidents where youth on recess or participating in summer camps were exposed to the sounds of gunfire at the property.
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Instead of tearing it down, the city sold the lot to Journey House for $1 and provided a $60,000 no-interest loan to help renovate the home. The county provided $80,000 toward the project. The property will be leased by Wraparound Milwaukee to help former foster care youth and participants in its programs build a rental history, while also having access to services at Journey House.
The first Journey House campus housing property opened last June and is located a block away at 741 S. 23 St. The first cohort of six youth all successfully transitioned into other affordable housing, according to Bria. Having Journey House within close proximity provides the campus residents access to a multitude of services the organization provides, easing their transition to adulthood.
“Residents of the campus housing get to work with our job or financial coaches, file their taxes, earn their GED at Journey House and find other ways to become embedded into the Clarke Square community,” Bria said, adding that Journey House has purchased a third property in Clarke Square to be renovated for campus housing.
Journey House CEO Michele Bria addresses the crowd during the grand opening event for the second Journey House campus property, as officials including Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and Mayor Tom Barrett look on. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
The building was constructed with the support of volunteer designers and laborers from Eppstein Uhen Architects, including Journey House board member John Miceli. Also working on the project were several participants of the MATC/ Journey House Pathways to the Construction Trades (PACT) YouthBuild Program.
Among them was Kathy Carlos, who spent seven weeks on the project. She worked on demolition and framing the windows, among other tasks. Working on projects like these has helped change her life’s trajectory, she said.
“I never thought that as a woman I would be doing this kind of work, but now I’m trying to build my skills in the trades as a career,” Carlos said.
The campus property is also helping deal with the serious problem of homelessness, especially among youth that have aged out of the foster care system, said Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who was on hand for the grand opening.
“Homeless is a problem that affects youth, adults and seniors. It’s an ‘all of us’ problem,” said Abele, who described the property as a tribute to what can be accomplished when multiple entities work together.
It’s also an example of how Journey House is working in Clarke Square to serve people of all backgrounds, said Barrett.
“These young people are part of this neighborhood’s redemption story,” he said.
Clarke Square resident Luis Robles said the block where the newest housing opened has improved significantly as a result of the work of Journey House and other organizations. Before, he said, he wouldn’t even walk down that block. But, that has changed, he said.
“Now, the houses, the block, this whole area is looking better and becoming safer,” Robles added.


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 25, 2016


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Matching funds needed to provide thousands free tax preparation | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
October 26, 2016
Tax season can be challenging for anyone but it’s especially hard for low- to-middle income residents who can’t pay for professional services. Businesses and other charitable organizations can help. Through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA), Social Development Commission volunteers provide free tax preparation and other services to qualifying Milwaukee county residents. In compliance with a federal grant, the Social Development Commission is seeking $85,000 in matching funds. Businesses, foundations or other organizations looking to support this program during the 2016/17 tax season are encouraged to make donations now.
Donations toward matching funds will benefit recent program recipients like Eugenia E. who, about her VITA experience, said, “I came to have my taxes done last year and felt very privileged to have them done. The staff all were courteous, respectful, informative and very patient. In 2013, H&R Block charged me $350 and I cannot afford that fee.”
Financial donations ranging from $5 to tens of thousands are critical to support the operation of this valuable program. Matching funds allows a greater number of low and middle-income individuals and families to receive free tax service and retain crucial dollars within their household. Those interested in making a donation to help the VITA program reach its goal, can click on the “Donate/Volunteer” tab at www.cr-sdc.org or can contact VITA program manager Diane Robinson at 414.906.2804 or drobinson@cr-sdc.org.
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The SDC has prepared and filed tax nearly over 176,000 state and federal returns since it began operating the free tax service. More than $185 million in the form of refunds and tax credits has been returned to the Milwaukee economy through the program. The grant, awarded by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), requires SDC to provide matching funds for VITA. The SDC is appealing to organizations, foundations, and individuals in the community to support in SDC’s efforts to raise matching funds for this essential program.
Tax preparation and filing is only one component of VITA. Clients served by the program have the opportunity to participate in financial education workshops, one-on-one financial coaching, meetings with financial institutions to open new bank accounts, and are connected with traditional banking community and their services. VITA’s free service can save thousands of household hundreds of dollars often charged by commercial tax preparation operators.
SDC is also seeking volunteers to aid in the operation of the VITA program. Volunteers serve as tax preparers, intake specialists, greeters, quality reviewers, hotline representatives and office assistants. For detailed descriptions on volunteer positions, please visit cr-sdc.org/Programs/Support Services/Volunteer for VITA.
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


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Near West Side participates in “Teal Out” to help raise awareness of domestic violence | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Near West Side Partners, Inc
October 26, 2016
Near West Side Partners, Inc., in collaboration with Neighborhood House, the Marquette University Creating a Safe Campus Environment program and Aurora Health Care’s Better Together Fund, will conduct a range of awareness efforts regarding domestic violence, beginning with a sexual violence prevention training on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 7 p.m. in Marquette University’s Alumni Memorial Union, 1442 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Throughout the Near West Side, an ongoing Teal Out campaign aims to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault throughout October, which is nationally recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness month. The Teal Out – displaying posters of teal ribbons in the windows of residences, businesses, public buildings, schools/universities, hospitals, churches, etc. – is meant to be a public display of the community’s commitment to ending domestic violence and sexual assault.
This campaign also contributes to a critical goal shared by Aurora’s Better Together Fund and the Near West Side Partners by making the Near West Side an even better place to live, work and play. Other events include:
Domestic violence awareness efforts in the Near West Side are made possible through coordination with Near West Side Partners’ Promoting Assets and Reducing Crime (PARC) initiative, Neighborhood House and the Marquette University Creating a Safe Campus Environment program through the support of Aurora Health Care’s Better Together Fund.
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author: Near West Side Partners, Inc


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More than 100 volunteers participate in cleanup, resource fair in Sherman Park | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Allison Steines
October 27, 2016
Pastor Timothy Perkins of Bethel-Bethany Church holds raffle tickets while Ce’liyaah Warren picks out a winner. (Photo by Allison Steines)
Kelly Lor, who volunteered during Make A Difference Day in Sherman Park, animatedly described the unexpected fun she had while filling garbage bag after garbage bag full of trash.
Lor was one of the several dozen members from City of Light Church in Wauwatosa who participated in the cleanup, celebration and resource fair during Make A Difference Day.
Pastor Timothy Perkins of Bethel-Bethany Church reiterated Lor’s sentiment, saying that the event allowed him to connect with people in the community. One neighbor even came out of his house to see what people were up to and expressed his appreciation, said Perkins.
“The goal should always be to get out of ourselves and into other people. That’s what today was all about,” commented Toni Wagner, a member of St. Catherine Catholic Church and Sherman Park resident for more than 45 years.
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Volunteers sit around tables at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church drinking lemonade and talking. (Photo by Allison Steines)
Approximately 100 people, including members of Sherman Park Community Association, Tri-Block Neighborhood Organization, Safe & Sound, Common Ground, Sherman Park Action Network, Sherman Park Association of Religious Communities, Sherman Park/Northwest Interfaith Program for Older Adults, Center Street Marketplace Business Improvement District and Burleigh Street Business Improvement District came together to clean the streets, alleys and sewer drains for winter.
The cleanup focused on Sherman Park’s “Tri-Block” area — what Perkins called a “community within a community” — between North 51st and North 60th streets, and Center and Burleigh streets.
Safe and Sound Community Organizer Amanda Schick said the goal was to organize activities “to get everyone on the same page.”
Members of Bethel-Bethany and Mount Calvary Lutheran churches, both of which are in the Tri-Block area, surveyed residents’ needs by going “door to door to take the temperature of the neighborhood,” said Karen Nagel, president of the Tri-Block Neighborhood Organization. “We wanted to see and hear what was going on in a more intimate way while inviting people to participate.”
People agreed on the neighborhood’s main needs: jobs, safety, housing and voter education. Make A Difference Day organizers used this information to fuel the resource fair at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church that followed the cleanup.
A hallway that doubles as a kitchen is wedged between two large rooms — a gymnasium and a sitting room — in the basement of the church. Attendees moved freely throughout these spaces partaking in conversation, food and education.
Volunteers are served bowls of chili after several hours of cleaning streets and alleys in the Sherman Park “Tri-Block” area. (Photo by Allison Steines)
Volunteers served chili, snacks and lemonade while the resource fair went on in the gymnasium.
More than a dozen information booths provided information to neighbors on subjects such as jobs, safety, housing and voter education. Kids cheered and jumped up and down as raffle winners were announced; even adults raised their hands proudly and let out an enthusiastic holler when their number was called. Prizes ranged from stuffed animals to candles. One person won a bag of pumpkins and gourds.
“We do things like this to build momentum and springboard connections,” said Niedra North, of the Sherman Park/Northwest Interfaith Program for Older Adults. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t know the resources available in their own community.”
Fred Curzan, director of Sherman Park Community Association, shed light on what is next for the group by pointing to a poster on the wall.
Five categories were listed on the poster: Spring Clean-Up, Community Garden, New Block Watch Groups, Mural on Center Street and Block Parties. Residents were instructed to put a sticker next to what are they would like to see happen next. The community garden took the lead.
“Is 100 people picking up trash for the day going to change the world? No, but it is a good start,” said the Rev. Daniel P. Czaplewski of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church. “It is important that people see that Sherman Park is better than those three days in August.”

created: October 27, 2016

author: Allison Steines


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On the Block: Lifetime entrepreneur | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jabril Faraj
October 27, 2016
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/290241955″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
DaVaughn Patterson grew up in a single-parent household in Milwaukee’s central city. Patterson, who’s held down a job since he was 15, has now worked in construction for 16 years, and owns his own small business. But he started out small.
Read more about DaVaughn Patterson at milwaukeestories.org.
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author: Jabril Faraj


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 27, 2016


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Mayor Barrett releases 2015 teen birth rate data | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
City of Milwaukee Health Department
October 28, 2016
Today, Mayor Tom Barrett and the city’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, led by United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, released the city’s 2015 teen birth rates, showing progress toward the city’s goal to reduce teen births by another 50 percent by 2023.
According to data from the City of Milwaukee Health Department, the overall teen birth rate for 15- to 17-year-old girls in the city of Milwaukee has reached a historic low of 18.1 per 1,000 females. Decreases were also seen across all racial and ethnic groups, with Hispanic and African-American rates reaching the lowest rates in recorded history. The Hispanic rate declined from 25.1 births per 1,000 females to 19.4, while the African-American rate declined from 27 per 1,000 females to 22.3. The white rate declined from 9.8 births per 1,000 females to 6.7, which is the second lowest rate on record for this population.
Compared to 2006 baseline data, Milwaukee’s teen birth rate has seen a 65 percent decrease since establishing a communitywide effort around the issue.
“We have made incredible progress in reducing the teen birth rate,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “We should be proud of what this means for the future of our young residents and for our city as a whole. But we cannot become complacent. To reduce these rates even further, we must continue to work as hard as ever to give each teen the opportunity for a healthy future.”
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The current goal seeks to reduce the overall teen birth rate by another 50 percent while also decreasing the Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black rates by 50 percent, lowering the overall teen birth rate, as well as the rate for each racial and ethnic group, to below 15 per 1,000 for 15- to 17-year-old girls by 2023. The goal was set after the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative announced it had surpassed its original goal to reduce teen births by 46% by 2015 three years early.
“This community has fought for these outcomes,” said Nicole Angresano, Vice President of Community Impact for United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. “Across zip codes, across demographics, across constituencies, we have come together to demand better for our young people. The new data is gratifying, but we know we still have work to do.”
The goal is supported by the continuation of an unprecedented all-hands-on-deck approach adopted by the Milwaukee community since 2008. The effort is led by United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, which brought together a diverse collaborative of community stakeholders that included local businesses, media outlets, health care providers, schools, and community- and faith-based organizations.
“Through a communitywide effort we are not only seeing Milwaukee’s teen birth rate decline overall but are also closing the gap between racial and ethnic groups,” said Commissioner of Health Bevan K. Baker, who serves as co-chair of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Oversight Committee at United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. “All of our children are essential to our city’s future, and we will not leave anyone behind.”
Along with education efforts, a public awareness strategy has sought to speak to teens about how getting pregnant negatively affects both young men and young women in both the short term and the long term. In addition, efforts have emphasized encouraging parents to talk to their teens about the issue. The campaigns have also brought attention to the problems of sexual violence and victimization of teens.
“The decline in the teen pregnancy rate is one of Milwaukee’s enduring victories,” said Betsy Brenner, co-chair of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Oversight Committee at United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. “It’s one that so many in our community share: Our health department, Milwaukee Public Schools, our social service support agencies, our faith community, our loyal and determined funders and, of course, the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. They’ve all come together and devoted themselves to achieving this milestone.”

created: October 28, 2016


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Public Invited to Spaghetti with the Sisters at St. Joan Antida High School Nov. 6 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Susie Falk
October 28, 2016
Spaghetti with the Sisters: The 61-Year Old Tradition Continues at St. Joan Antida High School
Like the Wisconsin State Fair Cream Puff, the St. Joan Antida High School Spaghetti Dinner is that once-a-year treat that the community lines up for outside the school’s doors. It’s a tradition (and secret recipe) dating back to 1955 when the Sisters of Charity of St. Joan Antida began the Spaghetti Dinner as a means to bring the community together to support the young women of St. Joan Antida High School (SJA).
On Sunday, November 6, the 61-year-old tradition will continue with the famous Italian pasta, sauce, and meatballs handmade by the Pompeii Men’s Club. In addition to Spaghetti, the event features hand-made crafts from the Sisters and an opportunity basket raffle run by the Alumnae Association. All event proceeds go directly to benefit SJA students.
What:             Spaghetti with the Sisters
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When:            Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016
12:00 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Tickets are $10 per person; $9 per senior
For More information and to RSVP www.saintjoanantida.org
Enter on Ogden Street. Street parking is available all day; Lincoln High School of the Arts parking lot is available after 1:30 p.m.
About St. Joan Antida High School
Founded in 1954, St. Joan Antida High School provides a student-centered, intensive college preparatory education to the young women it serves. As Milwaukee’s newest International Baccalaureate World School (IB), SJA is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty by providing a competitive education to its students. Partnering with the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) program, SJA has an enhanced STEM educational model that is oriented toward academic quality, a culture of excellence, and student-centered learning.
For more information on SJA and this event, call (414) 379-2432 or visit our website at www.SaintJoanAntida.org.

author: Susie Falk


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sjalogo | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Name *
October 28, 2016

author: Name *


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City should fund defense lawyer at Municipal Court | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Gretchen Schuldt , Wisconsin Justice Initiative
October 28, 2016
Indigent Municipal Court defendants in Milwaukee are supposed to get certain sentencing options from the judges. Not everyone in Milwaukee can afford to pay a fine and there are alternatives for those who can’t.
The judges are supposed to explain at sentencing what those alternatives are. It’s the law.
Except Milwaukee Municipal Court judges don’t routinely explain the sentencing options, and don’t ask defendants if they can afford to pay their fines. We have the audio to prove it that we’ve posted here: http://www.wjiinc.org/blog/listen-to-a-milwaukee-municipal-court-judge-ignore-the-law.
The Wisconsin Justice Initiative believes that an independent defense lawyer is needed at Municipal Court, and the Common Council’s Finance and Personnel Committee will vote today on whether the city should fund one. Yes, the city should — it already pays cops to write tickets, city attorneys to prosecute cases, and a collection agency to keep that revenue flowing, but provides defendants with nothing except poorly worded handouts. Defendants are expected to go it alone, even when they face jail time. The system is designed to transfer money from defendants’ pockets to the city’s coffers. It’s been very profitable for the city, pulling in $14.4 million in net revenue over the last five years, according to city budget documents.
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The defense lawyer contemplated in the proposal being considered today would represent indigent defendants who can’t afford their own lawyer. We believe the presence of a lawyer also would help keep the Municipal Court judges a lot closer to meeting the requirements of the law than they are now. Once a lawyer insists that judges start adhering to the law for some clients, chances improve that judges will do that for other clients as well. An independent lawyer also can help the judges improve the printed information that Municipal Court gives to defendants.
In the long run, everyone wins if there is an independent lawyer in court. Indigent defendants are represented and don’t get sentenced to pay fines they can never, ever afford to pay. The city stops wasting money and effort chasing down people who simply don’t have the cash the city wants from them. And Milwaukee gets off the downward slide to becoming another “fine-‘em-for-funding Ferguson.”
Again, the committee vote on the budget is today. The full Common Council vote is Nov. 4. Please take a moment to contact your alderman and ask him or her to support funding for an independent lawyer for Municipal Court. Thanks!


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Joint letter to DA Chisholm | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Members of Milwaukee's Common Council
October 29, 2016

created: October 29, 2016

author: Members of Milwaukee's Common Council


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 29, 2016


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Filmmaker and Master Diversity Trainer Lee Mun Wah to lead the 2016 Alverno Community Conference | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Kelly Fay
October 30, 2016
The Alverno Community Conference, an annual day of learning that provides an opportunity for the extended Alverno community to share current research around a central theme, will be held on Friday, November 11, from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and will explore the theme: Embracing Diversity: A Mindful Approach to Inclusion. Through workshops, discussions, and creative activities, the conference aims to create a safe and nurturing atmosphere for an authentic dialogue on diversity and inclusion. Participants can choose from 24 topics – all connected to diversity and inclusion – during two sessions.
The day will begin with a keynote presentation by Lee Mun Wah, executive director of Stirfry Seminars & Consulting, a diversity training company that provides educational tools and workshops on cross-cultural communication and awareness, mindful meditation and conflict mediation techniques. His presentation, What Stands Between Us, will explore how the community can break down walls created out of fear and truly make a connection through honesty, curiosity and a willingness to be open to new ideas and relationships.
Following the keynote presentation, concurrent breakout sessions will take place from 10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Some of the topics for breakout sessions include unlearning racism, the biology of sexual identity, cultivating inclusive leadership, forgiveness, and Milwaukee’s future as a global city.
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Participants will also have an opportunity to help create a weaving using strips of newspaper from around the world. The art project will demonstrate how people of different backgrounds and cultures can be woven together as one. The drop-in art session is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information about the 2016 Alverno Community Conference, or to register, visit http://www.alverno.edu/communityconference/. Additional questions can be directed to 414-382-6087, or email institute@alverno.edu.
About Alverno College
Alverno College, a four-year independent, Catholic, liberal arts college for women, exists to promote the personal and professional development of its students. The college has earned accolades and respect internationally for its highly effective ability-based, assessment-as-learning approach to education, and has consulted with three U.S. presidential administrations on accountability and outcomes in higher education. For the last seven years, Alverno College has been ranked one of the top five schools in the Midwest doing “the best job of educating undergrads” by U.S. News & World Report. Educators from throughout the world visit Alverno to learn about its proven, student-centered teaching methods.
Alverno offers more than 60 major areas of study, including graduate programs in education, nursing, community psychology and business that are open to women and men. For more information about Alverno, visit www.alverno.edu or call 414-382-6100.

created: October 30, 2016

author: Kelly Fay


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campussign-1500-pixel | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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October 26, 2016


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2016 Día de los Muertos Parade | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 31, 2016
The streets of Milwaukee’s near South Side were alive with hundreds honoring the dead at the annual Día de los Muertos Festival and Parade. Beginning and ending in Walker Square Park, the route wound through both the Walker Square and Walker’s Point neighborhoods.
The event also featured a 5k run/walk, face painting, ofrendas (altars honoring the dead) made by community members, music, art market and dance performances.
While Dia de los Muertos is not traditionally associated with processions or parades, Milwaukee’s Día de los Muertos parade has become a tradition over the past seven years. Nearly 2000 miles south, this year, Mexico City staged its first ever parade to mark Día de los Muertos.
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created: October 31, 2016


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Experts say ‘wheel tax’ needed to maintain public transit | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Naomi Waxman
October 31, 2016
Policy experts warn that a decision not to implement a vehicle registration fee could have profound consequences for Milwaukee bus riders. (Photo by Alhaji Camera)
A $60 county vehicle registration fee, known as the “wheel tax,” may be unpopular, but it is necessary to maintain public transportation services for people who rely on the bus, experts say.
A decision not to implement such a fee could have profound consequences for low-income Milwaukee residents, according to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Associate Professor of Urban Planning Robert Schneider. Citing census data, he stated that more than 54,000 households in the county, approximately 14 percent, do not own a motor vehicle.
“Those people rely on the transit system to get to jobs and shopping and other activities throughout their week,” Schneider said. “The transit system for Milwaukee County is an essential public service.”
In a 2015 report on barriers to employment in Milwaukee, the nonpartisan Public Policy Forum found that transportation challenges are already common among unemployed jobseekers.
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Salvation Army employee Jenny Von Helms speaks to the Milwaukee County Board’s Finance and Audit Committee about the proposed 2017 county budget. (Photo by Naomi Waxman)
The proposal to implement the vehicle registration fee is included in Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele’s 2017 budget. The fee would generate $27.1 million in 2017, providing revenue for public transportation as well as county road improvements. It would take effect March 1, 2017.
The Public Policy Forum devoted four pages of its executive budget brief on the proposed 2017 Milwaukee County budget to the vehicle registration fee proposal, noting that the county has been deferring needed infrastructure projects for more than a decade.
“That approach has caught up to it at the same time that expensive new needs have emerged,” according to the budget brief. “Ultimately, support for the proposed vehicle registration fee should be determined by the value that residents place on the county’s existing levels of service,” it concluded.
A memo released by county Comptroller Scott Manske echoed the forum’s observations.
“I have found that within the next five years, without major changes in passenger rates or route reductions, the fixed route transit operating system will need $28 million of additional local support on an annual basis,” he wrote.
Manske also noted that the restoration of county highways and parkways would require $82 million, in addition to the costs associated with 100 buses that need to be replaced.
Schneider pointed out that a high-quality transit system allows Milwaukee to remain competitive with other regions in terms of attracting residents and employers. It also improves the quality of life for city residents who do not own a vehicle or choose to only drive occasionally. He stressed the importance of taking action now. Waiting, he stated, would cause the deficit hole to grow and become even more difficult to fill.
“In the long term, it would be great to see some sort of regional sales tax that would support public transit to provide a solid foundation for operations and future capital improvements,” said Schneider. “I think there are many people who will be impacted negatively if funding and service cuts continue with the Milwaukee County transit system.”
County residents expressed their displeasure with the proposed fee at a recent listening session held by the Milwaukee County Board’s Finance and Audit Committee at the MPS Administration Building. Though only 10 individuals spoke at the 9 a.m. meeting, those who addressed the committee on the subject said they were opposed to the vehicle registration fee.
“Sixty dollars is very high. People are already riding around [without] insurance because they can’t pay,” said James Macon, president of the Local 998 Amalgamated Transit Union. “I am a Bucks fan but I wish [Abele] would fight for the county the way he did for the Bucks arena and we wouldn’t be in a hole here,” he added.
The County Board has scheduled a public hearing for 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31, on Abele’s recommended budget. The finance committee is expected to review budget amendments on Nov. 2 and the full board will vote on the budget on Nov. 7.

author: Naomi Waxman


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 30, 2016


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Alverno College will close on Election Day to gives students, faculty and staff a chance to take part in the political process | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Kelly Fay
November 1, 2016
Alverno College will close on presidential Election Day in order to give students, faculty and staff a chance to practice effective citizenship, one of the College’s eight trademark abilities. In addition, about 50 Alverno College students will be actively involved in the political process working at the polls for the upcoming Nov. 8 elections. The training is providing students an opportunity to practice their own effective citizenship.
“This is a great opportunity for our students to be involved in the political process and truly take their effective citizenship to heart,” said Susan Leister, director of Alverno’s Internship office and the coordinator of the Poll Worker Training Project. “The students’ experiences as poll workers have been very positive, and they gain a new awareness of the responsibility they have as citizens to vote, especially after observing the obstacles some voters overcome to get to the polls.”
This is the fifth time Alverno has offered poll worker training sessions on campus; the first was for the 2008 presidential election. Alverno was also closed on presidential Election Day in November 2008 and 2012 to encourage all members of the Alverno community to be more involved in the political process.
In total, the College held six poll worker training sessions on campus throughout October. Alverno alumnae Lisa Catlin-Weiner and Noni Gudie, who work for the City of Milwaukee Election Commission, led the three-hour training sessions in which participants were trained as election inspectors or site coordinator assistants. All positions are paid, and require students to work half- or full-day shifts.  Their responsibilities include greeting voters, verifying voters’ polling sites, registering new voters, assisting the chief election inspector at each site, handing out ballots, check-in, handling voting machines, helping to maintain traffic flow at the sites and other related tasks. For this election cycle, nearly 50 students have completed the training and have been assigned to voting wards throughout the City of Milwaukee. Alverno College is the only college or university in the area that trained students to work at the polls.
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About Alverno College
Alverno College, a four-year independent, Catholic, liberal arts college for women, exists to promote the personal and professional development of its students. The college has earned accolades and respect internationally for its highly effective ability-based, assessment-as-learning approach to education, and has consulted with three U.S. presidential administrations on accountability and outcomes in higher education. For the last seven years, Alverno College has been ranked one of the top five schools in the Midwest doing “the best job of educating undergrads” by U.S. News & World Report. Educators from throughout the world visit Alverno to learn about its proven, student-centered teaching methods.
Alverno offers more than 60 major areas of study, including graduate programs in education, nursing, community psychology and business that are open to women and men. For more information about Alverno, visit www.alverno.edu or call 414-382-6100.

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campussign-1500-pixel | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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November 1, 2016


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On the Block: Feeding Milwaukeeans in need | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Naomi Waxman
November 1, 2016
Marie Carlson has moved away from Milwaukee many times but always manages to find her way back. Now she is focused on stimulating community growth and caring for vulnerable city residents. Carlson and her wife Charvonne Carlson have started a non-profit called Community Collective, hoping to empower neighbors to help one another. “We can do a lot more together than we can on our own,” she said.
The Carlsons spend most evenings picking up donations from Pick ‘n Save and Costco and distributing the food to homeless shelters and food banks. They also drive to locations around the city where homeless people gather and share food out of the back of their car.
Carlson is concerned about the stigmatization of homeless people, citing encounters with individuals who are desperate for a healthy salad or who build gardens under bridges. “These people were normal kids growing up playing ball in the street with their brothers and sisters, having birthday parties,” she said. “I don’t think they had this idea that they wanted to be homeless.”
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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 31, 2016


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Downtown development boom must benefit challenged neighborhoods, city leaders say | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jabril Faraj
November 2, 2016
Looking toward downtown from the roof of the Century City Tower, 4201 N. 27th St.
As the city enters a development boom valued at more than $3 billion, which will include a number of large projects downtown, city leaders said struggling central city residents must benefit from those projects as well.
“As much as I love being a cheerleader for all the great things that are going on in the City of Milwaukee, when I lie awake at night, it’s about the challenges that we face,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “At the end of the day, if you don’t have permanent jobs, you are going to have permanent problems.”
The comments came at a recent Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin (UEDA) summit focused on how to connect people in Milwaukee neighborhoods with opportunities and investment downtown.
Much of the discussion was concentrated on MKE United, a recently convened collaboration involving the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC), City of Milwaukee, Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Milwaukee Urban League. According to its website, MKE United plans to develop an action agenda to “create a shared and inclusive vision for Downtown Milwaukee and its adjacent neighborhoods.”
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The initiative, which was initially focused primarily on downtown, “pivoted very quickly” to include Brewer’s Hill, Harambee, Lindsay Heights, the Near West Side, Menomonee Valley and Clarke Square, according to GMC Downtown Task Force Co-chair Linda Gorens-Levey.
The action agenda will include specific assignments that government and the business, community, philanthropic and institutional sectors will commit to accomplish in the first 12 months, within five years and over the next 10. The agenda will seek to identify, highlight and strengthen assets in the greater downtown area. Barrett said Milwaukee’s downtown generates 18.6 percent of Milwaukee’s tax revenue while accounting for only 3.2 percent of its land mass.
Andre Lee Ellis speaks from the stage during a panel discussion at a recent UEDA summit. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
Gorens-Levey said the hope is that the agenda creates a “domino effect” that will cause investment to spill into other neighborhoods.
“What will happen is you’ll see this naturally occurring path of development,” she said.
Department of City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux said the plan will proactively identify affordable housing locations in an attempt to protect against gentrification.
According to information provided by MKE United, the group has engaged more than 600 people in the targeted areas through workshops, community meetings, happy hours and other events. Four workshops conducted in July and August engaged 116 individuals from the MKE United neighborhoods who, overwhelmingly, had positive feedback regarding the events. That group was 55 percent white and 57 percent male. The group is in the process of launching a public survey.
Gorens-Levey stressed that there is no plan in place yet and the group would take any feedback into consideration.
Some attendees were critical of the plan’s focus area and questioned whether current residents are being included in the planning.
Sister Patricia Rogers, executive director of the Dominican Center for Women, 2470 W. Locust St., called the efforts of MKE United “trickle-down build out” saying that she was skeptical of a plan that started with “the better neighborhoods … before they do anything in the neighborhoods that are really distressed.”
“This has been a pattern, and it continues to be a pattern,” she said.
“If it’s not intentional that something is going to happen in these neighborhoods it will not,” Rogers added. “‘We’re hoping that it spreads,’ just isn’t good enough for me.”
UEDA Executive Director Kristi Luzar said attendees at previous MKE United feedback sessions raised some of the same concerns. She said adding more neighborhoods to the target area would be one of UEDA’s key recommendations in its post-summit report.
“They’re trying to create this concept of a greater downtown,” Luzar said of MKE United. “We would argue … that the neighborhoods that go beyond that also are really key and important.”
Keith Stanley, executive director of Near West Side Partners, which is in the MKE United neighborhoods, called the initiative “an opportunity.” “Connecting the economic growth and opportunity that’s in downtown to these adjacent communities could benefit a lot of people,” he said. “We have to start somewhere.”
Stanley added that he also sees a need for “concentrated, focused, targeted development opportunities” in communities around Milwaukee, including Sherman Park where he lives.
Andre Lee Ellis, founder of We Got This, an organization that works with young black men, said that Amani, Sherman Park and other neighborhoods hit the hardest by unemployment and crime must receive investment. “If they feel un-included, you’re going to have trouble downtown,” he said. “If you don’t want the trouble to come, then you’ve got to feed the trouble something else.”
Unless that happens, Rogers said, there will continue to be suffering in those areas. “It’s going to be more of what we’ve seen.”
Power & opportunity
According to a 2012 paper by Marc Levine, director of UW-Milwaukee’s Center for Economic Development, a staggering 55.3 percent of working-age black males in Milwaukee were without a job. Homicides have spiked the last two years, the result of high unemployment, lack of access to jobs, limited health and wellness options and not enough positive alternatives to violence, according to city leaders.
“Many of the conversations that we’re having today are conversations that I was having when I was an organizer with MICAH 12 years ago,” said Christopher Boston, a senior program officer at LISC.
The lack of action, Boston said, is because organizers have not been diligent enough in ensuring the right voices are involved.
Nearly half of those who attended the summit represented community-based organizations, 43 percent hailed from the public and private sectors and 11 percent identified as a community member, according to Luzar.
Ranell Washington, a summit attendee who lives in the 53206 ZIP code, Milwaukee’s poorest, said sometimes residents don’t bother to come to events asking for feedback because they don’t feel their voice will be taken into account. “People feel like, regardless … it’s still going to be the same old status quo,” he said.
“Riots are the voice of people who aren’t heard,” Washington added, referring to the unrest last summer in Sherman Park.
“It’s about power,” said Boston. “That’s the fundamental issue whenever you’re organizing people — who has power, who doesn’t, who needs to have it and how do they get it? And, that is a conversation that we don’t have often in these settings, because it’s threatening to some people.”
Boston said low-income individuals are not uninterested in these discussions but often have barriers that don’t allow them to attend.
The success of the new Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons downtown, which has exceeded expectations in employing unemployed and underemployed city residents, can be attributed to community outreach, according to Sandy Botcher, who has overseen the development project. Northwestern Mutual partnered with aldermen and WRTP/Big Step, a training and employment agency, to help identify candidates.
“We had to go out into the neighborhoods and talk to the people where they live,” said Botcher. “Expecting people to understand what the opportunities were without having a strong outreach program simply wasn’t going to happen.”
Angela Pruitt, who is involved in community efforts in Washington Park and Metcalfe Park, said it’s important to develop relationships with residents to understand their needs. She said that’s the only way substantial change will happen.
“It has to include those who don’t think the change [will really] happen. Because we keep hearing it every year, every month … but we’re not seeing it happen,” said Pruitt.
“People are tired of finding out things after the budget dollars come in,” Ellis said. “If we want to really start to cure things, we can’t just keep feeding people that are already alright. We have to take care of those that are hungry, as well.”

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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
November 1, 2016


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Job posting: Program Director, Milwaukee Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County
November 2, 2016
SUMMARY
The Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF) is a targeted regional (state) program of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health’s Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) designed to improve community conditions that lead to healthier birth outcomes among African Americans in the communities of Kenosha, Milwaukee and Racine. The Milwaukee Lifecourse Initiative is informed by the Lifecourse Perspective and the 12-Point Plan to Eliminate the Black-White Gap in Birth Outcomes.
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County (UWGMWC) has a unique position opening as LIHF Program Director, responsible for leading, managing, and evaluating policy, systems, and environmental change strategies through the Milwaukee Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families Collaborative. The LIHF Program Director is a position funded fully by grant support from the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP). This project is in its 3rd year of a five year grant, with potential for renewal. The LIHF Program Director is responsible for maintaining the community wide LIHF Collaborative with support from United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, in its role as the backbone agency.
The LIHF Project Director will coordinate all efforts associated with UWGMWC’s role as Convening/Backbone Agency, including securing needed resources, managing the LIHF Support team and LIHF Fellows, and providing training to LIHF Fellows.
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KEY JOB FUNCTIONS
Advocate for and Advance Policy, Systems and Environmental Change (30%)
Guide Community Action Plan Vision and Strategy (30%)
Maintain and Grow LIHF Collaborative (20%)
Integrate Data (10%)
Support Regional Engagement (10%)
KEY REQUIREMENTSEDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
Ability to work in a complex environment using technical and interpersonal skills. Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills. Ability to establish good working relationships with community members, regulatory agencies, and members of the business community. Ability to effectively present information to key leaders, public groups and boards of directors and respond to common inquiries or complaints as needed. Experience in working with software such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, or other similar programs and knowledge of computer based outcome reporting systems.
LOGIC AND REASONING ABILITY
Knowledge of research design and methods, and experience in analyzing statistical information. Ability to prioritize and balance competing demands. Ability to staff volunteer committees. Demonstrated independent decision-making skill and ability to complete complex and time sensitive work.
TO APPLY:
For further job criteria and complete details, click on: https://www.milwaukeejobs.com/j/21389802. If you meet or exceed job requirements, please apply directly at this web address today. Please indicate salary requirements.
Equal Opportunity Employer
M/F/Disability/Vet


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New medical clinic opens at St. Ann Center-Bucyrus Campus | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care
November 2, 2016
(Photo courtesy of St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care)
A brand-new medical clinic is now open at St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care-Bucyrus Campus, 2450 W. North Avenue.
“The mission of the St. Ann Center Medical Clinic-Bucyrus Campus is whatever the community wants it to be,” says Stephanie Ghojallu, Family Nurse Practitioner and co-director of the clinic along with Dr. Paul Nausieda, MD.  The vision for the clinic is to discover the needs of residents in the 53205-53206 ZIP codes and design programs to meet them.  “We’re working together with community members so we can understand how to best care for them,” Ghojallu adds. “We want to make sure the information and services we’re providing are what our patients are interested in and need.”
Meetings with the neighborhood are underway to assess health care needs. In addition, the clinic will conduct follow-up interviews with patients and neighbors to determine their satisfaction.
“Our goal is to help patients feel we are here for them first, and that they have a voice in the services we provide here,” says Ghojallu.
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Partnering with the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) is one way the Bucyrus Campus clinic will benefit the north side. “The CTSI is committed to helping us provide health education as well as design programs which reduce health disparities,” Ghojallu says, adding the community St. Ann Center serves has the highest stroke and cancer rates in Milwaukee County.  The long-term goal of the clinic is to bring down those rates by bringing programs that generally exist only at the Medical College of Wisconsin and other large health care systems to the small community clinic setting. Education, wellness and preventative medicine will also be emphasized at the new clinic. “Not all problems are solved with more medication,” says Ghojallu. “Our clinic will bring holistic and integrative medicine to clients who may not typically be offered these treatments.”
St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care, sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, provides community-based education and health services to children, the frail elderly and adults of all ages and abilities, along with support for caregivers. The center opened its second location, the Bucyrus Campus, in September 2015, extending services to Milwaukee’s north side. A grant of $250,000 from Aurora Health Care’s Better Together Fund supported the completion of the medical clinic.
St. Ann Center Medical Clinic-Bucyrus Campus is a charitable clinic staffed with a combination of volunteer and paid staff. All forms of Medicaid are accepted. Clinic fees are set at $35 per visit for those uninsured or underinsured. The clinic is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Appointments are required and same-day appointments are available.
For more information, or to schedule an appointment, call (414) 210-2430.


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
November 2, 2016