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South side leader reclaims identity as ‘born-again Latina’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
February 7, 2013
Tatiana Joseph is involved in the south side community where she grew up. (Photo by Nicole Acosta)
Tatiana Joseph, then 15, remembers showing up at Pius XI High School, 135 N. 76 St., on her first day with long hair, heavy makeup and Cortez tennis shoes on. She walked up the stairs to class and noticed that people going down were staring and laughing at her. Finally, one boy turned to her and said, “What are you doing here? Are you in a gang? Your kind doesn’t belong here.”
“I didn’t even have the words to combat that because I hadn’t ever experienced such bold racism,” Joseph said.
Joseph, who now has a Ph.D., helps neighborhood youth understand the importance of education in overcoming obstacles. And, unlike many professionals who move away from the low-income neighborhoods where they were raised, she stayed.
Raised on the south side since arriving in Milwaukee from Costa Rica at the age of 10, Joseph had always felt comfortable in her surroundings. She’d grown up in the heart of Milwaukee’s Hispanic enclave, in a neighborhood that has served as an arrival point for Latin American immigrants for decades—as it does to this day. What happened to her in the hall that first day of high school was a culture shock that in many ways has shaped her life.
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Joseph felt she had to assimilate so she joined every club at school she could. “I changed my style and the way I spoke, and even consciously made the decision not to speak Spanish,” Joseph said.
Tatiana Joseph (Photo by Nicole Acosta)
She was accepted to Marquette University on a scholarship through the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP). There, she still had trouble fitting in.
“I was too brown for the white folks and too white for the brown folks so where do I fit in? I hadn’t found my niche,” Joseph recalled.
Then a psychology major, Joseph sought advice from Sharon Kerry-Harlan, instructional coordinator for EOP.
Kerry-Harlan considered herself Joseph’s advisor, counselor and mentor. “From the start I knew she was a stand-out,” she said.  Kerry-Harlan added that she’d always hear Joseph talking about making the community a better place for young people.
Kerry-Harlan encouraged her to take an introduction to education course. “It was the beginning of my transformation,” Joseph said.
She started to think about the kids who, like her, were embarrassed to speak their own language, and decided that she wanted to become a high school Spanish teacher.
“I wanted to go back to my roots and my language and traditions and who I was; my born-again Latina.”
She graduated and went to teach at — of all places — Pius. There she met students who reminded her of herself, and she sought to teach them to be proud of their language and who they are. After three years at Pius and with the support of her students, Joseph left teaching to attend UWM, earning her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 2007. With the encouragement of advisors at the school, she entered the Ph.D. program. She earned her doctorate and currently teaches courses in the World Language Education Program at UWM.
Despite going so far professionally, Joseph remains rooted in the south side. She still lives in the Walker Square neighborhood, near the home on 10 and Greenfield Avenue where she spent much of her childhood, and down the road from the sweltering attic her family first called home when they arrived from Costa Rica. Although one fan in the doorway blew hot air and money was hard to come by, Joseph still looks back on those days with fondness.
The family had each other and a culture that no one could take away from them. That’s why she and her husband remain in the neighborhood they grew up in, Joseph explained.
“This neighborhood kept me rooted when my identity was questioned and the people here accepted me for who I was and worked and nurtured me,” Joseph said. She added that if she and her husband, both professionals, won’t stay, work and help their community then who else will?
Jason Cleereman, who volunteers with Joseph at the Walker Square Neighborhood Association, agrees.
“I think when you have Latino leadership in the community living here, not just working here, that says something. She’s down here day in and day out,” Cleereman said.
Joseph is currently running to represent the 6th District on the Milwaukee Public School Board against Jaime Alvarado, deputy state director of youth for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Wisconsin, and former Alderman Angel Sanchez.
Joseph said that when her mother asks her why she doesn’t move to a safer neighborhood, she tells her, “I can walk to Lopez Bakery and get bread and then go get some coffee at the National Café, so why would I move?”

created: February 7, 2013


text:
8451023047_1c618d0e8f_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 7, 2013

source: news-milwaukeenns

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

author: Adam Carr


text:
8452113630_b340033333_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 7, 2013


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Conference generates ideas to spur social entrepreneurship | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
February 12, 2013
Teams discuss ways to support social entrepreneurship during the “Building Our Social Innovation Ecosystem” conference. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
Creating a centrally located, open office space where entrepreneurs could collaborate on ways to address the city’s economic and social problems was just one idea that teams of civic-minded professionals developed at a recent conference on social entrepreneurship.
“We want them (social entrepreneurs) to all talk to each other about their great ideas. … One way we break down silos is to create common places,” said Jerica Broeckling, member resource and partnership manager at United Neighborhood Centers of America in Milwaukee, who presented her team’s ideas.
Social entrepreneurs — people who use business principles to create solutions to social problems such as unemployment, poor education or inadequate housing — were the focus of a session on the intersection of social innovation and economic development. The session was part of the “Building Our Social Innovation Ecosystem” conference held at Manpower Global Headquarters.
During the session, teams of eight or nine professionals were asked to develop topics for a future hypothetical New York Times piece about how Milwaukee successfully addressed its problems through social entrepreneurship.Armed with poster paper and bright magic markers, the teams huddled, generating ideas and strategies to help spur social entrepreneurship.
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Joaquin Altoro presents his team’s ideas to embrace social entrepreneurship. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
“Just the fact that we are having this conversation is a win,” said Tim Syth, a social entrepreneur and the executive director of Bucketworks who attended the conference. Bucketworks is a space at 706 S. 5 St., where creative professionals can collaborate.
“At Bucketworks, we are talking about this stuff all of the time, but to have the universities and corporations perk up and support this type of (discussion), suggests really good things,” he added.
Another strategy suggested during the two-hour brainstorming session was to involve the corporate and small business community in providing financial resources, fellowships and mentorships to entrepreneurs.
“We are going to change talent retention to be a net positive. Not only are we stopping brain drain but we are creating brain gain,” said Laurel Osman, a project manager at Greater Milwaukee Committee, as she presented her team’s ideas.
Christopher Gergen, an expert on social entrepreneurship from Duke University, who facilitated the session, told of a fellowship program being developed in Raleigh, N.C., as an example of what Milwaukee could do to court social entrepreneurs.
The program would offer free housing, food and work space to 10 fellows from local colleges and universities. The year-long fellowship program would be underwritten by local corporations.
It would provide “a runway to help launch start-ups,” he said.
Another idea was to introduce social entrepreneurship to young schoolchildren, empowering them to take ownership of the social problems around them. This could be done through service learning projects and internships that connect the students with organizations throughout the city.After the session, McGee Young, entrepreneur faculty fellow at Marquette University, implored the attendees to proactively seek ways to attract social entrepreneurs.
“The most powerful thing you can do to change the culture of entrepreneurship is to be interested and excited about what someone else is doing and giving them that validation,” Young added.
The conference was organized by Marquette University’s Social Innovation Initiative. Other sponsors were the Helen Bader Foundation, ManpowerGroup, MiKE and the Zilber Family Foundation.
Sessions involving higher education and the philanthropic sector also took place at the conference.
“The reason we have to do this is because if we don’t, then we are in trouble,” Gergen said, adding, “We have to be able to close this innovation gap. We have too many complex challenges that are facing us right now.”

created: February 12, 2013

author: Brendan O’Brien


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8467572469_50665cc2cd_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 13, 2013

created: February 13, 2013


text:
Altoro-Cropped-1 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 13, 2013


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World, Milwaukee leaders address how to reduce health disparities | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
February 14, 2013
A panel discussion on health disparities was part of Mission Week at Marquette University. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
The poorest Milwaukeeans also have the poorest health, and Milwaukee is not alone in the wide health disparities between rich and poor.
Local and world leaders in innovative health care for the poor, including several Opus Prize recipients, recently gathered at Marquette University to discuss conditions, causes and possible remedies for health disparities. Marquette awards the Opus Prize annually to “unsung heroes” involved in faith-based humanitarian efforts.
Included on the panel, moderated by Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, was Brother Stan Goetschalckx, F.C., a 2007 Opus Prize winner. He is the founder and director of the AHADI International Institute in Tanzania, which aids refugees from war-torn countries in Africa. Goetschalckx said that the key in Milwaukee and throughout the world is to learn to work with people as they are. He explained that everybody has qualities and limits, but everybody also has the ability and responsibility to make good choices in their lives.
“Our job is to tell the people that you can do it, you can get over it.  …You have the strength to transform negative and positive, weakness and strength,” said Goetschalckx.
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Dr. John Bartkowski, CEO of the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, 1337 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr., agreed that self-empowerment is one of the keys to reducing health disparities. He added that his clinic sees many people who are very poor, some of them immigrants. Eighty percent of the state’s Latinos live in the two ZIP codes served by the clinic. To be effective in serving that population, health care providers need to be persistent.
Meg Kissinger, reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, moderated the panel discussion. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
“You’re not going to make many changes in a person’s life at one moment, so it takes much time especially when it comes to health … you have to work with that one person at the point they are in their life to make changes,” said Bartkowski.
Bartkowski also suggested that Marquette students go to poor neighborhoods to work with residents. For example, he challenged Marquette’s School of Dentistry to put a dental clinic in a low-income area.
Dr. Earnestine Willis of the Medical College of Wisconsin noted that the whole community must take ownership for health equity efforts to succeed.  She said that one of the many challenges in reducing disparities is that programs and resources continually come in to poor neighborhoods but don’t stick around to ensure that the impact of the programming is maintained.
“I teach my residents and students that its important that the community take ownership and that’s critical for maintaining the impact of what community organizations set into place,” Willis said.
As far as what can be done right here, right now to make a difference, most of the Opus winners echoed earlier sentiments of empowerment and engagement, adding one important aspect that reflects their faith-based backgrounds.
“We have to walk side by side with the poor,” said Dr. Nelson Neumann, son of the late Dr. Zilda Arns Neumann, who won an Opus Prize for her work with the Pastoral da Crianca. Pastoral da Crianca is a group of volunteers and community leaders who address family issues including infant mortality among the poor in Brazil and Latin America.
Goetschalckx added that people in the community need to be more humble and enter and live in worlds with people who have less and learn from them.
“We need to see each other as brothers and sisters of the same home and cultivate the real values that are important in life,” Goetschalckx said. Those values are hospitality, welcoming, giving and serving, he added.
The infant mortality rate for African-Americans in Milwaukee is among the worst in the nation and comparable to rates in some third world countries. Black infants in Milwaukee die at more than twice the rate of white infants, according to a 2011 report by the Center for Urban Population Health.
As for solutions for eliminating health disparities, Willis said that the short-term goal should be to ensure that every citizen has a health care promoter. The long-term goals should be to give those citizens a voice in their own care, and to switch to prevention rather than a treatment model of care.
“All these systems will need to connect for families to be healthier and better off,” Willis added.

created: February 14, 2013

author: Edgar Mendez


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8469139836_3392e9bd68_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 13, 2013


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meg | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 13, 2013


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Acceptance Journeys changes LGBT lives with love | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Jennifer Reinke
February 15, 2013
Brenda Coley, Diverse & Resilient director of special projects; Ciera McKissick, Acceptance Journeys program coordinator; and Kingston Lenard, Acceptance Journeys participant, display cards featuring their own stories of being accepted and of accepting. (Photo by Jenni Reinke)
When Kingston Lenard, 22, was a freshman at Bradley Tech High School, he witnessed the bullying of LGBT students, but didn’t do anything to stop it. Then, he learned his favorite uncle, Ronnie Grace, HIV counseling, testing and referral specialist at Diverse & Resilient, was gay. He faced a choice to love and accept his uncle for who he is, or to reject their relationship altogether.
Lenard chose love. He explained that learning about his uncle’s sexual orientation “could have built or destroyed [their] relationship.” In the end, he said, “It built [our relationship] because I made the choice to accept him.”
Lenard’s story is one of 61 stories featured in Diverse & Resilient’s Acceptance Journeys project, begun in October 2011 to improve the health outcomes for LGBT people by sharing stories of love and acceptance and educating the Greater Milwaukee community about LGBT discrimination.
The stories are published on the project’s website and Facebook page, as well as on colorful story cards with photos of more than 100 project participants. The photos also have been posted around town on billboards, buses and bus shelters. Participants come from all walks of life. Mayor Tom Barrett, for example, was featured with former chair of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission Leonard Sobczak.
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The project is the result of a 2009 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with the Wisconsin AIDS/HIV Program, the City of Milwaukee Health Department, and Wisconsin’s HIV Prevention and Testing Programs, to investigate a large increase in HIV infections in Milwaukee’s young African American gay and bisexual men. Findings indicated that the increase was indeed real and not merely the result of intensified testing.
An Acceptance Journeys bus stop sign on Capital Drive and Richards Street reads, “Who my mother loves doesn’t change my love for her.” (Photo by Ciera McKissick)
The study also found that anti-gay discrimination plays a role in the transmission of HIV in the gay community, especially among gay and bisexual men of color. It causes housing instability, HIV stigma, a code of silence about same-sex behaviors and internalized homophobia. These may result in risky sexual behaviors, non-disclosure of HIV status, lack of concern about HIV and poor coping skills.
And, the effects of anti-gay discrimination go beyond HIV transmission rates to other health-related issues, including depression, suicide, substance use, and community violence.
“What we know is that self-esteem has a lot to do with a person’s preventative health matters,” said Brenda Coley, Diverse & Resilient director of special projects. “If you accept and love someone they have a better support system and they’re able to thrive and live healthy lives without having to face the stigma.”
That’s why the project targets the “larger heterosexual community,” said Coley. “They’re unaware of what oppression does to LGBT people because LGBT people mask it.”
This was the case for Lenard, who was transformed by his choice to accept his uncle. “I learned a lot about oppression and what it does to people. I came a long way. It changed my view on the LGBT community. I became more aware and understanding,” he said.
As a volunteer with Diverse & Resilient, Lenard now speaks out against the bullying he sees, and as a result, his choice has also changed those around him.
“I tell everybody about my uncle,” he said, including close friends who had previously made anti-gay jokes and comments. They no longer “engage in saying offensive things.”
He realized that for the most part, people did not mean to be hurtful, but “didn’t understand [what they were doing] and needed someone to tell them.”
Lenard’s conclusion mirrors the findings of the community interviews Diverse & Resilient conducted to develop the campaign. Focus groups found that people were unaware and wanted to learn more, said Coley. They also encouraged the campaign’s measured, multi-faceted approach, which uses indirect messaging to the community at large and story-telling in small group settings. Ciera McKissick, Acceptance Journeys program coordinator, called it “an intricate project” and a “gradual process.”
Despite the clarity of its goal, Acceptance Journeys’ signage is deliberately indirect so as not to create backlash and prevent people with anti-gay attitudes from learning about LGBT oppression. Beginning with the tag line, “Whose life can you change with love?” the messaging has progressively become more explicit as the campaign has evolved. Most recently, billboards and bus signs read, “Who my son loves doesn’t change my love for him.”
“We’re doing a journey with the [Greater Milwaukee] community. Whether they know it or not they’re on the journey just by seeing the billboards,” said McKissick. The hope is that when someone sees a sign, he or she will begin the journey to acceptance by visiting the campaign website, reading stories of acceptance and becoming educated about the discrimination LGBT people face.
“It’s a process,” agreed Coley. “We recognize that process and honor that process.”
Next up are more stories, as well as Spanish translations of stories. The project also uses small group presentations at workplaces and community outreach at festivals and places of worship to spread its message. “Anyone who touches the LGBT community we want to touch with this message,” said Coley.
That’s why it was so critical for Lenard to choose acceptance. “[He] can take this message to people we’re not going to be able to reach because of his own social networks,” she said.
Coley insists that a social approach, not just a medical fix, is important to improving the health of LGBT individuals. “Science does tell us that acceptance has to do with health,” she said. “When people see themselves as worthy, they have more skills to hear health prevention messages and their risk behaviors will be affected.”
Through the Acceptance Journeys campaign, Coley wants LGBT people to know that “as a community we’re putting our arms around you to keep you safe and healthy.”

created: February 15, 2013

author: Jennifer Reinke


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8473172744_0c4ac9e9eb_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 14, 2013


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8473173790_47cddca029_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 14, 2013


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Organizers seek to raise funds for free arts programming | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
February 15, 2013
Painter Jose De Hoyos donated a painting of his granddaughter for the silent auction. (Photo by Jose De Hoyos)
Although she majored in Global Studies and Sociology atAlverno College, art is Sylvia Zaal’s passion.
“I write, draw, anything to be creative,” Zaal said.
In 2010, Zaal founded Bring Art Back Inc. (BAB), a nonprofit that raisesawareness aboutchallenges such as discrimination and bullying that children face. Free art lessons come with life lessons.
Zaal initiated BAB n response to a drop in free arts programming. According to Zaal, art helps children find their voices. Her daughter, who is Palestinian and Nicaraguan and speaks three languages,had been picked on at school. Zaal’s solution was to provide free art lessons to students.
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It was nothing fancy, but the kids had a ball, she said. Zaal brought in crayons, paper and other supplies and they made crowns. Mixed into those activities were lessons about the power of words, and how much they can hurt. She’s also taught art lessons to children at the Latina Resource Center at UMOS, 809 W. Mitchell St.
“The best part of working with kids is the finished product and seeing their eyes light up,” Zaal said.
On Thursday Feb. 21, BAB will hold a fundraiser entitled “Arts Are Alive,” at the Wherehouse Nightclub, 818 S. Water St., from 5:30-8:30p.m. Local artists are donating their work for a silent auction with proceeds used to buy art supplies and fund future art programming.
Lea Cutsforth, a Milwaukee illustrator is donating two drawings. One is of a child imagining what it would like to be a bird and the other isa bird actinglike a human.
“It’s a way to humanize animals using imagination,” Cutsforth said.
This arts and crafts piece inspired the work Toni Osgood donated for the event. (Photo by Toni Osgood)
Cutsforth, who works for the Urban Forestry Division in Milwaukee, recently created 96 illustrations for a training manual for foresters. She has always been interested in nonprofits that work with children.
“I love the idea that BAB is providing art lessons to kids in the community that maybe can’t afford it; art can be a glue to help kids express themselves,” Cutsforth said.
Toni Osgood, who is a studentdouble majoring in Arts and Education at Alverno, is also donating some pieces for the fundraiser. Her specialty is crafts, and her three pieces are framed images of a rain cloud, rain falling and a rainbow, made from materials such as buttons and embroidery threads.
Osgood’s interest in arts and crafts was sparked by her son, 9, and daughter, 6. She tries to instill the importance of creativity and repurposing in her two children. They also make her want to give back, by volunteering and helping schools that lack arts programming and creative outlets for children.
Donating art for the fundraiser is Osgood’s way of showing her commitment to the BAB. “I hope the event makes people more interested and involved in helping our children find their creative selves,” she said.


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8470876281_e7e94c6297_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 14, 2013


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Adam Carr
February 14, 2013


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cfi | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 15, 2013


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Harley-Davidson 2012 charitable contributions top $4.5 million | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Harley Davidson Foundation
February 16, 2013
Harley-Davidson’s charitable giving topped $4.5 million in 2012, highlighted by a $200,000 grant to Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity for its Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative focused on the Washington Park area. The grant will help fund neighborhood improvements through an expanded array of housing projects.
“Our mission at The Harley-Davidson Foundation is to help meet the needs of the communities where we work,” said Tonit Calaway, Foundation President and Harley-Davidson’s Vice President of Human Resources. “With the Washington Park neighborhood in our corporate office’s backyard, supporting the important and necessary work of Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity is truly neighbors helping neighbors.”
Work on the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative will begin this spring.
Additionally, the company contributed more than $4 million in grants and merchandise in 2012 to organizations focused on education, health or the environment. Among the recipients:
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Other recipients included the Muscular Dystrophy Association; Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee and Kansas City; Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee; Crispus Attucks Center forEmployment and Training in York, Pa.; the Urban Ecology Center of Milwaukee; the YMCA; and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City for Hurricane Sandy relief.

created: February 16, 2013

author: Harley Davidson Foundation


text:
Journey House receives grant from Packers Foundation | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Journey House
February 16, 2013
Journey House has received a $5,000 grant from the Green Bay Packers Foundation.  The grant, given out as part of the Foundation’s annual distribution of grants on February 12 at a luncheon at Lambeau Field, was one of 145 awards given to civic and charitable organizations throughout the state of Wisconsin.
These funds will benefit the Journey House Football and Cheerleading League.  This league, made up of seven organizations that represent a cross-section of ethnically diverse, low-income youth from the city of Milwaukee, has over 500 participants (ages 6 to 14).  Beyond teaching the fundamental skill sets of football, character development and education are central tenants of the program.

author: Journey House


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Special Report: ‘Wisdom Walk’ leads away from violence, toward change | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
February 18, 2013
Rodney Collins participates in the Wisdom Walk healing circle. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Two of the three men sitting around the table are still on parole. Charged with domestic violence, they are participants at different stages of the “Wisdom Walk to Self-Mastery. ” Today, after 19 weeks of rigorous self-examination, reflection and a great deal of learning, one of them, Willie Boyd, is “graduating.”
“I’ve come to accept the fact that I need to be forgiving no matter what the situation is. When I came here, I had a lot of retaliation thoughts … but throughout this course I’ve learned that there’s no point in that because all you can do is get yourself into deeper trouble,” Boyd said.
The Wisdom Walk is a program of Alma Center, a nonprofit that provides services to men charged with perpetrating violence or abuse toward their intimate partners. The program is rooted in the knowledge that many of the men who come to the center have extensive histories of exposure to violence and victimization in their own pasts and still suffer the effects of the resulting trauma.
Based on the belief that violent behavior is learned, not inherent, the program seeks to help men who behave violently unlearn lessons they learned as children, primarily from their parents or guardians.
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“Trauma is a hurt, an injury, a pain to your soul that really does have to be healed [for you] to be functional,” said Terri Strodthoff, founder and executive director of The Alma Center Inc., 3628 W. Wright St.
The Wisdom Walk is “a healing circle,” said Jojopah Maria Nsoroma, Wisdom Walk creator and facilitator. The men learn specific tools for self-control, such as meditation, and study “a collection of wisdom, philosophy and teachings to help them become conscious of their pain and to learn how to transform it,” she added.
Nsoroma noted that the Wisdom Walk’s motto is “Any pain that is not transformed will be transferred.”
Nsoroma, a self-described “wisdom keeper,” studied the ancient wisdom and practices of the West African Dagara tribe under the elder, Malidoma Somé. In addition to relying on proven group therapy strategies and scientific discoveries from quantum and theoretical physics and neuroscience, she incorporates cultural anthropology and ancient spiritual teachings from the indigenous cultures of China, West Africa and Native America. Though she says she is not connected to any organized religion, symbols, ritual and ancient practices bring strong spiritual and cultural components to the program.
Percentages refer to applicants for Alma Center programs (Men Ending Violence, Restorative Fatherhood, Finding Work and Wisdom Walk). Source: Alma Center.
Nsoroma guides the men through a five-step process designed to help them uncover their pain, feel their pain, express their desire for change, open themselves to awareness of what will help them change, and finally, achieve the change they seek.
The insights, self-control strategies, emotional unburdening, and forays into feelings of love and trust all help the group members learn to overcome negative thinking and behavior that are rooted in pain. Ritual is important, Nsoroma explained, because it offers an “opportunity to connect with the part of ourselves [our emotional, right-brain side] that knows the truth, that has the answer to solve our problems and our conflicts.”
Most of the Wisdom Walk participants are referred to the Alma Center as a condition of parole. According to Willie Boyd and the other two participants attending his graduation meeting, none of them knew what to expect or felt much optimism about the program. Group members Boyd and Rodney Collins teased Donald Triggs, the newest and youngest among them, who they said fell asleep at most of his first meetings.
But Nsoroma is herself intriguing, according to Wisdom Walk graduate and co-facilitator Floyd Rowell II. “You can just see the aura around her.”
She quickly inspires group members to see the power of the 18 two-hour, twice-weekly sessions. Participants take one week off toward the end to try out life without the support of the program.
Jojopah Maria Nsoroma, Wisdom Walk creator and facilitator (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
“The men get interested in these teachings because what I’m doing is unheard of. I start off with the [Dagara] medicine wheel and right away they are being comforted and validated. The medicine wheel tells you that you carry something within you that your community needs, so you are not disposable. It’s hard for them to hear at first but at the same time they long to hear it,” she said.
Nsoroma noted that most of the men are African American and that trauma resolution for them is not just about individuals, but also about what happened to their community and their people.
“If I only used the teachings of the Western culture … there would be something missing. At first, we thought [healing people] was only about food, shelter, clothing and jobs. But we learned that a person can have all those things but if they still believe they are disposal beings, the trauma isn’t healed. The Wisdom Walk gives them a way to know themselves.”
After almost five months of intensive work with Nsoroma and the group, the middle-aged Boyd says the Wisdom Walk has unquestionably changed his life for the better. “Now, I think about not retaliating and I try to focus on love rather than hate,” he said.
As for Triggs, thanks to Nsoroma and the men in his group, he’s all in now. “[The Wisdom Walk] is one of the best things that happened to me,” he said at Boyd’s last meeting. “Willie’s patience with me made it easier to come to class.” Turning to Boyd, he added, “I’m going to miss you, man.”

created: February 18, 2013

author: Andrea Waxman


text:
8272227757_8fc57ef12a | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 17, 2013

created: February 17, 2013


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8463669721_13ff2a5e3f_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 17, 2013


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8464766934_75b60b2b521 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 17, 2013


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8464766934_75b60b2b52 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 17, 2013


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8465215443_df1366f8e0_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
February 17, 2013


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Adam Carr
February 17, 2013


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Milwaukee Rising sets high goals for Sherman Park | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
February 19, 2013
Kathleen Patron, Milwaukee Rising’s lead organizer, visits a rehabbed house at 2356 N. 46th St. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
Common Ground, a grass-roots political organization, has created a separate entity to continue its housing stabilization effort in Sherman Park, a neighborhood that was hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.
The new organization, Milwaukee Rising LLC, plans to rehab an additional 67 foreclosed properties in four years. Common Ground’s Milwaukee Rising project has rehabbed and sold 33 distressed homes in the Sherman Park neighborhood since July 2011.
Common Ground — which includes non-profits, churches, schools, businesses and neighborhood associations — focuses on housing, health care and education issues.
Milwaukee Rising needed autonomy from the organization’s political activities so it can receive property and cash donations as well as loans, according to Kathleen Patron, the lead organizer at Milwaukee Rising.
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“At Common Ground we fight and not everyone likes that, so we can’t be beholden to anybody,” she said.
The Milwaukee Rising LLC is seeking low- or no-interest loans of $500,000 or more from individuals and corporations with the hope of raising $5 million for a revolving loan pool.
Patron said Milwaukee Rising LLC has secured $300,000 and expects to have another $700,000 by April.
Milwaukee Rising rehabbed the interior of this house at 2837 N. Grant Blvd. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
Because Milwaukee Rising LLC is generating capital through individual and corporate lenders, it will not need to rely on funding from the government, such as Neighborhood Stabilization Project funds that come with restrictions, according Frank Finch III, a Milwaukee Rising LLC board member.
“There were so many restrictions that there was no way for us to function well,” he said.
Milwaukee Rising LLC will use the money it borrows to acquire and rehabilitate property and to provide no-interest lines of credit to contractors and developers. The money made from the sale of rehabbed properties will be put back into the pool. After five to 10 years, loans would be returned to lenders.
Milwaukee Rising focuses on the area bordered by Grant Boulevard to the east, 60th Street to the west, North Avenue to the south and Concordia Avenue to the north.
Two years ago when the project began, more than 300 homes were vacant in the zone. Now, there are 218.
“Part of what (we) do is organize people on the block,” Patron said. They then do whatever it takes to improve the property.
One approach has been for Milwaukee Rising to provide up to $5,000 to owners to make home improvements such as fixing a roof or replacing windows.
The effort has resulted in a drop in crime in the area, according to anecdotal evidence Patron has gathered from police.
According to Patron, the sale prices of the 33 properties already rehabbed has risen from the $30,000 to $40,000 range to the $80,000 to $130,000 range, helping improve the overall quality and value of housing stock in the neighborhood.
The Milwaukee Rising project began to take shape in 2008 when members of Common Ground took a tour of Sherman Park and asked people what concerned them about their neighborhood.
“It was vacant properties,” Patron said. “So we decided to do something about it.”
Volunteers and Sherman Park residents hounded bank executives and went to bank stockholder meetings where they voiced their displeasure about what vacated, foreclosed houses were doing to their neighborhood.
They also had a list of demands: market-rate mortgages, $300,000 for a rehab fund and $100,000 to start a quality property servicing company that would maintain foreclosed properties and provide jobs.
“It was a long battle,” Patron said. “We didn’t give up and we didn’t go away.”
After two years of persuasion, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Chase and U.S. Bank agreed to help Milwaukee Rising’s effort in Sherman Park, making a $33.8 million commitment to the neighborhood. Milwaukee Rising also received $2 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Project funds through the federal stimulus program. Bank of America is giving the group 10 houses a year and $10,000 to rehab each of the houses.
Recalling her success convincing Wells Fargo to work with Common Ground, Mary Utschig said, “It was quite a high.” The soft-spoken 75-year-old, who lives in Sherman Park, has been instrumental in the Milwaukee Rising effort.
“I’m very proud of the work we have done and it continues to be hard work, but that’s OK because I think the city’s worth it.”

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Adam Carr
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Gift of books benefits children ‘Next Door’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
February 22, 2013
Renee Russell, Tammie Wiley and Sophia Wilder, all from Northwestern Mutual, unpack books donated to Next Door Foundation. (Photo by Sue Vliet)
Northwestern Mutual donated 4,000 books to Next Door Foundation in honor of Black History Month. (Photo by Sue Vliet)
For two weeks in January, a group of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company employees collected books to donate to the Next Door Foundation. On a cold day in February, volunteers unloaded the books, a gift in honor of Black History Month.
“It was a fantastic, joyous morning. We arrived with the truck and delivered the books and backpacks that were also donated. The children gave a wonderful performance, a song about George Washington Carver, who they have been studying as part of Black History Month,” said Derek Tyus, Northwestern Mutual’s director of private client services.
After they unpacked the books, the visitors were treated to a rap performance by young children participating in education programs at the foundation. And at least one ducked in to a “Read with Me” session, a regular event at which volunteers from all walks of life read to children.
The project was initiated by Northwestern Mutual’s African American Employee Resource Group. Now comprising about 200 members, the group was founded in 2011 as part of the company’s ongoing effort to support diversity and inclusiveness. It is open to employees of all races, said Tyus, the group’s treasurer.
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During its first year, the group encouraged employees to volunteer throughout the city on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. This year it added the book drive, which took place at both of Northwestern Mutual’s campuses, in Franklin and downtown, over a two-week period in January.
Early childhood education is a major focus of the Next Door Foundation. It operates a Head Start program for 3-year-olds and a Head Start charter school for 4-year-olds in its building at 2545 N. 29 St.
“We are passionate about literacy here because that’s the key to succeeding in life,” said Carol Keintz, Next Door Foundation’s executive director. More than 700 volunteers come to read to children and 60,000-70,000 books are donated to us each year, Keintz added.
“Next Door Foundation is serving a need in the Metcalfe Park neighborhood where children have limited access to books,” said Tim Schaefer, Northwestern Mutual’s chief information officer and Next Door Foundation board member. Schaefer, who participated in the book delivery, noted that the neighborhood is “a book desert,” and said the children are given the opportunity to choose books to take home and own.
Helping families build home libraries is one of the organization’s goals, Keintz said. “Volunteers read to the kids and they get very excited about the stories and the books and that excitement spreads to the parents,” she added.

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Ending residency requirements riles up south side leaders | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
February 25, 2013
Steve Fendt, executive director of the SOC, gathered with Rep. JoCasta Zamarippa and members of the community to denounce a measure to end residency requirements for city workers. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
South Side community leaders and citizens are riled up over a provision in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget that would end the residency requirement for city workers statewide.
State Rep. JoCasta Zamarippa (D-8) and Steve Fendt, executive director of the Southside Organizing Committee (SOC), said ending the residency requirement in Milwaukee not only will affect the quality of services, but will harm the tax base if middle-class city employees move elsewhere.
“It’s economics 101; we want money spent (to pay) city employees to stay in the city,” Fendt said.
Zamarippa said she is upset with the way Walker handled the issue. Including repeal of the residency requirement in the budget bill rather than as a separate item, makes it more likely to pass, Zamarippa said. She noted that it would be difficult to attain Republican support to remove the requirement from the budget.
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“It’s always been a stand-alone item and it’s never passed; (Walker) made it a very unfair fight, a political issue,” said Zamarippa.
Rep. JoCasta Zamarippa prepares for an interview. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Walker did not mention the provision ending the residency requirement during his biennial budget speech Feb. 20, but has long been a vocal opponent of the requirement.  The governor has been quoted saying that city employees should not be forced to live in the city.
Fendt argued that city jobs pay good wages and have good pensions, and that if people don’t want to live in the city they don’t have the right to a city job.
“There are plenty of applicants for city jobs; we don’t have to hire people who don’t want to be here,” Fendt said.
Fendt, Zamarippa and other community members attended a press conference at the SOC headquarters, 1300 S. Layton Blvd. in Clarke Square to denounce Walker’s plan. They stated that city workers residing in the city — especially police officers — makes neighborhoods safer, builds trust between law enforcement and the community and improves the quality of services.
“I want people from Milwaukee who know the intricacies of the neighborhood to police Milwaukee,” said David Janis, who moved to the city from the suburbs five years ago. He said he’s proud to live in Milwaukee and feels safer knowing that police are working in their own city.
Fendt said ending the residency requirement undermines Milwaukee and especially older neighborhoods such as those on the south side.
“The fact that they (city workers) keep on asking about leaving is disconcerting; I mean, do you really want to be with us?” Fendt asked.
Fendt noted that he plans to reach out to other local organizations to help fight the measure.
Zamarippa added that she hopes the provision fails in the court of public opinion. Referring to city employees, she said, “We need them here to help us continue to build a solid middle class.”

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The Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Match day returns for 2013 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
February 25, 2013
On March 14, members of the community will come together again to raise funds for 21 nonprofits participating in the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s second annual Match Day. The event is the only of its kind in Wisconsin and is designed to raise awareness for basic needs in the greater Milwaukee area.
Thanks to more than $750,000 in matching funds contributed by a pool of funders including the Brewers Community Foundation, each donation made online on March 14 will be proportionately matched, up to $750,000. The inaugural Match Day event raised more than $1.8 million last year.
“Despite increased efforts to support these organizations, many individuals and families in our communities are continuing to struggle to make ends meet for basic needs that many of us take for granted,” said Ellen M. Gilligan, President and CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. “We hope to carry forward the success of Match Day 2012, which raised $1.8 million, and leverage even more support from the community to increase the ability of these nonprofits to meet the demand for their services.”
Coordinated by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the event showcases 21 participating agencies in southeast Wisconsin helping meet individuals’ basic food and shelter needs, including: Advocates of Ozaukee, Center for Veterans Issues, Community Advocates, Daystar, Family Promise of Washington County, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, Food Pantry of Waukesha County, Friends of Abused Families, Guest House of Milwaukee, Hebron House of Hospitality, Hope Center, Hope House of Milwaukee, Hunger Task Force, Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Pathfinders Milwaukee, Repairers of the Breach, Salvation Army of Greater Milwaukee, Sojourner Family Peace Center, The Cathedral Center, The Women’s Center, and Walker’s Point Youth & Family Center.
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To create Match Day, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation has partnered again with Razoo, an online platform that simplifies giving. Razoo also offers training to help nonprofits build robust online fundraising abilities to help strengthen their donor base for years to come.  Before undertaking Match Day, Razoo helped create two similar day-long giving events in Minnesota, netting $24 million in donations for 4,000 nonprofits.
For more information on Match Day, visit www.MatchDayMKE.org, and be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

author: Greater Milwaukee Foundation


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Safe & Sound employment opportunity | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Safe & Sound
February 26, 2013
In 2010, the Drug Free Communities Support Program selected Safe & Sound and the 27th Street West Drug Free Coalition to take on the challenge of creating and implementing environmental strategies to reduce youth drug and alcohol use. Since that time the Coalition has formed many collaborative synergies and made big strides in the Washington Park neighborhood. There is so much more to be accomplished and the search for a new Coalition Manager is a top priority.
If you are interested in this challenging opportunity and want to make a real difference in Milwaukee, Safe & Sound and the 27th Street West Drug Free Coalition want to hear from you!
The job description with information about the application process for this exciting opportunity and other employment opportunities can be found on the Safe & Sound web site at:
27th Street West Drug Free Coalition Position
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or
http://www.safesound.org/about-us/employment/

created: February 26, 2013

author: Safe & Sound


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Brothers return to Riverwest to help children like them | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
February 28, 2013
Darren (left) and Vedale Hill (Photo by Sue Vliet)
Darren and Vedale Hill were just 7 and 5 years old when their mother and father split up. After that, Vedale calculates, they, their mother and younger sister moved about 50 times, mostly to relatives’ homes within the Riverwest neighborhood.
“We were the poorest of the poor,” Vedale said. “We had the worst clothes and often didn’t have money for food and rent.”
But the brothers always talked things through and that, according to Vedale, helped them develop a strong bond as well as good analytical and problem-solving skills. Each has taken his turn encouraging the other through difficult times. “Quite often we’d sit in a house with no electricity and all we had was communication between [us].”
Now 26 and 24, the Hill brothers have largely overcome the circumstances of their childhoods. Darren is earning high grades at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he is on track to graduate next year with a bachelor’s in education policy. Vedale graduated from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2011, the first in his family to finish college.
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They are now pursuing their dream of enriching the lives and futures of neighborhood children. In late fall, the brothers established a nonprofit arts organization for children, and are renovating a 7,400-square-foot space in Riverwest to house it. By late March, they plan to open Jazale’s Art Studio, 731 E. Center St., where they will offer children ages 5 to 18 free art, music production and dance programming, as well as academic tutoring and help with job and college applications.
But most important to Darren and Vedale, they will serve as role models. Neighborhood children will see that it is possible for people like them to attain higher education and pursue any dream.
Many central city children have low expectations and goals, just like he did, Vedale said. He and Darren want to show them the world outside of the neighborhood and the possibilities that are out there. “I want to make these children really understand that if you want to go to Mars, let’s find the best route and get there.”
The brothers both count COA Youth & Family Centers among the critical influences that contributed to their success.
Youth Development Director Kari Nervig has been at COA for 15 years and has known the Hill brothers since they first started participating there as preschoolers.
“As an eighth-grader, the staff noticed that Darren was struggling academically and they challenged him. Something clicked for him and he really turned it around. He was our first real success,” Nervig said.
“In many ways, these two outstanding young men are shining examples of what we want to see every day with the thousands of young people participating in our after-school programs at COA. My own experience, having been a prosecutor for 29 years, is seeing so many kids who took another pathway and ended up getting in all sorts of trouble, or worse,” said COA Executive Director Tom Schneider.
Darren started college in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a full scholarship and an internship at GE Medical. A family tragedy brought him back to Milwaukee at the end of his sophomore year and it took him a few years to regroup and go back to college. By that time he realized that he was more suited for education and nonprofit management because of his passion for his community, he said.
Vedale’s personal development through art reinforces Darren’s passion.
“[Vedale] was on a path that wasn’t the best. His school shut down and he went to Milwaukee High School for the Arts and his skills flourished. I saw he had a gift. I saw the change in his focus. I know that art can do that for so many people,” Darren said.
“Art is something that I believe is transcendent. It gives life meaning. It’s something beyond the task. It’s beyond making money,” he added.
Vedale’s artistic talents were first nurtured at COA and ultimately, COA became the model for the brothers’ dream of bringing artistic and educational enrichment to children like themselves.
“I love the way [COA’s] business ran. It was no cost to the families. It really helped a large number of kids do activities such as camping, basketball, baseball, football, homework help, computer labs, art projects,” Vedale said.
COA allowed him to head a mural project and that gave him confidence to teach art, mostly to at-risk youth. For the past six years Vedale has helped support his fiancée and two young children with money earned teaching art programs at COA, Northcott Neighborhood House, Holton Youth + Family Center, COA Goldin Center and Arts @ Large, he said.
Another positive influence on the Hill brothers, according to Darren, was their mother’s older brother, Richard Fabian. Fabian has no children of his own.
“He saw all of us without a father and he tried his best to step in. He was the enforcer. He took an interest and that was essential to my success,” Darren added.
Jazale’s Art Studio, named after Vedale’s 5-year-old daughter, is being funded through private donations and grants, as well as the Hill brothers’ own earnings from other work. To date, they have received one significant donation and one grant as well as many small donations from family, friends and other supporters.
Several of Vedale’s former MIAD professors, including Professor Judith Harway, are supporting the studio.
Despite the pressures of his contract work, family responsibilities and challenges most other students didn’t face, Vedale was always helpful to other students and tremendously open and passionate, Harway said. “He was always willing to talk about anything. He wanted to learn about [other students] and from other cultures,” Harway said.
Harway said she has been excited about the art project for a long time, adding, “Vedale and Darren are so smart and articulate… [They] are doing something really original and they are uniquely situated to do it.”

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MANDI finalists bring innovation to neighborhoods | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
March 1, 2013
Individuals, nonprofits and corporations committed to strengthening Milwaukee’s central city neighborhoods will gather soon for the 14th annual Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDI) event to be held at the Pfister Hotel.
The awards are sponsored by U.S. Bank, in partnership with LISC Milwaukee.
“You will not find more entrepreneurial people than the people who are leading the efforts to rebuild our central city neighborhoods,” said Leo Ries, executive director of LISC Milwaukee. The MANDIs provide an opportunity for us to celebrate and learn from our city’s greatest talent.”
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Here are the finalists:
BMO HARRIS CORNERSTONE AWARD (honors long-standing commitment)
ACTS Housing
For the past 20 years, ACTS has made strides in stabilizing the housing market throughout Milwaukee. What started out as a partnership between the city and St. Michael’s Catholic Church, ACTS is now a one-stop shop that provides home buying and rehabbing services for community members. ACTS, 2040 W. Pierce St., has assisted more than 1,500 households with a home purchases and more than 600 with home improvement projects.
“Being highlighted as a finalist was a huge victory for us. Winning would be icing on the cake,” said Carl Quindel, executive director. Winning a MANDI “would highlight some of the work that is being done in the inner city by residents who a lot of times don’t know they are capable of doing such incredible things.”
La Causa
During the last 40 years, La Causa, 2040 W. Pierce St., has gone from a day care center caring for 19 children to a pillar of the south side community, where it now serves the social needs of more than 10,000 community members annually. The original day care center now offers infant and toddler developmental care, preschool, head start and after-school care to 1,200 children. The organization also runs a crisis nursery and respite center, a charter school and provides support for foster parents, behavioral therapy and crisis stabilization.
“The (MANDI) recognition simply underscores our efforts and helps move us towards future successes,” said George Torres, president and CEO. “Our mission remains the same, to provide children, youth and families quality, comprehensive services to nurture healthy family life and enhance community stability.”
Progressive Community Health Centers
The Progressive Community Health Centers, at 1452 N. 7th St. and 3522 W. Lisbon Ave., work to meet the health and medical care needs of community members, regardless of their ability to pay. The centers also spearhead community outreach programs to address health issues such as high blood pressure, infant mortality and diabetes.
“This is a just a great testament to the fact that we have grown so much,” said Sarah Andritsch, fund development and marketing manager, noting that the patient population has increased 41 percent in five years.
Margaret Henningsen chats with attendees after the 2012 award presentations. (Photo by Kenya Evans)
PNC TRAIL BLAZER AWARD (recognizes innovation)
Select Milwaukee Financial Literacy Through Home Ownership
The Financial Literacy Through Home Ownership program at Select Milwaukee, 4219 N. 16th St., provides tools to low-income and minority Milwaukee residents to stabilize their finances and reach their home-ownership goals. The program gives participants access to an individual development account, where every dollar saved is matched by $2 of federal funds and an additional $2 raised by the United Way of Greater Milwaukee. The program also offers a wide range of education, coaching and support for families purchasing homes.
Winning a MANDI “would say about sustainable homeownership, that the dream is alive and well,” said Raymond Schmidt, the program’s executive director.
Milwaukee Rising
For the past four years, Milwaukee Rising, 2336-38 N. 44th St., has tackled the vacant property and foreclosure problem in Sherman Park neighborhood. Community members involved in Milwaukee Rising were able to encourage big banks that owned blighted property to help fund the effort. The result is that 27 properties have been rehabbed.
Being a MANDI award finalist “is validation to the hundreds of volunteer leaders who led this campaign, that we can take charge of our own destiny and shape the Milwaukee we know and love to be a quality place to live for generations to come,” said Kathleen Patron, the lead organizer.
Our Next Generation
The Our Next Generation community center, 2411 W. Lisbon Ave., provides students with educational and cultural experiences to help them succeed in school and life. The center’s Outbound Learning program offers children after-school hands-on learning, through community partners. The program touts a 97 percent graduation rate of high school students who participate, with 80 percent going on to higher education.
BREWERS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION PUBLIC SPACE AWARD (spaces that contribute to community well being)
29th and Burnham Park
A small army of neighbors and students, along with various community development organizations, turned a blighted parcel at 2830 W. Burnham St. into a community garden. The garden consists of eight beds, park benches, planters, a children’s play area and a rain harvesting system.
“To win it … would serve as an example of one way to convert public space,” said Will Sebern, community outreach manager, Layton Boulevard West Neighbors. “It could also serve as an example of how community-led initiatives like this can be very successful, very meaningful and sustainable.”
Brown Street Academy Schoolyard
In 2010, the Brown Street Academy schoolyard greening project brought learning out of the building by constructing the state’s first certified outdoor classroom. Community members have now constructed three outdoor classrooms, where students interact with their natural surroundings and enjoy arts and crafts.
“To win would validate what we are doing,” said Jeffrey Rainwater, senior project manager. “It’s not so much our organization getting recognized or our partners, but its recognition for that neighborhood, the people and the school.”
Washington Park
Washington Park Partners, a coalition of individuals, businesses and neighborhood organizations headquartered at 1859 N. 40th St., has made the park a top priority after years of deterioration due to disinvestment in the neighborhood. The effort of about 500 community residents resulted in a playground, a play trail that spans the park and a band shell. The Vliet Street Community Green Market also is held in the park.
“Winning a MANDI award would validate the work of these public-private partnerships and recognize one of Milwaukee’s true gems, Washington Park,” said Laura Schloesser, administration and external affairs chief for the Milwaukee County Parks.
NORTHERN TRUST NAVIGATOR AWARD (honors outstanding individuals)
Welford Sanders is executive director of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corp. He has brought $20 million of investment to a concentrated area through a series of coordinated projects known as the King Drive Commons. The projects include mixed-use developments, as well as high-quality, affordable housing, a popular gallery for local artists, a fitness center and the Growing Power Deli and Food Market. Sanders serves on several boards, including those that oversee Growing Power, the Walnut Way Conservation Corp. and Northcott Neighborhood House.
Charlotte John-Gomez has been executive director of Layton Boulevard West Neighbors for the past 14 years. Through a partnership with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Healthy Neighborhood Initiative, John-Gomez has overseen the rehabilitation of 250 homes and the sale of 39 others, totaling $7.5 million in direct neighborhood investment. She also has played a key role in mentoring staff and community members, cultivating the next generation of leaders. Under her leadership, LBWN has invested $35 million in the neighborhood and has engaged thousands of neighbors who have worked on projects and neighborhood events.
“The award would take this vision to a whole new level of visibility and would demonstrate how far we have come since that first ice cream social held back in 1995,” John-Gomez said.
Jim Godsil started his career of activism as a civil rights organizer and a bodyguard for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For 30 years, Godsil ran a successful roofing business, mentoring countless other contractors. In 2008, he began renovating a century-old abandoned railroad factory in Bay View, now home to Godsil’s Sweet Water Organics, the nation’s largest aquaponics farm. The Sweetwater Foundation teaches school children, veterans and the community about agriculture, nutrition, biology and the environment.
“Winning a MANDI award would mean a lot for me and my cause, which, broadly stated, involves a vision of Milwaukee winning a Nobel Prize for our innovations in urban agriculture and aquaponics,” Godsil said.
STATE FARM BUILDING BLOCKS AWARD (recognizes innovative real estate developments)
Mitchell Street Market Lofts
Born out of a Marquette University Associates in Commercial Real Estate program’s final class project, the Mitchell Street Market Lofts, 1948 W. Mitchell St., incorporates both the neighborhood’s popular, longstanding farmers market and affordable housing. The $6 million environmentally friendly building project, which was completed in 2012, provides 24 rent-to-own apartments to low-income residents and space for businesses such as the year-round market.
“Winning this award would further our vision to have synergy between the residential community and businesses community while focusing on our environmental footprint,” said Tina Anderson, one of the project creators.
Clock Shadow Building
Clock Shadow Building, 130 W. Bruce St., is a testament to urban pioneering and sustainability. Half the materials used to build the $7 million structure were either recycled or salvaged, including cream city brick, pickle barrel wood, recycled doors and repurposed hardware. The building, which features the country’s first elevator using regenerative energy, is now home to a creamery, ice cream shop and three health clinics.
National Avenue Lofts
The National Avenue Lofts, an $11 million project, is part of the revitalization of the Walker’s Point neighborhood. The lofts, located at 120 E. National Ave. where an empty industrial building and brownfield once stood, provide affordable housing to students, young professionals and families. The 73-unit complex features artwork from MIAD students, a fitness room, business center, playground and courtyard.
Urban Ecology Center
The Urban Ecology Center, 3700 W. Pierce St., is an excellent example of repurposing and preservation. In fact, the visitors’ guide to the 6,500-square-foot building cites 41 examples of re-used materials from the original bar and boarding house at the site, as well as other environmental features. The building’s architects, Uihlein/Wilson Architects, even found a place for the stained glass windows and the tavern’s bar. The ecology center partners with eight south side schools, offering students a wide variety of year-round environmental education and recreation programs.
VISION AWARD
ManpowerGroup
Since 1948, ManpowerGroup has played a prominent role in strengthening Milwaukee’s economy. ManpowerGroup takes part in several region-wide initiatives dedicated to creating a strong workforce, including the Talent Dividend and BeBold 2. The group’s employees serve on countless boards and advisory committees for area schools, colleges and universities. The company has strong partnerships with Our Next Generation, Artworks for Milwaukee, Best Buddies, Literacy Services of Wisconsin and many other organizations.
In 2007, ManpowerGroup opened its international headquarters along the Milwaukee River, in a building that has earned Gold Status under the LEED Green Building Rating System. Last year, more than 160 local organizations used the building’s facilities free of charge.


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Borchert Field block clubs merge, secure headquarters | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
March 4, 2013
Members of the Borchert Field C.A.R.E.S. executive committee, (from left) Chairman Charles Robinson Jr., Brenda Nizer Jefferson, Acting Secretary Charles Robinson and Shadeed Shareef, discuss plans at the organization’s new building at 831 W. Burleigh St. (Photo by Sue Vliet)
This is part of an occasional series about 14th Street C.A.R.E.S., a revitalized block club in the Borchert Field neighborhood. Read the first story here and the second story here.
The vacant store front on the southeast corner of 9th and Burleigh streets is about to take on a new life as the headquarters of Borchert Field C.A.R.E.S.
Led by the well-organized 14th Street C.A.R.E.S. block club, individuals and groups from blocks all over the Borchert Field neighborhood have gradually come together and evolved into a larger group over the last six months, according to organization leaders Denise Wooten and Charles Robinson.
Neighbors were attracted by 14th Street C.A.R.E.S.’ results, including a successful bid for TIN [Tax Investment Neighborhood] status a year ago. By fall, the growing number of members coming from other blocks prompted 14th Street C.A.R.E.S to re-examine its identity.
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“It astounds us that each time we get together there’s so much more to share. More people have come into our circle. [More people] have said we want to support you and help you,” Wooten said.
Until recently, the ground floor of the three-story red and white structure at 831 W. Burleigh St. contained a beauty supply store and dance studio operated by the son and daughter of building owner, Shadeed Shareef. When his children closed their businesses, he saw an opportunity to offer the space as a neighborhood center.
“When I met with 14th St C.A.R.E.S., they had the same ideas that I had. I found a group of people that was motivated, wanted to do some things in the community, for our youth, try to [improve] this area that had been neglected for quite a while,” Shareef said.
Tentatively called the Borchert Field C.A.R.E.S. Resource Center, the building’s basement and first floor will be re-configured to provide meeting space, administrative offices and areas devoted to youth programming.
The new group plans to increase its focus on neighborhood youth, Wooten said.
“We already have a core group of [high school students] who supported us through last year by working in the gardens, [distributing fliers in] the neighborhood, volunteering,” she added.
Charles Robinson Jr. stands in front of the storefront being remodeled to house the Borchert Field C.A.R.E.S. Resource Center. (Photo by Sue Vliet)
Borchert Field C.A.R.E.S. chairman, Charles Robinson Jr., 28, will spearhead youth programming with an emphasis on life skills including technology training, financial literacy, nutrition, etiquette, and basic business and administrative practices.
“We really want to make sure our youth are well rounded so that they have a good foundation to work off of,” Robinson Jr. said.
“It’s to help them understand civic engagement as well,” Wooten said. “We want to be a one-stop shop for our young people to learn hard and soft skills. And we want it to be driven by the kids. We will sit there as advisors but we want them to create, direct and implement a program that will be supported by youth. We feel that if we’re going to create a legacy, it’s got to include an inter-generational approach,” she added.
Youth from Urban Underground are scheduled to make a presentation on healthy food at the first Borchert Field C.A.R.E.S. meeting.
The group has applied for status as a 501c3 tax-exempt organization and is working on several fronts to find funding and in-kind donations from private and public sources. Partnerships to acquire computers and technology training for youth are in the works.
In the meantime, Shareef is providing the building space at no charge and the group’s members are putting in plenty of sweat equity, Robinson said.


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Adam Carr
March 3, 2013


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Adam Carr
March 3, 2013


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MPS’ Gaenslen School wins national recognition for pre-engineering program | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Public Schools
March 6, 2013
Milwaukee Public Schools’ Frederick J. Gaenslen School is gaining national recognition for its Project Lead the Way (PLTW) pre-engineering program.
Gaenslen won PLTW’s Gateway to Technology National Recognition for its commitment to the rigorous program, which connects math and science curriculum to hands-on engineering and technology projects. Recognized schools are honored in part for administrative support, training, proper facilities and adherence to curriculum.
“We are so excited about the success of our PLTW program!” Principal Tamara Hines said. “It supports our math and science curriculum and exposes students to the many careers in engineering. We’re grateful to our university and business partners, including Johnson Controls, who are critical to our success!”
“STEM connects with every aspect of life,” Gaenslen PLTW instructor Ajamu Olaniyan said. “The basic concepts our students learn through PLTW give them a foundation of problem solving and skill application. These are real-world skills.”
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“We’re proud of Gaenslen and all of our schools that use Project Lead the Way to expose students to the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math – in a hands-on way,” MPS Superintendent Gregory Thornton said.

author: Milwaukee Public Schools


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Goldin Center to open medical clinic for underserved | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
March 7, 2013
COA Youth and Family Centers Goldin Center (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and the Marquette College of Nursing are moving forward with plans to open a clinic this summer on Milwaukee’s north side to give impoverished families access to much-needed medical care.
The 700-square-foot primary care clinic will be housed in COA Goldin Center, 2320 W. Burleigh St. The purpose of the clinic, which is expected to be open in July, is to provide the poor with medical care that would otherwise be much more difficult to access.
“If you look at all of the data, the greatest health needs are in the lowest income communities in the city,” said Tom Schneider, COA’s executive director. “For Children’s to reverse that trend and look to providing services in those areas of greatest need is more than commendable.”
Currently, if area residents get sick, they head to the emergency rooms at St. Joseph Hospital about 30 blocks away or at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center about seven miles west, according to Schneider.
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“There’s no medical home anywhere in the neighborhood,” Schneider said. “There’s no doctor’s office and no clinic.”
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin (Photo by Kate Sheka)
The clinic is part of a wider initiative to open neighborhood clinics in Milwaukee’s central city. The first clinic opened in 2011 at 2561 N. 29th St. in Metcalfe Park on the campus of the Next Door Foundation. A similar clinic will open at the Northside YMCA at 1350 W. North Ave. in July.
The seeds of the initiative were planted in 2009 when Children’s Hospital officials set a goal to have the healthiest pediatric population in the nation, according to Bridget Clementi, director of community health at the hospital.
“We realized that was more than providing clinical care. There is a lot more involved with a healthy pediatric population than just clinical care,” Clementi said. “We’re expanding and broadening the way we look at health and where we identify our opportunities to influence and improve the overall health of a family.”
Patricia McManus, president and CEO of the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, said the clinics alleviate some of the bottlenecks in emergency rooms throughout the metro area.
“It keeps kids (from) having to show up in expensive emergency rooms,” she said. “They are definitely filling a gap.”
By providing much-needed preventive care such as routine checkups and immunizations, the clinics will also build important relationships with families in the neighborhood, McManus said.
“People are going to respond to that, much more than they do trying to get through all of the morass at the hospital,” she said.
The Goldin Center is a natural fit for a clinic because its programs attract a large number of children and families, Schneider said.
The planning phase for the clinics included several meetings with neighborhood residents, who told hospital officials that they wanted not just a pediatric clinic, but a facility that could care for the entire family. As a result, Children’s Hospital teamed with the College of Nursing at Marquette to provide care for adults as well as children.
“When you look at the vision of having the healthiest pediatric population in the nation, that means healthy families and communities,” Clementi said.
The Goldin Center is wrapping an array of health and wellness programming around the clinic, according to Schneider. The programming will include a small health club and cooking and nutrition classes. The center has begun offering Zumba classes, which are so popular there is a wait list, a welcome signal that the community is engaged, Schneider said.
He added that the health care needs of the community become clear when the center holds family health nights, which attract more than 400 parents and kids.
“They are showing up to these activities and events saying that this is something they want to be involved in and this is something that is important to the neighborhood,” Schneider said.


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Adam Carr
March 6, 2013


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Adam Carr
March 6, 2013


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Rally revs up Rufus King Generals to throw down at state tournament | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
March 8, 2013
Rufus King’s basketball team got an enthusiastic sendoff from hundreds of students and faculty members Thursday as players psyched themselves up for the state tournament in Madison over the next few days.
The team will face Mukwonago High School in the semifinals, but the pep rally fast-forwarded to the championship game, which King supporters hope will be a rematch against Germantown High School. The King Generals were narrowly defeated by Germantown’s Warhawks in last year’s WIAA Boys Division I championship game.
“We know that last year we were almost there,” said Principal Peter J. Samaranayake. “We felt that we were robbed at the last minute by just three points. We are out for revenge, we are out for blood,” he said.  “We don’t want second place or third place — we want number one.”
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Rufus King International School, at 1801 W. Olive St., had a 22-4 record going into the tournament, to be held at the Kohl Center in Madison. Mukwonago also went 22-4 during the regular season.
Forward Montrell Hobbs, the team co-captain, could hardly believe the team is going to Madison for the second year in a row. “I’m really excited. The feeling of going to state again is surreal,” he said. “It makes it that much more important to win it because it’s my senior year.”
According to Austin Malone-Mitchell,team co-captain, the rally demonstrated that “our school is behind us and that they support us. They are just as excited about the game as we are.” Malone-Mitchell’s father, Marc Mitchell, played on several teams that won state championships when he was in high school. Marc Mitchell is now a coach for King.
MPS Superintendent Gregory Thornton told the team that it’s not just the school that supports them: “As you get on that bus — as we all get on that bus — you’ve got the whole city of Milwaukee behind you.”
At one point during the rally, it may have felt as if the whole city was on the stage.  King’s team members, mascot, cheerleaders, band members, principal and the MPS superintendent all jumped on stage for a raucous version of the Harlem Shake.
“Just making it to state is cool and all,” said Hobbs, “but we definitely want to win.”


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IMG_0866 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
March 7, 2013


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Industrial development key to creating jobs at A.O. Smith site | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Mark Doremus
March 11, 2013
Benjamin Timm, Century City project manager for the city Department of City Development, looks over the cleared land where A.O. Smith’s Milwaukee Works used to employ 7,800 workers (Photo by Mark Doremus)
If all goes well, industrial buildings will begin to emerge in the next few years from the bare ground where the A.O. Smith Milwaukee Works used to stand, south of Capitol Drive and west of Hopkins Street on the city’s northwest side.
The Milwaukee Works employed 7,800 union workers at its peak in the 1970s, making truck and auto parts. It was sold to Tower Automotive in 1997 and closed for good in 2006.
The sprawling factory sat empty until 2012 when most of the buildings were torn down for redevelopment by the city of Milwaukee, which has invested nearly $35 million on the site.
Now comes the hard part: convincing new business enterprises to locate on the 84-acre parcel.
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The city hopes to create 700 to 1,000 permanent jobs for Milwaukee residents, especially those who live near the old A.O. Smith factory in minority neighborhoods where the official unemployment rate is roughly 20 percent.
“Now that we have a clear site, we are aggressively developing the location as a business site,” said Benjamin Timm, project manager for the Milwaukee Department of City Development. “We know the business sectors we want to go after. They may or may not be ready to locate here at this time. However, we are exploring all of our options when it comes to creating jobs.”
The A.O. Smith research and engineering building, known as the “Glass House,” is one of the few buildings on the Century City site that was preserved for possible reuse (Photo by Mark Doremus)
The city has targeted manufacturers of processed food, machinery, fabricated metal products, computers, electronics, appliances, electrical equipment and medical devices as good candidates to locate in the Century City business park. Some of these companies would require highly skilled technicians but others, particularly food manufacturers, would hire entry-level workers.
This mix of high- and low-skilled employers would be similar to what’s been achieved at the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center, another city redevelopment effort that is close to achieving full occupancy and its employment target of 1,200 jobs.
“I grew up in this area. I know that losing A.O. Smith was really devastating,” said Teig Whaley-Smith, an attorney who represents non-profit developers through his private practice, Community Development Advocates.
According to Whaley-Smith, several factors need to come together before companies are likely to move into the Century City business park. First and foremost, potential occupants of the site must have a business need for a new facility somewhere in the region. That’s a significant issue in an economy that is struggling to recover from the recession of 2007-08. The next question is how Century City stacks up with other potential locations.
On the down side, Century City is remote from downtown. There is no easy access to the interstate highway system. And it’s in a rundown, high-crime urban neighborhood that may not look attractive to the private sector.
On the plus side, the site has rail service that connects to the port of Milwaukee, which in turn gives manufacturers access to global markets. According to project manager Timm, Century City parcels are relatively inexpensive at $55,000 per acre. The site also has high-capacity utility service and storm water drainage systems in place or available without cost to potential buyers. In certain cases the city can offer financial incentives such as tax credits, technical assistance, low-interest loans and grants to sweeten the deal.
If the site must be right for the company, the company in turn must be right for the Century City site plan. The city has ruled out auto dealerships, recycling or salvage operations, and truck freight terminals, among other enterprises, as potential occupants of the site.
Another factor is whether the available workforce is appropriate. Advocates of the project emphasize the need to create good-paying jobs for people who live nearby. Despite widespread poverty and unemployment, they say a pool of skilled workers remains in the neighborhood — people who used to work at companies such as A.O. Smith and Master Lock, and can step into family-supporting, skilled manufacturing jobs if they become available.
A 2011 study by Cross Management Services, Inc., provides at least some support for this claim. It found 25,215 persons of working age in a 6.4 square mile area near Century City. Nearly three-quarters of them had at least a high school education. Of those working, 14 percent were in the manufacturing sector.
Timm said he’s looking for visible evidence of progress at Century City within five years. If the site is filling in with new buildings by then, it would reasonable to conclude that the city’s initiative was successful. Whaley-Smith is optimistic. He said that the success in developing the Menomonee River corridor proves the city has the expertise and commitment to succeed in the challenging, competitive world of urban commercial redevelopment

author: Mark Doremus


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IMG_1809i | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
March 11, 2013


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IMG_1809ii | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
March 11, 2013


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Adam Carr
March 11, 2013


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Adam Carr
March 11, 2013


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SDC Head Start gets thumbs up | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
March 11, 2013
The Administration for Children and Families-Head Start office has given the program a clean bill of health following a review earlier this year.  Staff from the Regional Head Start office visited the agency this past January to review a variety of program procedures and practices.  After a three day examination, they confirmed that SDC program and those of its delegate agencies are operating within program requirements.
SDC Board Chair Kristina McHenry noted that SDC Head Start has implemented the ChildPlus system of tracking students and classrooms, adding that infrastructure improvement has helped achieve and maintain compliance with program regulations.  She stated the report from the Head Start Regional office noted that multiple checks confirmed that conclusion. She congratulated the Head Start Policy Council, parents and staff for their efforts, saying “In working together, we move forward to ensure the security of our next generation in Head Start programs.”
The Head Start program, coordinated by the Social Development Commission, serves children between the ages of three and five years with a blend of academic and social skill preparation, health and dental screenings, and parental involvement.  SDC and its delegates serve 3,000 children or two-thirds of all Head Start children in Milwaukee County.
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To learn more, visit the SDC website  at www.cr-sdc.org/index/Programs–Services/Education–Training/Head-Start.htm.

author: Social Development Commission


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“Life Bulbs” deter violence in high-crime neighborhoods | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
March 12, 2013
Dante Chestnut Sr. hopes that fluorescent blue light bulbs shining in high-crime areas will help end the violence.
Chestnut founded CHILL, which stands for “Creating Hope I Love Life,” to create awareness about the impact of violence, and to help mold young leaders on the street. He said that young people, especially those growing up amid violence, need structure and positivity in their lives.
“They need to know the importance of being honest and not tearing your community down for a dollar,” Chestnut said.
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The “Life Bulbs” shine into the night, letting criminals know they’re stepping into zones residents have declared violence-free, according to Chestnut.
Violence has touched his life too many times to count, he said. Born in Milwaukee and raised in Alabama until he made his way back, Chestnut has lost friends such as Milwaukee R & B singer La La Brown, whose 2007 murder remains unsolved, and Lavelle Felton, the professional basketball player shot and killed in 2009 at a north side gas station.
He’s in neighborhoods hit hard by violence on a regular basis promoting his message, according to Gracelyn Wilson, neighborhood strategic planning coordinator for the Northwest Side Community Development Corp. (NWSCDC).
Dante Chestnut Sr. holds a CHILL Life Bulb, which identifies violence-free zones in high-crime neighborhoods. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
“He’s been at the forefront of everything they’re trying to do to promote non-violence,” including peace marches, health fairs, block watches and more, Wilson said.
NWSCDC has purchased numerous CHILL bulbs and distributed them in neighborhoods such as Amani and Franklin Heights, and also near St. Matthews Church, 2944 N. 9 St.
“Parishioners and elders came out and we put up bulbs until 9 p.m. in some of the roughest neighborhoods in the city,” Wilson recalled.
She explained that the blue lights promote peace by deterring criminals who look at them and figure something must be going on so they shouldn’t be in the neighborhood.
Milwaukee Police Department District 5 Captain Terrence Gordon said his department has purchased several bulbs but asked that community members place them in a lamp in the window instead of on their porch.
“We don’t want residents to replace a primary light source but we do encourage them to display the lights in the window as a sign of non-violence and solidarity among residents,” Gordon said.
Chestnut says the CHILL Program has provided more than 5,000 bulbs, most donated, to the community.
In addition to the Life Bulb initiative, CHILL raises money to purchase bedding and other items to donate to the Sojourner Truth House, fund scholarships and host community health fairs and other events.
Also a music producer, Chestnut is working on a “No Violence More Peace” campaign in which Milwaukee-area artists will visit different schools, neighborhoods and even cities plagued by violence to spread their message of peace through music.
The non-profit receives support from various local businesses and also sells the Life Bulbs and other CHILL merchandise online to raise funds. However Chestnut said that running programming and providing resources is not cheap, and it’s difficult to gain the needed sponsorships and support in the areas hardest hit by violence. Still, he holds fundraisers and eagerly spreads his message of peace to anyone who will listen.
“People don’t realize the power of your voice and using it to reach people,” he said.
“I want people on the block to see the organization as a neighborhood hub for those in need, for those who want to see violence end.”


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Adam Carr
March 12, 2013


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Utility disconnections and energy assistance | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
March 13, 2013
Milwaukee County households struggling with utility bills are being urged to look right now into Energy Assistance.  We Energies will begin mailing out disconnection notices beginning March 20 to homes behind in their payments with utility cutoffs to begin in early April.  Now is the time to come to an Energy Assistance site at Social Development Commission sites at 4041 N. Richards Street, 2701 S. Chase Street of 6848 N. Teutonia Avenue before lines for the program become long.  To find out if you qualify and what you need to bring with you, go to www.cr-sdc.org/index/Programs–Services/Support-Services/Energy-Assistance.htm    or call 414-906-2800.


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SDC and sequester impact | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
March 13, 2013
The Social Development Commission (SDC) has made preliminary estimates of the effect of the recently passed federal budget sequester legislation.At its March12 meeting, SDC’s Budget and Finance Committee reviewed a staff-prepared preliminary sequester impact report.
The sequestration impact report begins SDC’s process of preparing the agency for the impact of sequestration cuts on area residents who use SDC programs and services.  The agency estimates that the 2013 SDC programs could realize an estimated $1.2-million in federal funding cuts.
“This report will help SDC plan ahead for the sequester cuts so we can continue to serve Milwaukee County residents,” said Budget and Finance Committee Chair Joe’Mar Hooper.  He thanked the staff for being proactive with the information on the federal cuts’ impact on different agency programs.  The Committee agreed to forward the report for review by the full SDC Board at its March 21 meeting.
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The report identified for the Committee the difficulty in firmly establishing when the cuts will affect services.  Because different programs have different funding calendars, the impact to client services will occur at different times.  One example is that SDC’s Head Start program will continue to operate at its current federal funding level through June; thereafter the estimated 5% sequestration cuts would take effect.
The report identified four SDC program areas impacted most by the sequestration cuts.  They are Head Start, Weatherization’s Lead Hazard Reduction Assistance, Energy Assistance, and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding which supports a wide range of the agency’s human services programming.  SDC programs funded by state, local and private funding will not see direct cuts by the federal sequestration but will be indirectly affected by overall funding loss.