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South Side residents work to complete mural on supermarket wall | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rebecca Carballo
August 12, 2016
Community members fill in the outline painted by Tia Richardson, Jeanette Martín and Randy Flann. (Photo by Rebecca Carballo)
As residents of the Historic Mitchell Street area worked with muralists to consider transforming a wall on the city’s South Side, one said that she would like to see more adults reading to their children.
That led one of the muralists, Tia Richardson, to paint a woman reading to a child on a doorstep.
It was one of many ideas that Richardson and another muralist, Jeanette Martín, incorporated into the mural on the wall of Supermercado El Rey, a supermarket at 1320 W. Burnham St.
The Building Neighborhood Capacity Program (BNCP) hired Richardson and Martín, based on recommendations from other local artists, to work with the residents as part of a beautification project.
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A watercolor posted on-site depicts an early vision of the final design. (Photo by Rebecca Carballo)
A small group of residents participated in four artist led brainstorming workshops in which they wrote, sketched and painted while reflecting on what matters to them and their community. Safety, neighborhood appearance and beautification were common themes.
Paula Jones, the resident who suggested the image of adults reading to children, praised Richardson for creating an engaging space for everyone to express themselves.
“Through the workshops, we are able to pull out what our community has meant in the past to us and where we are now and envision where we want to go,” Jones said.
Another resident, Marina Borges, 41, offered a sketch in which she drew a house with an eye to signify neighbors looking out for each other.
“My husband and I keep an eye out for our neighbors and they do the same for us,” Borges said. “It makes our neighborhood feel comfortable and safe.”
Saying that the residents are passionate about where they live, Borges added, ”nothing represents the South Side better than this mural because it’s something we came together to do.”
Richardson said she was not discouraged that more residents didn’t contribute to the project.
Artist Tia Richardson works on the mural. (Photo by Rebecca Carballo)
“It’s not about the numbers,” she said. “It’s the person you are speaking to that matters at the time.”
Indeed, Richardson said, the small size of the group helped her build relationships with the participants and more effectively tell their stories.
“As a community artist, it’s those eight people who I have in front of me in the room that matter right now,” she said. “They represent the community and their stories are important.”
However, entrepreneur Randy Flann, 61, was discouraged with the low attendance for both the painting sessions and workshops, especially considering all the time the muralists spent promoting them.
“This is right before school starts,” he said. “Children should be out here.”
Flann added: “When I see the word community, it means something. It means come out of your house and see what it’s about.”
Michael, 60, and Nereida Glisch, 66, who have lived on the South Side as a married couple for 35 years, said they were glad to see such a project in the neighborhood.
“This is good because people need to see how important it is to take care of the community,” Michael Glisch said.

author: Rebecca Carballo


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 11, 2016

source: news-milwaukeenns

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

author: Adam Carr


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28573925570_a7a000f6ba_k | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 11, 2016


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A plea for peace in our neighborhoods | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ald. Khalif J. Rainey
August 15, 2016
(Photo by Jabril Faraj)
I need to be perfectly clear about these two things: while the residents of Sherman Park and Milwaukee’s impoverished neighborhoods have just cause for anger and frustration, absolutely nothing justifies the display of violence and incivility we’ve witnessed in our neighborhoods these past two evenings.
My plea to my neighbors is to do everything they can to stop the violence immediately. In a neighborhood where the opportunities for employment are so few and far between already, it is foolish and counter-productive to take out your anger on the few businesses that choose to operate on your block. Looting and burning won’t create opportunities to get a job and get ahead in life.
Yes, our neighborhood has problems. Yes, it is unjust that many of us are denied economic opportunities because of the color of our skin and the zip code in which we were born. Yes, too many of our young people are mired in frustration, hopelessness and crime. But you can’t fix the roof of a burning house.
We need to put down the bricks and put away the guns. We need to pick up some brooms and paint brushes and get to work. We need to get our kids off the streets and teach them to act out of love and hope instead of fear and anger. We need to stop creating additional problems and start seeking solutions.
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If you’re angry, good; it means you’re paying attention. Once we’ve restored peace in our neighborhoods, I hope you will join us in the work of creating opportunity and equality for all of Milwaukee’s citizens.
We need peace, calm and healing on Milwaukee’s North Side, and I respectfully ask every one of my neighbors to join me in pursuing that goal.

author: Ald. Khalif J. Rainey


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 15, 2016


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How Community Policing Can Work | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 15, 2016
The New York Times

author: Andrea Waxman


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Milwaukee Police: Six businesses destroyed or damaged by civil unrest | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 15, 2016
Milwaukee Business Journal


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Milwaukee Unrest: Neighbors Gather to Clean Up, Pray | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 15, 2016
WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio


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Moore calls for calm after officer-involved shooting in Milwaukee | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Congresswoman Gwen Moore
August 15, 2016
The fractured relationship between local law enforcement officials and the communities they are sworn to protect has become further strained by Saturday’s officer-involved shooting. There is still much to learn regarding this incident, however, we simply cannot close our eyes to the hostile environment cultivated by the flagrant racial inequality and segregation that has plagued Milwaukee for generations. We also cannot allow anyone to take out their aggressions on our local businesses and homes or take the law into their own hands.
I share the frustration of my constituents who feel they live in a city where justice is only afforded to some and not all. I also share the frustration of our local police officers who are desperately trying to uphold public safety in what they perceive as a caustic climate. We must find a way to strike a balance where we can peacefully point out the racial inequities in our society while recognizing the valuable role police play in our community.
As details continue to emerge about this shooting, I ask our community to remain calm and recommit to doing everything in our collective power to live up to our nation’s promise of ‘justice for all.’ Together, Milwaukee will weather this storm.”
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author: Congresswoman Gwen Moore


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Sherman Park residents express sorrow and shock at weekend violence | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 15, 2016
Letitia Eskridge, who lost her daughter to gun violence last year, and her 15-year-old son (looking at camera) attended a gathering in Sherman Park the day after violence broke out in the neighborhood. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
Several Sherman Park residents spoke of their pain and sadness over the violence that shook the neighborhood on a recent Saturday night.
Homeowner Danell Cross described it as “a serious grieving, like death,” that “sits on (me) so that my throat is choked up.”
And there is fear, especially for the youth.
“Those young people … could be my children, my friends’ children … and we’re just so scared … that one of them, or 10 of them, (will) lose their life or be in jail forever,” added Cross.
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A diverse group of Milwaukee residents gathered near Sherman Park to pray for healing. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
The residents who were interviewed all pointed to frustration and lack of hope caused by racism and poor conditions in central city neighborhoods, including lack of employment and high-quality education; deteriorating streets, commercial strips and homes; and a lack of interest in investment by the larger community. Nonetheless, violence and destruction of property were not the answer, they agreed.
Cross likened the response to those unjust conditions to physical illness. “This is the vomit that (we) are seeing. When you get so much bile in your stomach that you can’t hold it no more, you throw it back up,” she said.
Milagro Jones, 26, a single father raising a 2-year-old daughter, moved here in 2005. “I love this city. But I’ve seen so much segregation, discrimination and internalized racism (here),” he said. Though he’s lived all over the United States, he said he has never seen or experienced as much racism anywhere as he has in Milwaukee.
Frank Finch, who has lived in Sherman Park since 1982, said there is a desperate need for jobs in his neighborhood as well as a lack of opportunities and activities for youth.
“We need to find things for the youth to do to prevent these types of things from happening,” Finch said.
Jones and Cross also expressed concern for the neighborhood youth.
“These kids are not getting educated in our failed system, then when they get older there are no jobs, a lack of opportunities … and investment and then the only place they have to be at is on the (street),” Jones said.
A large crowd gathered on West Auer Avenue where Sylville Smith was shot and killed by Milwaukee police Saturday night . (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
According to Cross, some of the young people’s behavior comes from not knowing how to say they are suffering and need help. They want to say, ‘I need somebody to care,’” Cross said.
Both Cross and Jones were surprised by the violence.
“I have worked with the community and I have seen that the people are so pressed down that they can’t find their own inner strength to fight back even … on simple things like people dumping (tires, mattresses and the like) in their neighborhood,” said Cross, a community organizer and Building Neighborhood Capacity Program coordinator.
Finch, who volunteers for Milwaukee Rising, a housing revitalization initiative of Common Ground, fears the destruction of property may have a lasting effect on business and job development in Sherman Park.
Public officials’ first priority should be development in the central city at the same level as in more affluent areas, according to Cross.
She plans to ask community leaders to come together and let the community’s young people know that they are going to turn their attention to their needs and push for changes that will improve their lives.
Jones, who lives near 39 and Locust streets. was away from the neighborhood but followed the turmoil on a live-streaming website. When he saw the first scene, a gas station on fire, he said his “spirit was hurting.”
And he added,” It’s just a surprise to me that people on the outside don’t even know what’s going on in our community or don’t have an interest in it until something like this happens.“
Brendan O’Brien and Edgar Mendez contributed to this report.


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28375158473_074367e383_k | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 15, 2016


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28706212570_542431c1a6_k | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 15, 2016


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The “unrest” in this city began decades ago | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Venice R. Williams
August 15, 2016
(Photo by Adam Carr)
Venice Williams is the director of Alice’s Garden and The Body & Soul Healing Arts Center. A lay minister, teacher, healer, and facilitator who works to improve the lives of young people, formerly incarcerated people and others in the central city, Williams says the recent violence in Sherman Park is not about the incident that sparked it.
Each night, I put my head on my pillow with city sirens as my background music. Last night, it was a symphony.
Let us be clear: the “unrest” in this city began decades ago. Throughout my 27 years of serving this city consistently, even when flawed, I have been holding spaces for healing, bridge building, supporting small businesses and dreams, training a new workforce, challenging systems, nurturing families, strengthening girls, fostering healthy passages for brown and black boys. They are spaces that encourage naming, not labeling; spaces that set tables of dignity in the midst of a broken humanity.
If we are to be honest on this Sun Day, where truth should illuminate, we must confess, we have not all been about the same business. As I have been about the work I am called to do, others have constructed more unaffordable housing in neighborhoods, where people who look like me could, once upon a time, afford to live. Others have deconstructed life-supporting employment and reconstructed a system of welfare that will continue to cripple generations of urban families. Funding for incarceration increased alongside decreased resources for holistic, artistic public education for our children. Even some of the leaders and organizations our urban village birthed and trusted, lost track of their mandate.
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Earlier this year, I invited the community to gather at The Body and Soul Healing Arts Center to revisit the film “Crash.” The center sits in the Sherman Park neighborhood and is home to many incredible organizations that hold events, programs, classes and conversations that foster a more robust, vibrant Milwaukee. I am honored to midwife that space.
My appeal to come gather and view “Crash,” and then join a conversation co-facilitated by Adam Carr and me, was made with a clear understanding that unrest was stirring in our neighborhoods. The matches had already been struck and the fire was being flamed. That which is illuminated should not have to be torched for pertinent attention to be paid and rightful action to be taken.
Calm is the absence of confrontation. So much needs to be confronted in this city and in this nation. Yet, it is systems, not property, that need to be “burnt down.” We are capable of confronting without being violent and destructive but we can no longer be calm. We have been restless for a long time; too long. What happened in Milwaukee Saturday night has very little to do with yesterday’s shooting of a black man by a police officer. Although participants chose a distressing way to express their frustration and anger and I do not agree with the choices made, the folks who awakened the city of Milwaukee last night did not strike the first match. Those matches were struck decades ago and the flames have been fed by policy and power, racism and classism, apathy and intentionality. Let something purposeful rise from the ashes.

author: Venice R. Williams


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 14, 2016


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Now more than ever, we need to talk about Race | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ex Fabula
August 16, 2016
Ex Fabula fellows and other storytellers gather together. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
Following a weekend of unrest, it’s clear that Milwaukeeans must address the racial and economic inequality that prevents some Milwaukeeans from surviving, let alone thriving. While talking about race can be taboo in some circles, personal stories and facilitated dialogue can create safe spaces for learning. Based on those principles, Ex Fabula created the Fellowship. Now entering into its second year, the Ex Fabula Fellowship is now applications for its second cohort of community members who will prepare personal stories about privilege, oppression, and race and then share them in order to engage thousands of Milwaukeeans in meaningful conversation.
“Ex Fabula strengthens community bonds through the art of storytelling, so we felt the need to address the systematic inequality that divides and disconnects us,” said Ex Fabula Executive Director Megan McGee. “Fortunately, personal stories can create the conditions for empathy and connection[1].”
The Fellowship has two components. First, the “Fellows”, a diverse cohort of community members, work with Ex Fabula Storytelling Coaches to identify, craft and share stories about privilege and oppression. Then, Fellows share their stories at interactive outreach performances. Each event features several stories followed by a dialogue component. In many cases that dialogue is facilitated by the Zeidler Center for Public Discussion, a Milwaukee nonprofit that fosters civil dialogue and invites trust in the midst of differences.
Overall, the 2015-16 Fellowship was a learning and healing experience. The day after he first publicly shared his story, Fellow Nakia Hood noted the incredible “healing from hurt that has taken place by me just talking about my issues.” Audience members said the format engaged them in conversations that they might normally avoid. One attendee said, “Having these small group discussions helped me to learn more about people’s experiences and perceptions. I was afraid of it in the beginning but I’m so happy now.”
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Building on these successes, Ex Fabula will launch a second year of the Fellowship; Milwaukee County adults are invited to apply for the cohort, which will meet on Wednesdays this fall. Information and stories from the first Fellowship are available at www.exfabula.org/fellows. Applications are due September 12.
Ex Fabula is grateful to all the funders who are supporting the 2016-17 Fellowship, which is supported in part by a grant from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; a $20,000 grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation‘s Douglas L.P. Hamilton Fund, George and Evelyn Gay Family Fun, and Jerry L. Tollefsen and Jessica J. Suhr Memorial Kacynski Family Fund; and a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-illuminated/201106/why-sharing-stories-brings-people-together

author: Ex Fabula


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 16, 2016


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Teens learn African dance, drumming in Marquette summer program | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 16, 2016
El Saniyyah Love is excited about connecting with the culture of her forefathers through an African arts “camp,” where she spent part of the summer studying dance and drumming. Love and 12 other young women participated in the second annual summer program at the Helfaer Theatre on the Marquette University campus.
“You learn a culture that most of our people missed out on,” Love said, referring to Americans of African descent.
Yaya Kambaye, founder and musical director, and Roxy Kess, artistic director and choreographer, of Xalaat Africa Drum and Dance For Life, Ltd., taught the five-week dance intensive. The summer program culminated in a performance on July 29.
In addition to traditional African dance and drumming and contemporary African and modern dance, the students also learned songs and phrases in the Manding language. Manding is one of the languages spoken in Senegal, Kambaye’s native country.
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Kambaye moved to the U.S. in 2003 but he and Kess visit Senegal from time to time to research dance and keep up with current dance trends there. Spending time in Senegal replenishes Kess, she said, enabling her to give more to her students.
Kess is on the faculty at Marquette University and the two also teach at Milwaukee High School of the Arts.
Kambaye wants the students to be exposed to a culture different from their own and he likes to work with kids “to keep to them out of trouble,” he said.
The summer program is funded by the Milwaukee Recreation’s Partnership for the Arts and Humanities and Marquette University.


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Youth sports camp to feature non- traditional sports, mentorship | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ald. Russell W. Stamper, II
August 16, 2016
Brandon Culpepper, President/CEO of Pepp Nation, at the Grand Opening of Moody Park (Photo by Adam Carr)
Alderman Russell W. Stamper, II is inviting Milwaukee children and teens to attend the Pepp Nation Sports Leadership Camp’s Community Play Day at Moody Park (N. 22nd and W. Burleigh Streets) on Friday, August 19.
The FREE camp will begin with a breakfast at 8 a.m. Friday, and will include sessions on non-traditional sports, including lacrosse and rugby, Alderman Stamper said. “Brendan Culpepper founded Pepp Nation and has developed excellent leadership camps, serving more than 1,500 youth in Milwaukee and across the U.S. since 2012,” he said. “I encourage interested youth to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about rugby or lacrosse, and to be exposed to important positive messages about teamwork and leadership.”
The family-friendly event, sponsored by the Children’s Outing Association and the Dominican Center, will conclude with entertainment provided by Ray Nitti.
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For more information, please contact Pepp Nation Sports Leadership Camps at 414-698-6843 or 414-444-2207.

author: Ald. Russell W. Stamper, II


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Climbing (and swinging) toward fun and hope | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ald. Russell W. Stamper, II
August 17, 2016
Alderman Russell W. Stamper, II will help host the opening of the newly renovated playground at N. 17th and W. Vine Streets this Sunday (August 21) in conjunction with the Cross Lutheran Church Annual Picnic.
Alderman Stamper will be joined by Alderman Michael J. Murphy, who created the MKE Plays initiative, during a 12 p.m. noon ceremony and media event (ribbon cutting) on Sunday at the park. Members of partner groups and organizations who helped make the project possible will also take part in the ceremony. Media coverage is invited.
The park will also be officially renamed Sunday for the late Johnnie Mae Phillips, a devoted member of Cross Lutheran Church and a key figure in transforming the park from a nuisance dumping ground to a valuable public city space.
Alderman Stamper said the playground rebuild – a MKE Plays project – was made possible by more than $225,000 invested from Zilber Family Foundation, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the Fund for Lake Michigan and the City of Milwaukee. ”This project not only shows how revitalizing parks and playgrounds can help boost some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, but I’m most struck by how many smiling children it will be bringing back to this playground – a safe and attractive place for them to have fun and just be themselves,” he said.
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“I want to thank the Johnsons Park Neighborhood Association for serving as our lead organization to help organize community residents at meetings and events about this great project,” Alderman Stamper said. “And other partners also made a huge difference in bringing this rebuilt playground to fruition, including Cross Lutheran Church, the House of Peace, UWM Community Design Solutions, Shalom High School, Safe & Sound, and MPD District Three and the Community Prosecution Unit.”
The MKE Plays’ public process – one built on neighborhood collaboration and involvement – was also evident for the 17th and Vine project, Alderman Stamper said. “We had more than 60 citizens attend meetings, 30 completed important surveys, and 15 people came out and participated in build-day,” he said.
Alderman Murphy expressed his thanks to Alderman Stamper and the community partners for their willingness to work with MKE Plays and for staying engaged throughout the process.
“I would also extend a special ‘thank you’ to the Zilber Family Foundation for making this one of the first funded parks in the MKE Plays program,” Alderman Murphy said. “Their generosity, along with other funders, helped transform this corner of the city to one that is inviting and inspires play and physical activity in both kids and adults.”
“We envision a city with play areas whose condition is not determined by the ZIP code or district they are in, but rather are equally equipped to inspire a child’s imagination regardless of where they are located in the City of Milwaukee,” Alderman Murphy said.
MKE Plays aims to transform the city’s most deteriorated playgrounds into models for local collaboration and renovation over a three-year period. The program is accomplishing this vision by matching private funds with public dollars, involving community residents in the design and construction process, and by evaluating the impact of program activities on the lives of communities.
The 17th and Vine playground is the third of 12 projects to be completed across the city by the end of next year. Other completed projects include those at Arlington Heights, 67th & Spokane, and Marcus DeBack (anticipated on August 25). Three others are in the planning stage and should be completed this year.


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How to keep kids busy this fall | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rebecca Carballo
August 17, 2016
Milwaukee Recreation offers a wide range of activities, such as football, robotics, French classes and more. (Photo courtesy of MPS).
With fall just around the corner, Milwaukee Recreation has organized an array of low-cost activities to keep children busy and engaged.
Junior Chefs: This class allows youth to mix, measure, and bake their own delicious treats and create main courses and side dishes. Also taught are table settings and proper serving methods.
French Bonjour!: This class offers an introduction to conversational French for students with little or no French language knowledge. Students will learn language skills in a cultural context covering topics such as clothing, food, music, art, leisure activities and more.
Junior Robotics Engineering: This class is a perfect mixture of fun and learning, using LEGO WeDo Robots. Students build a roaring lion out of LEGO bricks and learn how to program and operate it with a laptop computer.
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Rock Band: Join the band, learn some advanced songs, and have fun! All types of musicians welcome; bring your musical instrument. Previous band experience required. Class is combined with adult class.
Checkmate Chess Club: Whether you are interested in learning how to play chess or already know how, this class is for you. Players of all skill levels welcome. Don’t get ‘rooked’ by your friends for not playing chess. Be the ‘king’ or ‘queen’ of your block. Chess game supplied. Class combined with adult class.
Youth Football, Next Step: Continue to improve on the basic skills of the game with more passing and catching opportunities. Develop your understanding of plays and in-game scenarios. Position specific and game-like drills will help you grow as a player.
For more information about these activities, click on Milwaukee Recreation Department or look at the Fall Recreation Guide.


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Mayor Barrett to kick off 2016 back-to-school health fairs | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 17, 2016
With school season around the corner, Mayor Tom Barrett will kick off the City of Milwaukee Health Department’s annual Back-to-School Health Fairs on Friday, Aug. 19th at 9 a.m. at North Division High School.
Students accompanied by a parent or guardian will be eligible to receive needed immunizations, vision and dental screenings, haircuts, and more. Free backpacks and school supplies will be provided to children with an up-to-date shot record, or those who receive vaccinations at either the Aug. 19th health fair at North Division High School or Aug. 26th health fair at South Division High School. Both fairs run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
School immunizations are required by state law in Wisconsin. Providing easy access to vaccinations continues to be important as vaccine-preventable illnesses like mumps, measles, and pertussis have seen a return nationwide.
The 2016 health fairs are presented by the City of Milwaukee Health Department and United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County in partnership with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Children’s Community Health Plan, United Healthcare, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Molina Healthcare, MHS Health Wisconsin, and iCare Independent Health Plan.
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16th Annual Back-to-School Health Fair Kick-off
North Division High School
1011 W. Center St., Milwaukee
Friday, August 19th at 9 a.m.
Mayor Tom Barrett
With sponsor representatives.


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On Milwaukee, segregation and pain made visible | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
William R. Tisdale
August 17, 2016
(Photo by Jabril Faraj)
Pain, grief, frustration, anger. All of these simmer in places where injustice and inequality live. They simmer where we’ve lived so long with hurtful conditions that we’ve forgotten why those conditions exist, or begin to see those conditions as normal or even inevitable.
Metropolitan Milwaukee is one such place. It is the most racially segregated metropolitan region in the United States. That fact certainly wasn’t inevitable – it was created, and continues to be created, in the present by systemic forms of discrimination, exclusion and marginalization. It’s counterintuitive but undeniable: the African American communities that are literally geographically near the center of our region are figuratively marginalized, shunted aside, and excluded from key opportunities that lead to high quality of life. Historically, this happened through a host of Jim Crow-style laws, ordinances and policies. Today, it occurs in a more subtle, de facto way, which is more difficult for many people to acknowledge or even see.
It happens when real estate professionals steer white homebuyers away from predominately minority neighborhoods, and discourage African American homebuyers from looking at predominately white suburbs. It happens when wealthier, predominately white communities refuse to accept development of affordable housing, or enact zoning ordinances that make such housing impossible. It happens when banks providing small business loans, employers and other sources of wealth and economic health decide not to locate in predominately minority communities. It happens when health care providers build their newest, state-of-the art facilities in areas that are almost exclusively white, or suburban. It happens when public transportation doesn’t exist to connect poorer neighborhoods to communities with greater numbers of job opportunities. It happens when mortgage lenders and homeowners insurance providers won’t offer their products at all, or on an inferior basis, to African American neighborhoods and other areas where many people of color reside. And when those high-quality resources fail to locate or stay in African American neighborhoods, something predictable happens: predators move in. Rent-to-own establishments, payday lenders, and predatory mortgage rescue scams prey on the needs of African American communities when traditional, high-quality services have abandoned those areas. Areas that have already been harmed by one set of businesses are harmed by yet another, and the concentration of poverty becomes even more intense. It leads to foreclosures, boarded-up homes, crime, and deterioration of so many other facets of community wellbeing. This can happen even in neighborhoods we love and cherish, like Sherman Park.
And so it is no surprise that it takes just one shift in events to change pain, grief, frustration and anger from a simmer into a boil, from a latent undercurrent whisper of hurt into a full-throated cry. I abhor all forms of violence – whether it’s violence that takes a human life, violence against personal property, or the sort of violence done against entire neighborhoods by discrimination and concentration of poverty. But it’s no surprise that many observers of recent events in Milwaukee look only at the violence on the surface – the easily observable violence that lends itself to dramatic television footage or facile assessments of what is happening. Further, it’s no surprise that so many white Milwaukeeans are desperately uncomfortable talking about race and racism, or looking at the root causes of violence and injustice, since we don’t even live near one another.  We live in a world where white suburbanites will cheer black sports heroes and idolize black musical artists, but don’t or won’t live next to black people.
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When an uneasy peace has been restored to Sherman Park, the television cameras and newspaper reporters will turn their attention to other things. Some, unwilling to look at the long chain of events that led to recent rioting, may sneer at the reactions of angry residents and hope they’ve learned a lesson.
But organizations like the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council and many others will still be here, working on the toughest, most intractable sources of racial disparities and neighborhood inequalities. They’re hard problems, no question – but they’re not insurmountable. There are, in fact, proven strategies for expanding opportunities for all people, and for dismantling segregation. It starts with enforcing fair housing and fair lending laws. It starts by demanding that our public officials enact meaningful policies that promote integrated, healthy neighborhoods. It starts with us and it starts with you. I invite you to get involved. Visit the Fair Housing Council’s Facebook page and website to learn more about the issues we work on, and then call us to learn more about what you can do: 414-278-1240. We welcome you.
William R. Tisdale is the President and CEO of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council. The Council is a private, non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote fair housing throughout the State of Wisconsin by combating illegal housing discrimination and by creating and maintaining racially and economically integrated housing patterns. It operates satellite offices in Dane County (the Fair Housing Center of Greater Madison) and in Northeast Wisconsin (the Fair Housing Center of Northeast Wisconsin). For more information, see www.fairhousingwisconsin.com.

author: William R. Tisdale


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 17, 2016


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Sherman Park residents, leaders say anger stems from unequal treatment | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jabril Faraj
August 17, 2016
The National Guard was activated by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Milwaukee County Sheriffs closed Sherman Park and police were heavily armed and armored after two nights of violent demonstrations. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
Since Saturday night, Sherman Park has been roiled by protests that have, at times, turned violent in the wake of the police killing of Sylville K. Smith, a 23-year-old black man.
Residents have expressed pain over these events but many who were present in the area following the shooting said they understand why people are angry.
“Milwaukee is a powder keg that exploded,” said King Rick, a general in the Milwaukee Black Panther Party. “When you’re number one in every statistical category that’s negative towards African-Americans, you’re going to have carnage, mayhem, chaos.”
Smith was shot and killed after a traffic stop Saturday afternoon on North 44th Street near Auer Avenue, blocks from Sherman Park. Body camera footage from the officer involved has not yet been released and police said there is no timeline for its release.
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“The real issue is African-American individuals, especially in this area, are tired and upset with the fact that we have been treated unjustly. We get racially profiled … daily,” said Altiese Perry, 32, who lives near 48th and Burleigh streets. Racial profiling or profiling people because of where they live is not right. Police should be there to “protect and serve” no matter a person’s skin color, he said.
“If I keep spitting in your face, eventually you’re going to slap me … If I keep pushing you, eventually you’re going to push me back,” he added.
A large crowd quickly gathered after police arrested a young man across the street from demonstrators. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
“It was wrong what (some violent protesters) did but they’re tired of cops shooting black people,” said Reginald Hughes, a Sherman Park resident.
Dontre Hamilton was killed in 2014 after being shot 14 times by a former Milwaukee police officer. Derek Williams, a 22-year-old black man, died in 2011 while in police custody. No criminal charges were brought against the police officers in either case. Most recently, 25-year-old Jay Anderson was shot and killed by police while in his car at a Wauwatosa park.
A video producer who declined to give his name but identified himself as “Ghetto the Director” has captured and posted multiple videos of the demonstrations. He agreed that young people are “fed up with the violence and the way the police … treat them.” Though misguided, their actions were “courageousness in the face of adversity,” he added.
Not much has changed in the city despite listening sessions and workshops held to address its many issues, said Marcelia Nicholson, a new county board member who represents much of the Sherman Park area.
“This is what happens when people speak and they’re not heard,” she said. “If someone was listening, then we would have better policies in place.”
Nicholson added that poverty is the issue, pointing to mass incarceration, low-performing schools and segregation along racial and economic lines as some of the ills that plague this community. “People are oppressed,” she said. “They’re not able to lift themselves up and out of the situation that they were born into.”
Milwaukee’s poverty rate of 29 percent is almost twice the national average. Almost 40 percent of Milwaukee’s black population lives in poverty and Wisconsin has the highest rate in the country for incarcerating African-American men.
There was a heavy law enforcement presence in the area Monday night after one police officer was taken to the hospital Saturday and a civilian was shot Sunday night. Gov. Scott Walker activated the National Guard and Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke closed Sherman Park at 6 p.m. on Monday. Mayor Tom Barrett instituted a 10 p.m. curfew for Monday night.
Office of Violence Prevention Director Reggie Moore criticized the park closure. “We can’t make decisions, as a city, or as a county, or as a state, that actually provoke continued outrage in the community. We need to be moving to a place of healing and a place of really trying to move forward,” he said.
Milwaukee police arrested two mixed-race youth Monday evening. One was said to have been identified in connection with the violence, and was peacefully taken into custody; the other was forcibly subdued by multiple Milwaukee Police Department officers who claimed he had a gun.
Frank Sensabaugh speaks with a police officer before a young man was taken into police custody without incident. (Photo by Jabril Faraj)
“They’re escalating the situation, but we’re de-escalating,” said Frank “Nitty” Sensabaugh, an organizer who has been working with youth in the area. “We’re civilized people that will act in a civilized manner. We’re not beasts or animals.”
Sensabaugh, who was arrested early Sunday morning and released Monday, said the prior violence was an emotional response to the shooting of Smith combined with a reaction to police posturing.
In an email response, Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) Sgt. Timothy Gauerke said, “MPD has used trained tactics and best practices to allow the public to demonstrate. When dangerous situations arise and there is a threat to safety and property, the police have to take action.”
Peter Borg, a white Sherman Park resident who has lived in the area for 18 years, said the angst and anger that has come to the surface in the last few days is not new. He said it is a result of a “vicious combination of race and poverty together that is keeping people from having the same life opportunities, same hopes and dreams that you have, that I have, that I have for my kids.”
Multiple residents, black and white, criticized the media’s role, saying one-sided news reports have contributed to a skewed perception of the events.
Solutions
“Everyone has their own narrative, everyone has their own story to tell, everyone has their own needs and I think it starts with listening to one another, coming together, uplifting one another and just becoming … more tight-knit,” Nicholson said.
Sensabaugh said that demonstrators intend to concentrate on Smith’s family and to help them raise donations to bury him. “Our focus is to help the community; our focus is what our focus was before the incident actually happened, which is to give back to the community,” he said.
Matt Erickson, the pastor of Eastbrook Church, 5385 N. Green Bay Ave., said it is important for white folks to “ask questions to understand,” to take ownership of the issues affecting Milwaukee and to follow the lead of people of color in addressing them. “My hope is that we can rally people together not just for one night … My hope is something really constructive comes out of this.”
Reggie Moore said getting information out to people promptly is important in the short-term. He added that Milwaukee needs to figure out how to address the current inequity and create a vision for what healthy and safe neighborhoods look like.
“As a community, we really have to do some soul-searching to make sure that all of our decisions are really about justice, and really about healing, and really about progress in this city,” he said.
Shawn Moore, co-founder of Safe Zones, a city-funded community policing initiative said, “Until we start focusing on the needs of the people … we’re going to continue to see this happening.”

author: Jabril Faraj


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Film series to highlight diversity within Latin community | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
August 18, 2016
Ovarian Psycos, a film about a women of color bicycle crew, is one of six films to be featured as part of Cine Sin Fronteras at Milwaukee Film’s upcoming festival. (Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Film)
Indigenous, LGBT, black and diverse aren’t always the first concepts that come to mind when people think of Latin identity in culture or art. The co-curators of Cine Sin Fronteras, a new program of Milwaukee Film, hope to change that.
Claudia Guzman and Jeanette Martín focused on diversity among Latinos when they developed the lineup to be featured during the annual Milwaukee Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 22 – Oct. 6 .
“We wanted [the film series] to be something that is not easily defined because that is our community,” said Guzman, the sociocultural program manager for student involvement at UW-Milwaukee.
Cine Sin Fronteras literally translates to Cinema Without Borders, but diversity within the Latin community is often overlooked, added Martín, who is the assistant director of the LGBT Resource Center at UW-Milwaukee.
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“We took into consideration a lot of communities that were not seen or talked about,” said Martín, who was born and raised on Milwaukee’s South Side.<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"			xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"			xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/">		<rdf:Description rdf:about="https://milwaukeenns.org/2016/08/18/film-series-to-highlight-diversity-within-latin-community/"    dc:identifier="https://milwaukeenns.org/2016/08/18/film-series-to-highlight-diversity-within-latin-community/"    dc:title="Film series to highlight diversity within Latin community"    trackback:ping="https://milwaukeenns.org/2016/08/18/film-series-to-highlight-diversity-within-latin-community/trackback/" /></rdf:RDF>
Claudia Guzman (left) and Jeanette Martín are co-curating Cine Sin Fronteras, a new program of Milwaukee Film. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
The end result is a six-film lineup including Kings of Nowhere, a documentary film about a northern Mexican ghost town named San Marcos; Burden of Peace, a look at the tenure of Claudia Paz, Guatemala’s first female attorney general; and Death by a Thousand Cuts, a fictional movie that highlights tension at the Haitian- Dominican Republic border.
Another is the documentary “Ovarian Psycos,” which follows a grassroots group of gender nonconforming Chicanas who ride the streets of East Los Angeles, healing and claiming space as women, according to Martín.
A unifying theme is that the films all offer glimpses of Latin experiences in countries across the globe including Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Mexico and Guatemala, Guzman said.
And they all touch on issues that are relevant to the Latinx diaspora in Milwaukee and the United States.
“These films bring to light Afro-Latino, queer, immigrant, indigenous and other diverse themes that connect to current issues like what happened in Orlando, what’s happening with the Black Lives Matter movement and current economic situations in places like Puerto Rico,” said Martín. She described the term Latinx as a gender neutral and amorphous category that better describes diverse Latin people than other terms.
Cine Sin Fronteras was created in response to Milwaukee Film’s 2014 Passport: Mexico program and last year’s Black Lens program, according to organizers, who saw this year’s program as another opportunity to engage local film fans.
“We see the potential for diverse community engagement through the cinematic celebration of Latinx heritages. As with many of our focused programs, we wish to represent Milwaukee’s rich cultural history and values,” said Jonathan Jackson, artistic and executive director of Milwaukee Film.
Aside from showings during the 15-day film festival, there are several other events that make up Cine Sin Fronteras. The first is a program launch party on Sept. 8 at Anodyne Coffee, 224 W. Bruce St. On Sept. 24, Radio Milwaukee will host a night of music and dancing with Verybecareful, a Los Angeles-based group that plays Colombian “vallenato,” an accordian-based music with percussion and bass. The last event is a unity bike ride, which concludes at the premiere of Ovarian Psychos and will be led by the group’s founder Xela de la X. The ride will be co-hosted by Ciclovia MKE and the Wisconsin Bike Federation.
Guzman said she hopes Cine Sin Fronteras helps Milwaukee Film to be more representative of the community in which it exists and that it also draws a diverse audience.
“We hope the Latin community comes out and supports it (and) we hope that all people who love cinema will also be interested in checking out the diverse concepts that are explored in these films,” Guzman said.

author: Edgar Mendez


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Quality of child care improving in Milwaukee County | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Public Policy Forum
August 18, 2016
A report released today by the Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum finds that five years after initial implementation of the State’s YoungStar quality rating and improvement program, an increased number of children are receiving child care from quality providers. The report also finds that while large group centers have made considerable progress in improving their ratings, smaller home-based family providers continue to struggle.
“Overall, the picture painted by our analysis of YoungStar data in Milwaukee County is a positive one for children and families and a largely reassuring one for policymakers who sought to enhance the number of children receiving quality care,” says the report. “However, progress has been uneven among different types of providers…in fact, home-based family providers, which comprise the majority of child care providers in Milwaukee County, appear to face significant and unique obstacles within the YoungStar system.”
YoungStar was created by the Legislature and Governor in 2010 to “drive quality improvement in child care throughout the state.” YoungStar uses a five-star system to rate providers that accept Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy reimbursements based on several measures of quality, including staff education levels, learning environment, business
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methods, and health/safety. The goal is to provide parents with a means of being able to choose quality child care; create incentives for providers to improve services; and help prevent fraud in the Wisconsin Shares system.
In 2012 and 2013 – as a follow-up to a multi-year research project that explored the economic impacts of high quality early childhood education – the Forum published a pair of reports analyzing YoungStar’s implementation. The Forum’s latest report provides an update on the impacts of YoungStar, specifically addressing the ratings of Milwaukee County providers and the accessibility of quality child care for Milwaukee County children.
Among the report’s key findings:
Two ZIP codes in Milwaukee County have no high-quality (4 or 5 Star) providers. One of those is 53202 in downtown Milwaukee, despite the fact that it has the highest number of employees in the county. The other is 53206, which has the fourth highest number of children among all Milwaukee County ZIP codes.
The report also explored YoungStar’s financial payments and found that the program’s “tiered” reimbursement system – which provides enhanced payments to high-quality providers and reduced payments to 2 Star providers — is producing increased total provider payments in Milwaukee County.
“Previously, we found that the amount of money saved by reimbursement reductions to low- rated providers under YoungStar’s tiered reimbursement system was roughly equal to the amount paid in increased reimbursements to 4 and 5 Star providers,” says the report. “With fewer 2 Star providers and more 4 and 5 Star providers than in the past, the State now is paying $3.7 million more in Wisconsin Shares funding to Milwaukee County child care providers than it would be paying if there was no tiered reimbursement system.”
In analyzing the difficulties faced by family providers, the report notes that the funding reduction experienced by 2 Star family providers may be a contributing factor to the sharp decline in the number of such providers in the county over the last three years (from 723 to 567).
“Whether this sacrifice in quantity is an acceptable trade-off in the quest for quality is an issue that should be contemplated by policymakers,” concludes the report. “The elimination of significant numbers of family providers that are having difficulty attaining the program’s definition of ‘quality’ may be consistent with the program’s overall objectives. However, YoungStar may be leaving families with fewer options for home-based child care and creating a system in Milwaukee County in which group child care centers are serving the vast proportion of children.”
The full report can be downloaded at the Forum’s website, www.publicpolicyforum.org.
Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum, established in 1913 as a local government watchdog, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the effectiveness of government and the development of southeastern Wisconsin through objective research of public policy issues.

author: Public Policy Forum


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Greater Milwaukee Foundation launches fund to heal and strengthen neighborhoods | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
August 19, 2016
The Greater Milwaukee Foundation today announced the establishment of the Reasons for Hope MKE Fund to address immediate needs in Sherman Park as the community unites in its efforts to rebuild and heal in the aftermath of the violence last weekend and to advance resident-led, neighborhood efforts across the city.
Continuing its longtime commitment to strengthening neighborhoods, the Foundation will seed the new community-wide fund with an initial grant of $200,000 and invites individuals, foundations and community partners to join in support. While the initial funding is designed to provide a timely response in Sherman Park, the Foundation and other philanthropic partners have been deeply engaged in supporting resident-led, neighborhood improvement efforts across the city. This fund is the next step in strengthening those long-term efforts.
Ellen Gilligan, president and CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, said:
“As a community foundation, we are dedicated to the strength and vitality of neighborhoods throughout Milwaukee. We are listening as residents and partners in the community express both their challenges and hopes for restoring and reinforcing positive conditions and well-being in their neighborhoods. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s long-standing commitment to healthy neighborhoods includes deep partnerships in Sherman Park and other neighborhoods, supporting residents as they work to strengthen social connections, physical conditions and market confidence.
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Community organizations in Sherman Park and across the city have been providing helping hands to people in their neighborhoods since day one. Our role is to lift up these partners and grow the resources available for their efforts. While the Foundation maintains its commitment to advancing equity and quality of life in neighborhoods throughout the region, the pressing needs of residents, businesses and properties in Sherman Park warrant urgent action. We will ensure that people are heard and that community voices are prominent in identifying the most immediate needs and actions to be taken. While the need is far greater than $200,000, it is a beginning on which we hope our generous community builds.”
Contributions to the Reasons for Hope MKE Fund will be used to support the most pressing needs in the Sherman Park area and to continue support for resident-led efforts to strengthen all neighborhoods. The Fund’s purpose and use will be determined by a community advisory committee.
Donations are being accepted at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s ReasonsForHopeMKEFund.org and can also be made by check payable to:
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
101 W. Pleasant St.
Suite 210
Milwaukee, WI 53212
Marshaling these resources continues the progress of a long-term effort by the Foundation, its donors and partners to address barriers and systemic inequities so that individuals and communities across our city and region can reach their full potential.
More specificity and additional information will be shared as details are finalized in the near future.

author: Greater Milwaukee Foundation


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 20, 2016


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How Wisconsin Became the Home of Black Incarceration | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 19, 2016
CityLab


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Milwaukee youth use art to cope with stress | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rebecca Carballo
August 19, 2016
Stephan Bell, 17, a James Madison High School senior, presents his painting and poem at TRUE Skool’s summer showcase. (Photo by Rebecca Carballo)
Andrew Reed, 14, a freshman at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, choked up when he read, “I love everyone even though everyone doesn’t love me” from an original poem, before an audience of 20 at TRUE Skool. A woman in the front row wiped away a tear.
Reed shared his poem about his experiences being bullied in school at the showcase of the nonprofit’s “Art of Coping,” curriculum. He and 16 other Milwaukee teens spent seven weeks learning how to use a variety of disciplines for coping with stress.
“(Meditation) is so soothing,” Reed said during a two-hour workshop earlier this summer, noting that this was his favorite coping strategy. “It’s like being reborn but without all the crying.”
The Art of Coping curriculum was a part of TRUE Skool’s summer internship program. Participants from TRUE Skool’s fall and spring programs were eligible to apply for the paid internship. Using skills they learned during the year, they painted a mural, organized a library and a place to grow herbs, and created a logo and YouTube channel for the urban arts organization headquartered on the lower level of the Grand Avenue Mall.
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Each Wednesday, Shalina Ali, TRUE Skool’s program director, guided the interns as they explored reflection, meditation, yoga, journaling and dance. Each intern used a rock as a “grounding item” to help them clear their minds.
Andrew Reed, 14, a freshman at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, displays his painting and reads the accompanying poem. (Photo by Rebecca Carballo)
Shondriona Knight, 18, a senior at the Milwaukee School of Languages, said she uses the coping skills she learned this summer in her everyday life, particularly playing her flute and singing,
At the showcase, Knight played her instrument and read her poem “Smashed,” which reflects on a time in her life she describes as a “dark place.” One line from the poem says, “I am broken once again, and I can’t shake these feelings.”
Knight also likes to use dance as a way to cope, she said,
“Before the dance workshop, I was having a bad day and had to make hard decisions,” she said. “I was stressed, but by the end of the workshop I felt better.”
Karlies Kelley, founder of Panadanza Dance Co., who taught an Afro-Caribbean dance workshop as part of the curriculum, showed interns that communication and connection are crucial to coping. She incorporated Spanish, with the interns singing phrases such as saca la mano, which means “take the hand.”
Kelley said Afro-Caribbean dance may help some of the interns connect to their roots.
“Sometimes, minority cultures can be bashed out, but if you know that all the classical forms drew inspiration from African ancestors, it adds value,” Kelley said.
Joanna Brooks, director of the Embody Yoga studio, also taught a workshop. Yoga is “healing by its very nature,” Brooks said. While young people typically struggle with anything that makes them slow down, those in the group really enjoyed the opportunity to do so, she added.
Gathered in a circle, the interns talked about the coping methods they learned and expressed how they felt using their hands. Some had their hands raised in the air to show they were happy. Others held their hands at their chest to express they were at peace. A few folded their hands in their laps to indicate they were upset.
“Acknowledging your feelings is important because it helps you realize when you have to (act on them),” Ali said. “It’s why coping happens.”
However, this has not been easy for every TRUE Skool member.
Stephan Bell, 17, a senior at James Madison High School, said he has had to struggle with anxiety and that he was nervous about presenting his poem and painting at the showcase.
“Sharing emotion is sometimes difficult for me,” Bell said.
However, he appeared confident as he shared his poem about “a boy who tried to make everyone happy.”
Khadijah Perry, the mother of Tre Perry, 15, a sophomore at Homestead High School, said she was impressed that young people are learning coping skills.
“He brought it home,” she said. “He relaxed so much during his first meditation, it scared him.”


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 18, 2016


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On the Block: ‘They’re in my heart’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jabril Faraj
August 19, 2016
Read more about Jack Daniel Reese at milwaukeestories.org.


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 19, 2016


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SHARP Literacy students create public art for Neighborhood House garden park | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
SHARP Literacy
August 19, 2016
(Photo courtesy of SHARP Literacy)
SHARP Literacy has partnered with Neighborhood House of Milwaukee to create a permanent mosaic bench for Neighborhood House Garden Park. The project involved the participation of students enrolled in SHARP Literacy’s eight-week Summer Learning Gain Initiative, which was offered at nine urban locations throughout Milwaukee.
The “Urban Agriculture” bench project was inspired by SHARP Literacy’s 12 We Love to Learn book, There Grows the Neighborhood: Agriculture in the City, written in collaboration with Will Allen, founder and CEO of Growing Power. Led by Milwaukee artist Sally Duback, the bench project is one of four permanent works of art created during SHARP Literacy’s 2016 summer program. In addition to the Urban Agriculture bench, Sally Duback and SHARP students at Journey House, Silver Spring Neighborhood Center and Our Next Generation conceptualized and designed door-sized mosaic murals.
(Photo courtesy of SHARP Literacy)
The six-foot concrete bench is fashioned with a myriad of colorful tile nature-inspired images, such as flowers, leaves, insects and the sun. The design also includes tile “selfies” students created, as well as a tile house, symbolizing the various neighborhoods in which students live. The Urban Agriculture bench sits adjacent to SHARP Literacy’s “Drop to Dinner” mural, which was installed in Neighborhood House Garden Park in August, 2015.
The bench project is one of 20 public works of art created by students participating in the SHARP Literacy program over the past 20 years. Installed at various locations throughout Milwaukee, these curriculum-based art projects are part of the organization’s outside-the-classroom educational experience, which also includes educational tours of area museums, as well as student participation in researching and writing We Love to Learn books. For more information, visit www.sharpliteracy.org.
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SHARP Literacy, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Milwaukee nonprofit educational program whose mission is to enhance future life success by energizing urban children, motivating them to identify themselves as confident, capable scholars and lifelong learners by inspiring engagement in reading, writing and research through hands-on interaction and visual arts. The primary goal of SHARP Literacy is to provide elementary school students with an imaginative learning experience that builds confidence, self-esteem, and a greater awareness of the world. This year SHARP Literacy, Inc. will impart foundational literacy skills to over 8,000 elementary school students in 36 of Milwaukee’s most at-risk schools.  For more information, visit www.sharpliteracy.org.

author: SHARP Literacy


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Sherman Park: The Aftermath | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 19, 2016
WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio


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Special message from Superintendent Darienne Driver | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Public Schools
August 19, 2016
(Photo by Jabril Faraj)
Greetings Milwaukee Public Schools Family,
Over the past week, our city has faced events that push us all to the limits of our comfort and each of us must determine how we will lead in times of great challenge and injustice.
As I have reflected on the week and on the actions and reactions of our community, it is clear that people are hurting. These events have brought to light decades of unmet needs and will require more than conversations to truly understand and solve them.
I am fortunate enough to spend time with our wonderful, talented young people in schools and in our community. I believe in our students. I believe in our young people. And more than ever, I know that they hold the solutions for moving forward as a city.
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The words of one of our students reinforce for me the optimism, hope and expectations of our young men and women in Milwaukee. Kalan Haywood II is a senior at King International High School and the president of the Milwaukee Common Council Youth Council. In a message on social media, Kalan spoke to his peers and to us:
I also issue a special challenge to Milwaukee’s youth: I ask you to think before you act. I encourage you to think of what outcome you want to see and ask yourself if the action you are about to partake in will yield that result. Trust me, as your peer I understand that screaming voice that yells from deep inside your gut that tells you that no one is listening.
But I also know that if we lead by example, everyone will take notice. We have to be the change we want to see.
It is our responsibility as educators to create a space where our young people can be heard and can be part of real decision-making that impacts their lives. We must build relationships and seek to understand their needs and life experiences.
To that end, we recently met with school leaders to discuss our role and ways to address the concerns of our community. We are preparing staff to provide Culturally Responsive Practices and Social-Emotional Learning in every classroom. We are committed to equity, access and inclusion for every student and staff member.
We have also reached out to youth and community leaders to come together to listen to each other as we move forward to secure peace and justice. This work will be uncomfortable, but it is not impossible. We are strong, resilient and committed to our city and our young people.
Together we are part of the solution. I ask our local media to put as much effort into telling the stories of the rebuilding, healing and work to solve issues that will take place over the next few weeks, as it did to the unrest of last weekend.
The issues we face are not new globally, nationally or in the history of our city. This is a critical time for us that will shape the future of our community for decades. Most importantly, this work is necessary to ensure that equity and access are a reality in Milwaukee for the young people we are honored to serve today and for generations to come.
Let us join in this effort of recovery and healing together, working with our young people to be the change that must emerge from our community.
Best,
Superintendent of Schools
Darienne B. Driver, Ed.D.

author: Milwaukee Public Schools


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The Wonk’s Guide to What Works, and What Doesn’t, When Policing Violent Crime | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 19, 2016
TheTrace.org


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Coming full circle to ancient African peacemaking | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Charles Robinson Sr
August 22, 2016
Charles Robinson Sr. participates in Borchert Field C.A.R.E.S. community association meeting. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Charles Robinson Sr., a lawyer, mediator and resident of the Borchert Field neighborhood, says we can reduce violence by employing conflict resolution practices of the indigenous people of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. He is working to establish the Kalahari Peace Institute, which will train mediators, facilitators and conflict coaches in violence prevention and peace literacy.
“We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.” This is one of my favorite Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quotes. Judging by the murder rate in many of our inner cities in the United States, we appear to be on the way to perishing as fools. However, there is a place on our planet today where unresolved conflict and violence are not tolerated.
The San or Bushmen of the Kalahari have the oldest culture known to man. They have no history of warfare. Their children are well developed and thrive without issues in their villages. They are hunters and gatherers who live in the Kalahari Desert and are referred to as “primitive.” Their religion dictates that they cannot harbor unresolved conflict. Therefore, all disputes must be resolved as a community inside a peace circle. These so-called primitive people have demonstrated an Afrocentric method of peacemaking, which dates back to early man. The notion that African-Americans are inherently violent is without validity.
The idea of perishing as fools is a depressing thought upon which I choose not to dwell. Instead, I point to positive examples of successful business accomplishments by African-Americans, such as “Black Wall Street” in the 1920s, and others, which demonstrate that African-Americans have flourished under capitalism in healthy and safe communities. We know the possibility of creating the same in the future exists.
Approximately 32 years ago, after realizing that peacemaking is my life purpose, I decided to start a mediation practice. I began mediating for governmental and private agencies and for community mediation centers. I also trained mediators in school- and community-based programs and took advantage of all available educational and training opportunities to enhance my skills. Commitment to conflict resolution skill development has allowed me to achieve a high settlement rate in the federal sector and contribute as a facilitator of listening circles for the Milwaukee Police Department and young African-American males who may have been at risk.
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On my way to mastery, I have found myself coming full circle to study the art and science of peacemaking according to the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, who believe that God will be angry at them for tolerating any unresolved conflict. It is fair to suppose that the intention of this religion is to ensure harmony among the Bushmen for the sake of their survival. Even though we live in a different environment, our quality of life and our very survival depend on our maintaining and sustaining workable relationships in our families, communities and businesses. These basic relationships create the fabric of our nation.
The Kalahari Peace Institute that I am working to establish will be a center for relational transformation, a legacy from the desert.

author: Charles Robinson Sr


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 21, 2016


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Condemnation of Charter Schools Exposes a Rift Over Black Students | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 22, 2016
The New York Times


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Derrick Z. Jackson: Milwaukee’s invisible racial cage | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 22, 2016
The Boston Globe


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How One School Near Sherman Park Plans To Help Students Process Violence | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 22, 2016
WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio


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Poets take ‘soapbox therapy’ to Sherman Park | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 22, 2016
The rhythmic words spoken by poet Unique (Ms.Fit) were clearly audible over the evening traffic speeding by on Sherman Boulevard:
“Who will be the last one standing?
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson left after graduation.
The educated always seem to feel the need to leave,
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So the rich we see are drug dealers …”
Spoken-word poet Dasha Kelly claps for one of the performers. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Residents, fans and passersby gathered in the small park behind the gas station that was destroyed in the recent violence in Sherman Park. They came by chance and by invitation from the teen poets of Sacred Garden and Still Waters Collective, a “resource network for language artists and enthusiasts.” Attendees shared words, thoughts and feelings that emerged from the turmoil and longstanding conditions that preceded it.
Symone Leonard, 17, and two friends started the youth-led Sacred Garden group last year. Arts @ Large staff members encouraged Leonard’s interest in poetry by offering her performance space at Café @ Large, 908 S. 5 St.
Spoken-word artist Dasha Kelly, founder and director of Still Waters Collective, took on the role of mentor.
Initially, Leonard explained, Sacred Garden planned a single open-mic event, but it was so successful the group started to offer it regularly. “People loved it so much and so much of our city came out. The house was packed,” she said.
Beginning Sept. 30, Sacred Garden will host a free open-mic night at Café @ Large on alternating Fridays from 6:30 to 10 p.m.
Unique (Ms.Fit) and friends will host “Soul Set“ at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum on Friday, Aug. 26, 6:30 to 9:30. Admission is $10.


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UW-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools partnership receives $2.4 million grant | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
August 22, 2016
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Public Schools have received a $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve the teaching of mathematics and science in Milwaukee public high schools.
The five-year project, the Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership, will run from fall 2016 to summer 2021. The partnership will engage 25 teachers with master’s degrees across MPS high schools in personalized professional development and classroom-based research.
“This effort will strengthen the professional capacity of high school mathematics and science teachers and create a new generation of teacher leaders in science and mathematics,” said Michael Steele, the project leader. He is an associate professor of mathematics education and chair of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at UWM.
The collaboration between the university and the schools will help foster content knowledge, teaching skills and development of teacher leaders in mathematics and science, said Steven Akin, mathematics and science manager for MPS.
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Teachers involved in the project will select areas of interest related to mathematics and science teaching to study with UWM content experts. After designing and implementing classroom activities related to that area of study, teachers will receive “badges,” also known as micro-credentials, for their achievements.
Teachers will also work with university faculty and MPS district leaders to analyze their classroom practice and lead professional development workshops for other mathematics and science teachers in the district and state. Participating teachers receive funds for classroom equipment, salary stipends and travel subsidies to present their work at state and national education conferences.
“This collaborative effort in the areas of mathematics and science is absolutely critical to Milwaukee’s future,” UWM Chancellor Mark Mone said. “Our aim is to bolster the professional capacity of high school mathematics and science teachers, teacher effectiveness in the classroom, and student learning in our urban schools.”
Said MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver: “Strong mathematics and science skills are fundamental to our students’ success. Building on the existing skills for our teachers is critical to ensuring our young people have the tools and skills they need.”
In addition to Steele and Akin, other UWM faculty and MPS professionals involved in the project are:

author: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee


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How to get a city job | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Department of Workforce Development
August 23, 2016

author: Department of Workforce Development


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City of Milwaukee Jobs copy | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 23, 2016

author: Adam Carr


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MCC YouthBuild completes 14th house after almost two years of construction | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Mitchell Mittelstedt
August 23, 2016
Milwaukee Christian Center recently marked the completion of its 14th YouthBuild home, constructed in the Walker Square neighborhood.
Though construction began in November 2014, the project was put on hold due to unfavorable weather until July 2015, when YouthBuild framed the house. “Each house presents its own unique situation that we have to face,” said Floyd Hopkins, construction site supervisor for MCC.
“The YouthBuild program provides young adults, age 18-24, with education and hands-on construction training while building homes for low- and moderate-income families,” said Patrick Schrank, director of programmatic services at MCC. He added that YouthBuild members work toward attaining their GED and industry credentials, learn basic construction skills, and serve their community by building homes and performing additional volunteer work.
Mayor Tom Barrett, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, and MCC Executive Director Karen Higgins were among those who spoke at an open house to unveil the building on Aug. 17.
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After seeing a previous house built by YouthBuild, Julio and Diana Velos made an offer on the house before it was even put on the market. Their old residence is only a couple of blocks away from their new home.
Milwaukee Christian Center’s YouthBuild Program collaborates closely with YouthBuild programs at Northcott Neighborhood House and the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee, with support from Employ Milwaukee (formerly the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board) and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Young adults who are facing challenges in attaining and maintaining employment and are interested in a career in the construction industry are encouraged to apply for YouthBuild by calling (414) 645-5350.
Milwaukee Christian Center’s YouthBuild Program is a partner of the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal government agency.

author: Mitchell Mittelstedt


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 22, 2016


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On the Block: Sense of community | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rebecca Carballo
August 23, 2016
Christine James has lived on Vilet Street with her two daughters (pictured with a friend) and a nephew for 10 years. James plans on staying in her home because she likes the sense of community in her neighborhood. She said she knows all her neighbors, and everyone on the street knows her daughters and looks out for them.

author: Rebecca Carballo


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Statement from Mayor Tom Barrett on the Common Council’s Public Safety Action Plan | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Mayor Tom Barrett
August 23, 2016
(Photo by Matt Wisla)
The Mayor’s Office of Violence Prevention will be launching a comprehensive, community-driven planning process next month. This effort has been in the works for quite some time and has attracted the support of local and national organizations. I have accelerated the Violence Prevention initiative since my appointment of a new director to that office.
We are engaging national and local partners in this effort and it will reflect strategies for enhancing public safety. As I’ve said repeatedly, law enforcement is an important part of the public safety equation but not the only piece. If we have learned anything from the events over the past two weeks, it is imperative that we all work together to address the factors that we know drive crime and disorder in communities.
This is an issue that the city can’t shoulder alone. We look forward to engaging multiple sectors including business, education, community, youth, health and officials across all levels of government in identifying comprehensive strategies that we can align resources and policy to launch and sustain.
We will be working with the Prevention Institute out of Oakland, CA with extensive experience with facilitating planning process with cities throughout the country. This effort will be led by the Office of Violence Prevention.
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author: Mayor Tom Barrett


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 23, 2016


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Local nonprofits focus on how to make use of 85 acres of empty land on city’s waterfront | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rebecca Carballo
August 24, 2016
Passengers admire the Milwaukee skyline on a Harbor District Inc. boat tour. (Photo by Rebecca Carballo)
Imagine transforming a sizable swath of unused industrial property on Milwaukee’s lakefront into beautiful public spaces and new places for people to live and work. That’s exactly what the local nonprofit Harbor District Inc. (HDI) is trying to do.
The target is 85 acres of land in Milwaukee’s Harbor District, an area that thrived during the city’s industrial heyday but now sits mostly neglected. HDI partnered with SSCHC to conduct tours during the summer to show residents what the area looks like, and to spark ideas about what it should become.
HDI was created by Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers (SSCHC) because it wanted to focus on developing the area outside of its clinic.
SSCHC helps with outreach about the harbor and provides Spanish translations for HDI’s tours and online content.
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“In the beginning we were a big brother; now we are a colleague,” said Moranda Medina, SSCHC community engagement specialist.
The bilingual tours are led by Medina and Dan Adams, HDI planning director.
One of the passengers on a recent tour, Kevin Atkinson, said he thinks the Harbor District is an up-and-coming area.
“It really is a hidden gem,” said Atkinson, 50. “Being on the waterfront is so desirable, and we have this space that is forgotten about.”
Pictured is the 26-acre parcel of vacant land known as the “Grand Trunk site.” A ferry used to stop there to take rail cars to Michigan on the Grand Trunk Railway. (Photo by Rebecca Carballo)
HDI is looking for creative solutions to preserve the harbor as a habitat and has asked community members for ideas at meetings and through surveys.
According to Medina, the surveys indicated many community members want the space to be used for public parks and walking trails.
The vacant land is located in three areas on the Kinnickinnic River. Two of the areas are south of Greenfield Avenue and west of the river. The other lies on the east side of the river, across from the other two properties.
The properties were used for industrial purposes, but became obsolete. “Our economy has changed, our city has changed and our harbor has changed, and challenges come with those changes,” Adams explained.
For example, one of the areas was used to store coal for a Menomonee Valley power plant. Since the plant changed to natural gas, the 13-acre site has not been used.
The other parcel is the former Milwaukee Solvay Coke Co. plant property. Manufacturing coke left the site with contaminated soil.
It is a popular area for people to walk and bike. However, the land is privately owned by Golden Marina Causeway LLC, an investors group based in Lisle, Illinois, so those biking and walking are trespassing.
Until about a month ago, old buildings on the property was falling apart, creating a safety hazard for the people passing through. HDI worked with city of Milwaukee and other nonprofits to tear them down.
“The next step is to clean up the property and get a property owner who wants to do something good for the community,” Adams said.
The third piece of land is known as “the Grand Trunk site.” It earned its name because a ferry used to stop there to take rail cars to Michigan on the Grand Trunk Railway.
The site is owned by the Port of Milwaukee, which is working with HDI and other partners to stabilize the remaining wetland and keep space for further development.
Juan Moreno, 37, who went on the tour and lives close to the harbor, said the vacant sites should be used for beautification projects.
“I would like to see more green space used especially where the train comes in,” said Moreno, a landscaper. “It would be great to be able to show everyone how beautiful Milwaukee is.”
In addition to developing land in the harbor, HDI is also hoping to preserve the wildlife’s natural habitat.
HDI is looking into creating an innovative water wheel, which uses the current — supplemented by solar panels — to turn trash out of the river.
On the tour Adams and Medina showed passengers the metal breakwall, which is old and in need of repairs. The nonprofit plans to update it.
HDI and its partners talked with design teams from Toronto, Chicago, Denver and Vancouver about ways to revitalize the harbor. Studio Gang, a Chicago architecture firm, proposed a series of green islands that would replace the breakwall and provide a habitat for wildlife.
“It really makes you think, ‘does it have to be like this, or could it be more natural?’” Adams remarked about the metal walls.
Brent Sumner, senior marine engineer at the environmental engineering company Baird, commended HDI for its vision, but added that some of the ideas are expensive.
“The important thing is they have this vision that they share with the other stakeholders,” Sumner said. “The next step is getting [people] to buy in.”
Adams said the water wheel and green islands are early in the process and it may be years until the projects are complete, but he is optimistic about the future.
“With these challenges come new opportunities for us to make a new harbor for the next 100 or 150 years,” Adams said.


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NNS on Lake Effect Radio: Unrest in Sherman Park | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
August 24, 2016
NNS reporter Jabril Faraj goes on the air with Lake Effect’s Joy Powers to talk about protests in Sherman Park in the wake of the police shooting of 23-year-old Silville Smith

author: Dwayne Burtin


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Are police ticketing practices creating a tinder box in black community? | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 25, 2016
CNN

author: Andrea Waxman


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EQUAL PAY: How big is the gap for African-American women? | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 25, 2016
Milwaukee Business Journal


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Milwaukee’s Proposed Public Safety Plan a Work in Progress | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 25, 2016
WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio


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Rent-to-Own Homes: A Win-Win for Landlords, a Risk for Struggling Tenants | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 25, 2016
The New York Times


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On the Block: Sherman Park peacemaker | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 25, 2016
Vaun Mayes, 29, founded We All We Got, a grassroots community policing initiative in the Sherman Park neighborhood, in an effort to reduce violence by intervening in fights and domestic disputes.
But early this summer, as he got wind of fights taking place in Sherman Park, Mayes and his colleagues moved their operation there and founded Program the Parks. Now he and his group organize activities, provide food, act as role models and mentors, and keep peace for the kids and young adults in the park.


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 24, 2016


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Teens produce new online magazine highlighting young people of color | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 25, 2016
Sharlen Moore (right), Urban Underground director, presents certificates, as project editor Allison Dikanovic, (third from right), congratulates participant Donald Beamon. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Payton Stovall, a Whitefish Bay High School student who lives on the North Side, feared that Urban Underground’s Earn & Learn summer project would be boring. She wasn’t interested in journalism and didn’t think she would enjoy writing. But she was surprised to learn how many different skills it takes to produce an online publication.
“And it wasn’t like school writing. It was more like storytelling,” Stovall said.
Stovall, 15, and 16 other young adults participating in the program went from brainstorming ideas to celebrating the launch of an online youth magazine in just eight weeks.
Youth Rise Magazine profiles five young Milwaukeeans of color: Nautica Whitelow, 15, a self-appointed peacemaker in Sherman Park; Thomas Leonard, spoken-word poet and recent graduate of Wauwatosa West High School where he was the Black Student Union president; Arthur Clements, 19, recovered drug addict and anti-drug activist; Dontazsha Duncan, 18, Safe Zones ambassador whose best friend was fatally shot on her front porch; and Payton Wade, City of Milwaukee Youth Council representative.
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The project was initiated by Allison Dikanovic, a Marquette University senior majoring in journalism and international relations. A former reporting intern at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, Dikanovic applied for and received a $3,500 mini-grant from the Marquette University College of Business Administration Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship’s The Dorm Fund, a student-run venture capital firm that invests in undergraduate student-run initiatives.<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"			xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"			xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/">		<rdf:Description rdf:about="https://milwaukeenns.org/2016/08/25/teens-produce-new-online-magazine-highlighting-young-people-of-color/"    dc:identifier="https://milwaukeenns.org/2016/08/25/teens-produce-new-online-magazine-highlighting-young-people-of-color/"    dc:title="Teens produce new online magazine highlighting young people of color"    trackback:ping="https://milwaukeenns.org/2016/08/25/teens-produce-new-online-magazine-highlighting-young-people-of-color/trackback/" /></rdf:RDF>
(from right) Mariah Walls, Payton Stovall and Shateria Wiley visit Alice’s Garden for a Black Lives event . (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
A volunteer academic-support coordinator at Urban Underground for three years and summer staff manager this summer, Dikanovic acted as project editor and mentor. Working together with Dikanovic, the teens originated, reported, created, produced, designed and edited all the magazine’s content.
Dikanovic is “an amazing youth worker,” said Sharlen Moore, Urban Underground director. The relationships she has built with the young people during her years at Urban Underground, as well as her journalism background, made her the perfect person for this project, Moore added.
Youth Rise Magazine fills a void in the city, added Moore. “It provides a platform for young people to share the stories of other young people who are doing some great things in this community.” She noted that youth are often left out of conversations about solutions to problems in the community.
Moore said she will seek funding to continue the project during the school year.
“The participants identified different issues in the community that they were concerned about and found youth who connected to those issues in some way,” Dikanovic explained. They attended a wide variety of events in the city and narrowed the list to five topics to explore and highlight.
Mariah Walls, 16, who lives in the Midtown neighborhood and attends Pius XI Catholic High School, said she learned a lot about the community from attending these events. For example, she was surprised to see young people participating in a meeting between police and Sherman Park residents before the violence that started on Aug. 13. But she was disturbed that police officers and some adults imposed time limits on the comments of young people who wanted to speak, and appeared not to listen to what they had to say. “Maybe (Hearing them) would have even prevented the burning of the gas station,” Walls said.
In addition to the featured profiles, members of the project wrote blog posts offering commentary on issues related to the stories.
“(The teen participants) were able to connect quickly and meaningfully to their subjects in a way that allowed them to conduct interviews and have conversations differently than any adult reporter would have been able to,” Dikanovic said.
The project culminated with a recent celebration attended by 50 participants, supporters and well-wishers at Marquette University’s Alumni Memorial Union. Dikanovic and three teens explained the project and projected the magazine on a large screen. It was the first time the teens were able to see their finished product.
“I thought it was a great experience. I liked that we were able to get the youth voices heard through the magazine and now everyone is able … to see what they think and how they view the problems in their city,” said the project’s social media director Shira Higgins. Higgins, 18, is a recent Rufus King International High School graduate who will enter UW-Milwaukee this fall.
In the end, Payton said, she learned that she shouldn’t limit herself to things she thought she was interested in and could do well.
“It was … fun to watch students explore talents that they didn’t know they had, whether that was photography, graphic design or interviewing. It’s cool to see how much students can grow when pushed into a space just past their comfort zone,” said Dikanovic.
The Earn & Learn program is an initiative of the City of Milwaukee, in partnership with local businesses and nonprofit, community- and faith-based organizations.


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WISCONSIN BUDGET: Welfare Funding Dropped 75% Since 1991 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 25, 2016
UrbanMilwaukee.com


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Alderwoman Coggs: Special job and info session set for next week | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ald. Milele A. Coggs
August 26, 2016
(Photo by Mark Doremus)
With job opportunities arriving with the new Pete’s Fruit Market that is set to open soon in the heart of Bronzeville at N. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. and W. North Ave., YWCA Southeast Wisconsin will be hosting a job and information session on Tuesday, August 30, from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at 1915 N. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr., according to Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs.
The event – hosted by Pete’s Fruit Market, Vangard Group, JCP Construction, and Athena Communications – will provide important information about carpenter apprentice, carpenter helper, laborer apprentice and other skilled construction trades positions.
Alderwoman Coggs said the neighbors made it clear during the past few years that the location should house a grocery store, and those wishes were honored. “And now we have the opportunity for people in the neighborhood to be a part of building this new Pete’s Fruit Market grocery store,” she said. “We have come full circle in a positive way for the betterment of Bronzeville and the community.”
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Alderwoman Coggs said interested residents should make plans to attend. “This is a chance to see what trades-related openings might be available at this location, and anyone looking for work or looking to change jobs should make plans to attend,” she said.

author: Ald. Milele A. Coggs


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 26, 2016