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How one program treats trauma in students while keeping them in school | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Bridget Fogarty
July 21, 2020
A Christian Family Solutions counselor during a video call. (Photo provided by Christian Family Services)
On a recent summer night, 7-year-old Judah Ganiere sat at the dinner table with his parents and four siblings in their Sherman Park home.
He led them in an exercise he calls “the moustache.” You extend your pointer finger, place it under your nose and do some deep breathing.
It’s one of many lessons Judah has learned at STRONG Day Treatment Program,  year-round intensive mental health counseling offered in schools through Christian Family Solutions, or CFS.
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Since 2008, CFS has assisted more than 3,500 students and their families by offering outpatient counseling services in 18 Milwaukee schools.
“When he first started struggling, it just came out of left field,” said Judah’s mother, Charonne Ganiere. She and teachers first noticed that Judah was experiencing social and emotional challenges in 2018.
Though hesitant at first about enrolling her son in outpatient therapy, Ganiere said she saw Judah connecting with the CFS staff in a way he hadn’t with previous therapists.
“That was a huge confirmation to me that this is where he needed to be,” she said.
Since then, Judah has built a whole toolbox of coping skills with STRONG, which stands for Successfully Treating and Reaching Our Next Generation. Now in its third year, the program has served over 200 students.
Students attend group and individual therapy that is at little to no cost for three hours a day, five days a week. Parents receive daily communication on their child’s progress and can also attend family therapy.
Counseling at STRONG focuses on behavioral intervention in youth healing to help students become more stable and academically successful.
Two-thirds of all students experience a traumatic event before they reach the age of 16, according to a study by the American Psychological Association.
An infographic that highlights how early intervention programs create a ripple effect and have a positive impact beyond just participants. (Photo provided by Christian Family Solutions)
In addition, students of color face greater barriers to quality mental health treatment, according to the Kids Forward report, “Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Wisconsin’s Children.”
“Trauma-informed care takes into account these intense experiences,” said Ashley Schoof, the program director at Wisconsin Child & Adolescent Services and a therapist who works with Judah at STRONG.
Having CFS programs available in schools and online enables the services to be more accessible to parents and students who might otherwise not get the help they need, she said.
The most recent local and national acts of racial violence have added another layer of stress for Schoof’s students.
“They’re striving to understand what’s going on around them,” she said. “We’re providing a space to reflect, listen to the pain of those around us and to help and heal those in the community.”
When schools moved to remote learning because of the coronavirus in mid-March, CFS shifted to all online sessions. Without the transportation barriers that previously kept some families from receiving services, CFS saw an increase in student enrollment and parental involvement in their child’s experiences online.
Schoof said “that has really bridged the gap that we couldn’t address before.”
Students are most successful when their families are more involved in the programming, Schoof said. She has seen “the ripple effect” of how providing care to one child can affect the entire household and community.
Since the summer began, STRONG Day Treatment Program has continued virtual services and has been able to resume with physically distanced, in-person group counseling for 28 students at St. Marcus Lutheran School’s North campus, 2215 N. Palmer St.
CFS leaders plan to reach more students this school year.  A $100,000 grant from Bader Philanthropies will allow CFS to place five counselors in schools and expand programming.
“We know it is of utmost importance that we maintain our school counseling and STRONG programs because in some cases we are these students’ last hope for treating trauma in their lives and remaining in school,” said Mark Klug, chief executive officer of Christian Family Solutions, in a news release. “The expansion of services will help us continue to address students’ underlying issues and help them become better students and contributing members of their community.”
Learn more facts about the STRONG program or call 262-293-9747 to speak to a staff member about referring a child to the program. Children can be referred by their parents, school or outpatient providers.


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50013154147_c7c07965ba_k | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
July 20, 2020

source: news-milwaukeenns

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

author: Dwayne Burtin


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50013154352_4353f5031b_k | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
July 20, 2020


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Post from Community: Alzheimer’s Foundation of America to host free virtual educational conference for Wisconsin residents | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Alzheimer’s Foundation of America
July 22, 2020
Editor’s note: Our Posts from the Community feature is a platform for community announcements and event postings. If you have a post to be considered, send it to info@milwaukeenns.org or submit it directly.
The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) will host a free virtual educational conference as part of its national Educating America Tour to help Wisconsin residents affected by Alzheimer’s disease during the COVID-19 crisis on Thursday, August 20, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m CST. The conference will provide information and advice from health, legal and caregiving experts.  The conference is free and open to all. To register, go to www.alzfdn.org/tour.
“Knowledge is a useful and powerful tool that can help make any situation easier to navigate.  That’s especially true now as more than 120,000 Wisconsin families are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., AFA’s President & CEO.  “We want individuals who are caring for someone with Alzheimer’s to know about the resources available to help them and steps that they can take to improve their loved one’s care and quality of life. This conference will bring that information directly to families without having to leave their homes.”
Dr. Mehmet Oz will share his family’s personal Alzheimer’s story regarding the diagnosis of his mother, Suna Oz, last year.  He will describe how the diagnosis impacted his family.  Dr. Oz will also share tips to promote good brain health and healthy aging.
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Sessions during the AFA virtual conference will include:
For more information or to register, go to www.alzfdn.org/tour.  Those who can’t participate in the virtual conference or have immediate questions about Alzheimer’s disease can connect with licensed social workers seven days a week through AFA’s National Toll-Free Helpline at 866-232-8484 or via our online web chat system (available in 90+ languages) at www.alzfdn.org by clicking the blue and white chat icon in the right hand corner of the page.

author: Alzheimer’s Foundation of America


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Post from Community: Second annual State of Wisconsin Girls Summit will kick off with summer activities for girls, virtual event moved to October | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Alverno College
July 22, 2020
Editor’s note: Our Posts from the Community feature is a platform for community announcements and event postings. If you have a post to be considered, send it to info@milwaukeenns.org or submit it directly.
The second annual State of Wisconsin Girls Summit at Alverno College is moved to October 10, but girls who want to get involved can take part in activities now. The activities are designed to get girls thinking about what it means to be a girl in America today. Designed in collaboration with a local artist and graphic designer, Lauren Medina, the activity pages offer girls opportunities to explore their leadership, values, heroes and identity. “This summer, girls are more isolated and lacking in typical summer engagement opportunities,” said Jodi Eastberg, PhD, executive director of the Research Center for Women and Girls. “We want to do our part to provide girls with positive activities that help them to think about their own leadership and identities.”
The reimagined State of Wisconsin Girls Summit will be a virtual program. The new concept emphasizes the health and safety of attendees while also providing an engaging and purposeful experience. Happening the same weekend as the International Day of the Girl, the summit will convene thought leaders and inspiring voices to encourage girls to become more civically engaged and develop their leadership skills.
Twelve-year-old Mari Copeny, known as Little Miss Flint because of her activism around the water crisis in Flint, Mich., will be the keynote speaker. In May 2016, when Copeny was 8 years old, she wrote a letter to President Barack Obama detailing the water crisis in her hometown and challenging him to visit. The president visited Flint and subsequently authorized $100 million to repair the city’s water system. Copeny’s activism made national news, and she has been using her voice to fight for social justice since.
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The State of Wisconsin Girls Summit is an opportunity for girls, community leaders, agencies that serve girls and the general public to have thoughtful, productive conversations and celebrate the contributions of girls to our community. The event will begin with Copeny’s keynote address. There will also be a panel of girls who are working for change in our community, and a panel discussion with women serving as government officials.
“We continue to be committed to hearing directly from girls in Wisconsin in order to inform our research agenda in an effort to improve the lives of girls in our state,” said Eastberg. “We know from our research that girls are more likely to be civically engaged, to vote when they come of age and to volunteer, but they are far less likely to imagine themselves running for office or to consider government office as a desirable profession or goal. We are hopeful that through participation in the Girls Summit and engagement with our activity book, they will imagine themselves as leaders and ultimately will be inspired to run for office or serve in government.”
The summer activities are available online at alverno.edu/research/girlssummit and on the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast website at gswise.org/en/Activities. Hard copies of the activities may also be picked up at Arts @ Large, located at 1100 South 5th Street in Milwaukee. For more information and to register for the Girls Summit, visit alverno.edu/research/girlssummit. Organizations interested in distributing the activity sheets should contact the Alverno College Research Center for Women & Girls at Research.Center@Alverno.edu.
Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast are partners of the event, and sponsors to date include the Dr. Mary Ann Schwartz & Dr. Richard Brewer Endowed Speaker Series, the Brewers Community Foundation and Catalyst Construction.
About Alverno College
Founded in 1887 by the School Sisters of St. Francis, Alverno College promotes the academic, personal and professional development of its students in a collaborative and inclusive environment. Undergraduate programs for women are offered in more than 60 areas of study, and graduate programs in education, nursing, community psychology, school psychology, music therapy, music and liturgy, and business are open to women and men.
A leader in higher education innovation, Alverno has earned international accolades for its highly effective ability-based, assessment-as-learning approach to education, which emphasizes hands-on experience and develops in-demand skills. The college, Wisconsin’s first Hispanic-Serving Institution, ranks among the top schools in the Midwest for its commitment to undergraduate teaching and innovation by U.S. News & World Report. For the past two years, The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education named Alverno the country’s most inspiring college.
Based in Milwaukee, Wis., Alverno College is a four-year independent, Catholic, liberal arts college.

author: Alverno College


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011120_Mari_Copeny_AAE_Headshot-1500-px.jpg | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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July 22, 2020

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Post from Community: Teach for America Milwaukee hosts teacher and student supply drive for virtual schooling | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Teach For America Milwaukee
July 22, 2020
Editor’s note: Our Posts from the Community feature is a platform for community announcements and event postings. If you have a post to be considered, send it to info@milwaukeenns.org or submit it directly.
Back-to-school supplies take on a whole new meaning for the families of students who will now face virtual classrooms. Many items that were traditionally provided by the school and resided in each physical classroom will now need to be in every home, along with a host of other items are necessary for this new, virtual learning style.
Teach For America Milwaukee is currently accepting new, unopened school supplies to help support students in Milwaukee. The group also accepts monetary donations to purchase to purchase the items below. The drive runs from Monday, July 27 to Friday, September 11, 2020.
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In addition to supporting students, Teach For America Milwaukee is working to provide 50 first and second-year teachers with the Essential Virtual Teacher Toolkit. Teachers face challenges similar to their students in converting their practice to online vehicles. Teachers need audio and video technology like webcams and headset microphones to connect with students and create a sense of classroom normalcy. Additionally, teachers support those students who cannot print at home by providing course packs and materials. While working from their home, many teachers need dry erase boards and ergonomic mouse and keyboard support to help them mirror the practice they had in the classroom.
The Essential Virtual Teacher Toolkit includes items to help support teachers’ virtual challenges and Teach for America Milwaukee will accept donation items to support these kits as well.
Basics the group is collecting for students include:
Additionally, Teach For America Milwaukee has identified these essential items to support students’ at-home, virtual learning:
Items Teach for America Milwaukee is collecting to support teachers include
Individuals can support this important initiative by donating to the drive themselves, hosting a supply drive with friends and sharing this information through social media and word of mouth.  Teach For America Milwaukee is also looking for corporations to support the initiative by hosting drives and/or donating their corporate supplies that are not currently being used due to work-at-home conditions.
Donations can be mailed or dropped off in the collection box outside the TFA Milwaukee Office (below address).  The office building is open Monday-Saturday from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The collection box is located directly outside office #610.
Mail donations to:
Teach For America Milwaukee – School Supply Drive
700 West Virginia Street, #610
Milwaukee, WI 53204
The group can also pick up items at a time and place of your convenience. For more information please call Jenny Gryniewicz at 414.914.3134, or email jenny.gryniewicz@teachforamerica.org.
About Teach For America
Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 1990, Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding college graduates and professionals to make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the movement to end educational inequity. Today, 10,600 corps members are teaching in 50 urban and rural regions across the country while more than 37,000 alumni work across sectors to ensure that all children have access to an excellent education. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

author: Teach For America Milwaukee


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TFA_logo_milwaukee_RED_standard-1.jpg | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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July 22, 2020


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Post from Community: United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County announces the 2020 Philanthropic 5 Award winners | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County
July 22, 2020
Editor’s note: Our Posts from the Community feature is a platform for community announcements and event postings. If you have a post to be considered, send it to info@milwaukeenns.org or submit it directly.
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County will celebrate and honor five community leaders and one outstanding youth for their commitment to the Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County area as the winners of the 2020 Philanthropic 5 awards.
The awards, created by United Way’s Emerging Leaders, recognize five community leaders, in their 20s, 30s or 40s, and one exceptional youth, under 21, who give, advocate and volunteer for change throughout our local community. Each Philanthropic 5 winner is awarded $500 to invest in a United Way strategic issue area of their choice, and the Philanthropic Youth winner is awarded with a $500 scholarship for continuing education.
The virtual award ceremony and recognition event will take place on Wednesday, August 12, 2020 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Guests can register at https://www.unitedwaygmwc.org/Calendar/2020-P5-Awards.htm
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This year’s Philanthropic 5 winners are:
Mary Ferwerda
Mary serves as executive director of the Milwaukee Justice Center, the civil legal aid self-help center that provides assistance to over 10,000 self-represented people each year. Mary has been honored by the State Bar of Wisconsin with two Legal Innovator Awards. Mary is a coach for PEARLS for Teen Girls’ Career and College Program, providing guidance and support to a talented and brilliant young woman who graduated in May, with honors, from Marquette University. Mary holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Creighton University, a J.D. from Marquette University Law School, and a certificate in Dispute Resolution from Marquette Graduate School. In her free time, Mary enjoys spoiling her two dogs and exploring the Urban Ecology Center arboretum.
Ashley Hines
Ashley is the diversity and inclusion manager at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). With nearly a decade of comprehensive experience at MCW, she is trusted to build and implement institutional inclusion initiatives, inform the organizational brand strategy, manage system-wide goals, influence senior leaders through reciprocal mentorship, and, most recently, lead COVID-19 communications. A native of Milwaukee, Ashley earned her bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies-Child Development from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She has received several distinctions, including the 2015 MCW President’s Award for Diversity and Inclusion and 2017 Milwaukee Business Journal 40 under 40 Award. Ashley lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her husband and their two children.
Sean Lowe
Sean Lowe, born and raised in Milwaukee, is a planning and product support senior specialist at Northwestern Mutual. He has been a member of the Milwaukee Urban League Young Professionals since 2005 in various leadership positions including a three-year run as a national award-winning chapter president. He is the past National Urban League Young Professionals membership recruitment and retention chair, central region vice president, and current national treasurer. Sean is a Milwaukee Business Journal 40 Under 40 award winner, was featured in Who’s Who in Black Milwaukee, and was named one of the most influential African-Americans in the State of Wisconsin by Madison 365. Sean has also been appointed by the City of Wauwatosa to serve on the Equity & Inclusion Commission where he is chairman.
Lindsey & John Muchka
Lindsey & John met while attending the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Following graduation, John’s desire to pursue a degree in Pharmacy took them to Georgia where both pursued higher education with John earning his Doctorate in Pharmacy and Lindsey her Master’s in Business Administration.The pull of family and friends brought them back to Wisconsin where they have since settled in Lake Country with their two sons, Noah and Luke. John currently serves as the PGY-1 residency coordinator and a clinical pharmacist for Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital. Lindsey is the sr. marketing manager at Tailored Label Products.
With John’s passion to improve community health and Lindsey’s experience with nonprofit organizations, they founded Pharm to Tables Charitable Organization, inspiring health systems across the state of Wisconsin (and Midwest) to raise food and funds for food-insecure individuals in their respective communities.
Brandon Tschacher
Brandon is one of Milwaukee’s most visible and respected advocates for the city’s next generation of leaders. Professionally, Brandon is the director of marketing for the Wisconsin and Upper Michigan region of Thrivent Financial. On a volunteer basis, he served on the Salvation Army of Milwaukee’s Advisory Board and was also the co-founder of Echelon Milwaukee, a Salvation Army emerging professionals initiative. Brandon also previously helped launch the emerging professional’s group “HMI 100” with Historic Milwaukee, focused on bringing new voices and talent to the topic of historic preservation. A Milwaukee Business Journal 40 Under 40 award winner also, Brandon lives in Brookfield with wife Samantha, son Charleston, and Coonhound Bradee on a 145-year-old historic property, the Bradee farm.
Philanthropic Youth
Britny Helmrich
Britny Helmrich is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee studying early childhood and special education. Britny has been an active volunteer throughout her life, raising thousands of dollars for different charities, including The Wisconsin Autism Society, the Healing Center, Check-ups for Chicks, and Lotus Legal Clinic. She found her passion for working with children with special needs when she began volunteering at Penfield Children’s Center at the age of seven. Throughout middle and high school, Britny was an active sexual assault prevention advocate, running Denim Day campaigns and educating more than 600 students each year. These days, Britny is an active participant in the Black Lives Matter movement both in person and through social media. She thoroughly enjoys giving back to others and hopes to be making a difference in the world every day.


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BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Public Service Commission extends moratorium on utility shut-offs shut-offs | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Matt Martinez
July 22, 2020
We Energies recommends that customers who are having difficulty paying their bill call 800-842-4565 as soon as possible to discuss options, including payment plans and the potential for financial assistance.
For at least another month, Wisconsinites won’t have to worry about utility shut-offs.
In a 2-1 vote, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission on Thursday extended the moratorium on utility cutoffs for residential customers to Sept. 1, citing health and economic concerns from COVID-19.
The primary concern raised was that cutoffs would force people to leave their homes into unsafe conditions during the pandemic.
The PSC will meet again on Aug. 20 and have 10 days to decide about extending or ending the moratorium based on information collected in that time.
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PSC chairwoman Rebecca Cameron Valcq and commissioner Tyler Huebner voted to extend the moratorium, while commissioner Ellen Nowak voted against it, citing concerns that non-payment would snowball and ultimately “hurt the people they were trying to help.”
Last month, the PSC, lifted a temporary prohibition against disconnecting or refusing service. The moratorium was originally introduced at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to help those experiencing financial hardships.
The commission, an independent agency that regulates Wisconsin’s public utilities, allowed utilities to restart issuing disconnection notices on July 15.
The utilities, however, must grant a 21-day medical extension of service when a customer or a member of a customer’s household has tested positive for COVID-19.
Read: How to keep your utilities on if you are behind in payments

author: Matt Martinez


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
July 22, 2020

author: Adam Carr


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We answer your questions about MPS’ reopening plan | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Sam Woods
July 22, 2020
MPS will continue its “Stop, Grab, and Go” lunch program for at least 30 school days as classes remain virtual. (Photo by Adam Carr)
After the school board approved MPS’ reopening plan for the fall last week, we asked if you had any questions.
Then we followed up MPS, the Department of Public Instruction, or DPI, and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association to get you answers.
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Yes, for now. There are several standardized tests MPS students take, some of which MPS can decide to end unilaterally. Tests such as STAR, which the district uses to measure academic progress, are being re-evaluated as long as learning is completely virtual.
However, many standardized tests that MPS students take are required by state law and are out of the district’s control. Department of Public Instruction officials said although these tests were canceled at the end of last school year, both federal and state laws require they be administered this year.
“The purpose of the standardized tests is to identify what students know and can do in core academic areas,” DPI communication specialist Chris Bucher said. “We are exploring a variety of options to help districts successfully administer the assessments.”
Bucher says the third Friday will still be the official count of each school’s attendance for the 2020-’21 school year. State funding will then be distributed to districts according to this count, as usual.
“Our intent is that every district and school providing instruction will be able to count their students on the third Friday of September,” Bucher said. “We are preparing information on how that will work for remote and blended instruction.”
It is unclear what effect this will have on Milwaukee schools’ attendance figures and the funding it receives from the state. At last week’s board meeting, several parents expressed frustration with online learning and threatened to transfer out of MPS should the district begin the school year with no in-class instruction.
The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, or MTEA,  the union representing MPS teachers, says that under federal law, school districts are required to provide two weeks of paid sick leave to employees if they are quarantined or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis. These protections will expire on Dec. 31. The MTEA says it will seek an extension to these protections for the whole school year.
Once in-person classes resume, MPS says it will continue providing its after-school services, such as its Community Learning Centers. MPS also is considering an increase in staffing in order to reduce staff to student ratios.
MPS will be starting the year virtually but is planning to phase into full in-class instruction when health officials say it can. (Photo by Adam Carr)
Once schools reopen, MPS’ reopening plan outlines a list of risk-mitigation measures the district will be taking. Among these measures are isolating symptomatic students, excluding employees who show symptoms of COVID-19 from school buildings, and protections for students “who are at a higher risk for severe illness.”
Neither MPS’ reopening plan nor district spokespeople mentioned on-site testing for COVID-19 at any MPS site.
In its reopening plan, MPS did highlight the need for “educational materials on loss and grief,” though the hiring of therapists specializing in grief and loss is not explicitly budgeted for.
MPS will continue to retain school counselors on its payroll through the 2020-’21 school year. The district says that these counselors can assist with social and emotional issues, including grief, or can point students in the direction to get the specialized help they need.
Do you have more questions, email samwoods@milwaukeenns.org

author: Sam Woods


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49666388808_8880d7eb70_k | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
July 21, 2020


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49667211927_13a755f24a_k | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
July 21, 2020


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What you need to know to vote in the Aug. 11 primary | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Matt Martinez
July 22, 2020
The Aug. 11 primary election features races for the U.S. House of Representatives, the state Senate and state Assembly.
In less than a month, Wisconsin votes again.
Here’s what you need to know about the Aug. 11 primary election.
The primary election features races for the U.S. House of Representatives, the state Senate and state Assembly. Members of the same party will run against each other to decide who will represent the party in the general election on Nov. 3.
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The only contested election in Milwaukee County is between Israel Ramon and John F. Weishan Jr. for the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds. The League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County has published an online guide so residents can stay informed on the race.
Online voter registration for the Aug. 11 primary ends on July 22. If you miss it, you can still mail in your registration or register in-person, even on election day. You can also register to vote by mail by sending your application to the City of Milwaukee Election Commission, 200 East Wells St., Room 501
Milwaukee, WI 53202
You can register in-person to vote at the election commission, located at the address above.
For more information on where and how to register to vote, visit the Election Commission’s webpage.
Applications for absentee ballots must be received by the Election Commission by 5 p.m. on Aug. 6. Absentee ballots can be requested by mail to the Election Commission (see address above), or by email to absenteeballot@milwaukee.gov. You can also absentee vote online on the MyVote website.
Specific instructions for these methods can be found here. Absentee ballots must be returned by election day.
The city also is offering early voting; this allows voters to submit their ballot before Aug. 11 in-person.  Early voters go to an in-person polling place and are able to cast their ballot before the primary.
Starting July 28, the following locations will be open for early voting:
These locations will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
There also limited early voting locations. The election commission said the following locations can only hold one person at a time due to social distancing:
These locations are open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For the full early voting schedule ahead of the primary, click here.
Use this tool from the city to look up your address and see where your nearest polling place is.


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African man voted on president elections, blurred background | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
July 21, 2020


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NNS on WGLB: Reporter Edgar Mendez discusses racial disparities in Milwaukee’s stay-at-home arrests | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
July 23, 2020
(Photo by Adam Carr)
NNS senior staff writer Edgar Mendez talks with Saryea Murchinson and Dennis Walton of WGLB about stay-at-home arrests in Milwaukee, and how the majority of those arrested were African American.

author: Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
July 18, 2020


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5 things to do and know the weekend of July 24 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ana Martinez-Ortiz
July 24, 2020
Latinos por la Salud is hosting a Club de Caminatas y Bicicletas on Saturday. (Photo provided by Latinos por la Salud via Facebook)
It’s Friday in Milwaukee, and here are some things we think you should know about as the nation grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you would like your event to be considered for this column, please email info@milwaukeenns.org and put “5 things” in the subject line by noon Thursday.
Bonus: The latest coronavirus coverage from NNS
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reporters are hard at work bringing readers up-to-date information regarding coronavirus. Stay informed on coronavirus by following us on our Facebook page and subscribing to our daily newsletter. All coronavirus related articles can be found on this landing page. If you have a question or concern about coronavirus, send them in our way. We’re here to serve you.

author: Ana Martinez-Ortiz


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
July 23, 2020


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Milwaukee police, residents at odds over community-oriented policing | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Bridget Fogarty
July 24, 2020
The Fire and Police Commission ordered Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales, shown during a community listening session in January, to create a community-oriented policing plan with the Community Collaborative Commission, other community leaders and the Milwaukee Common Council. (Photo by Sam Woods)
After years of debate, Milwaukee police and residents continue to weigh what community-oriented policing should look like in the city.
And so far, they remain on different pages.
On one side, the Community Collaborative Commission, or CCC, continues its push for developing standards for community-oriented policing as defined by nationwide reports of the best practices.
On the other is the MPD, which the CCC accuses of not collaborating in good faith – a charge the MPD denies.
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CCC chairman Fred Royal of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP said this week that the MPD continues to offer a “piecemeal approach to what really needs to occur.”
“They’ve done this in a silo by themselves, without consideration of the community,” he said.
But MPD spokeswoman Sgt. Sharonda Grant said the department wants to work with the CCC. In an email to NNS on Thursday, she said: “We look forward to hearing back from each member regarding their recommendations.”
At issue is a draft report the MPD sent Wednesday to members of the CCC on community policing.
That report came on the heels of Monday’s meeting of the Fire and Police Commission, which ordered the MPD to draft a community-oriented policing plan with the CCC, other community leaders and the Milwaukee Common Council. It was one of 11 directives the commission issued to Police Chief Alfonso Morales.
The drafted document is riddled with shortcomings that are contrary to the definition of true community-oriented policing, Royal said.
The issue of community policing isn’t new to Royal and other leaders of the CCC— it’s one of the main recommendations they made in their 2019 report
And that’s what rankles Royal.
“They have had since November of 2019 to do this,” he said, “but now you’re going to wait until you get a directive, and now you’re going to rush it through as if you had collaboration with the CCC?”
(The police department has requested the group’s feedback by Friday.)
The seeds of the CCC were planted in late 2015 after former Police Chief Edward Flynn requested the U.S. Department of Justice do a voluntary review of the MPD, a decision sparked when a Milwaukee police officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton in 2014.
In 2016, the Department of Justice released an incomplete report to MPD, the Milwaukee Common Council and the FPC with their 56 findings and 110 recommendations on building trust between MPD and the community. That same summer, unrest in Sherman Park erupted in response to the killing of Sylville Smith by a Milwaukee police officer.
The report was leaked and published by the Journal Sentinel in August 2017. Community leaders saw the unfinished work as an opportunity to find out what Milwaukee neighbors felt could be solutions to better police and community relations.
Led by the African American Roundtable, a coalition that seeks to improve the quality of life for Black communities, local groups informally organized to take on the task of finishing the DOJ’s report through community-engaged input.
Former Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton led the council and the mayor to formally establish the CCC in 2017.
That action from the city supported, validated and formalized the work of those organizations and opened the door to critical conversations, said Jeff Roman, a researcher with Derute Consulting Cooperative who conducted analysis of community responses to the DOJ’s findings.
“This was the first time the leadership of the Common Council really entrusted a process and put it in the hands of the community,” said Roman. (Roman was the former project manager for News414, a service journalism collaboration between NNS and two other nonprofit newsrooms, Wisconsin Watch and Outlier Media.).
Over the course of six months, 18 community organizations hosted 45 community conversations through “Community Hubs,” including three sponsored by the Milwaukee Police Department. The FPC created an online community feedback portal as another outlet to gather perspectives.
Royal said the conversations with community members and law enforcement were wide and deliberate, and the ultimate conclusions were similar.
“People want to have a comfortable quality of life,” he said.
Based off the findings, the CCC recommended the MPD fully embrace community-oriented policing, starting with looking at national processes and replicating them in Milwaukee.
President Obama’s Taskforce On 21st Century Policing 2015 report and the more recent The New Era on Public Safety 2019 report are two guiding documents nationwide onhow to institute community-oriented policing. They call on lawmakers and police departments to adapt and implement best practices to ensure fair, safe and effective policing.
True commitment to community-oriented policing can be cultivated by following these reports and their recommendations, Royal said.
This month, the Common Council’s Policy and Standards Committee’s approved a resolution that allows the CCC to start their strategic planning process on community-oriented policing as an official Commission. Their first meeting is July 29.
In addition, Common Council President Cavalier Johnson appointed four new community members to the commission in June.
Safe and Sound youth program manager Damien Smith is one of them.
In his job, he works closely with young people and police officers, and said he can provide unique perspectives from the two populations.
“I want to continue building bridges between young people, law enforcement and the city officials,” Smith said.
You can read the CCC report in its entirety here.
The CCC will have its first meeting at 10 a.m. July 29. It can be viewed here.

author: Bridget Fogarty


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Post from Community: MATC and donors cover licensing exam fees for MATC healthcare graduates | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Area Technical College
July 26, 2020
Editor’s note: Our Posts from the Community feature is a platform for community announcements and event postings. If you have a post to be considered, send it to info@milwaukeenns.org or submit it directly.
The Milwaukee Area Technical College Foundation, Inc., with the support of MATC’s FCC Spectrum Trust, the United Health Foundation and individual donors, has established a new Healthcare Heroes Fund. Funds cover the cost of exams and fees needed for healthcare graduates to obtain a license to practice. In most years, graduates have been responsible for paying their own licensure fees, which can be as much as $1,490. To date, 275 Spring 2020 MATC healthcare graduates received scholarships to fund licensing exam fees totaling $102,595.
United Health Foundation is the largest private donor to date, underwriting $19,000 to help cover professional licensing exams for Spring 2020 graduates of the registered nursing and licensed practical nurse programs. This donation was provided as part of a three-year $2.3 million project to expand the capacity of MATC’s nursing program in response to persistent labor shortages in the field.
“The world is counting on nurses to help it get through the pandemic,” said Ellen Sexton, CEO, UnitedHeathcare Community Plan of Wisconsin. Ellen Sexton, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Wisconsin. “We know this is a difficult time financially for so many people. We wanted to help these new MATC nursing graduates who want to get to work quickly.  We are removing barriers for them to live out their dreams of helping others so they can get established in their careers now.”
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“We are so grateful to the United Health Foundation and local donors for responding to the call to support the Milwaukee areas’ newest healthcare heroes,” said Laura Bray, executive director for the MATC Foundation. “Each year, hundreds of MATC students graduate to serve as nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and in other critical health professions. The costs of board exams and licensing fees can be additional barriers our students face.”
Funds were distributed in the form of scholarships to students by the MATC Foundation, Inc., the nonprofit organization that supports MATC program innovation, student scholarships and emergency grants. The MATC Foundation is seeking contributions to offer similar support to December graduates.
To donate to MATC’s “Healthcare Heroes Fund”, contact Bray at brayl@matc.edu or visit matc.edu/foundation/healthcare-heroes-fund.html.
Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. Nearly 35,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 150 academic programs; and transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 35 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The MATC FCC Spectrum Trust was established when MATC’s District Board, as license holder for Milwaukee PBS, made the strategic decision to participate in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadcast incentive auction. MATC received one-time proceeds of $84 million as a result of its voluntary participation in the auction, created to free up bandwidth to accommodate the growing capacity needs for wireless technology. Annual earnings proceeds are being utilized to advance MATC’s educational mission of transforming lives, industry and community.

author: Milwaukee Area Technical College


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July 24, 2020


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Post from Community: Wisconsin regulators cite surge in COVID-19 cases, delay shutoffs of utility customers | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Citizens Utility Board
July 26, 2020
Editor’s note: Our Posts from the Community feature is a platform for community announcements and event postings. If you have a post to be considered, send it to info@milwaukeenns.org or submit it directly.
Disconnections of utility customers in Wisconsin won’t start this weekend after the Public Service Commission voted to delay shutoffs until Sept. 1, citing worsening COVID-19 statistics in Wisconsin.
The PSC voted 2-1 Thursday to require utilities to hold off on disconnecting residential customers who are behind on their bills, citing changed circumstances since the Commission’s last meeting on this more than a month ago.
The Commission is clearly trying to strike a balance here, and clearly there will be costs that come due at some point, but record case numbers in Wisconsin compelled the Commission to act for public health and safety reasons, said Tom Content, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board.
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“The commissioners made the right call, given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic. “They clearly didn’t want to take a risk of allowing shutoffs to commence — which could lead to lives lost due to utility disconnections,” Content said.
CUB last week urged utilities to be flexible with customers who are behind on their bills and asked utilities to hold off on disconnecting any customers until October.
The Commission at its weekly meeting Thursday received information from PSC staff indicating that 71,000 households were at risk of shutoff. The Commission agreed to revisit the issue at a meeting planned for Aug. 20.
“Clearly there a lot of folks who are hurting, and this is the time to be connecting them with available resources,” Content said.
Wisconsin has $8 million of energy assistance for low income customers available through the federal CARES Act. The state along with Dane and Milwaukee counties have $45 million in rental assistance funding designed to stave off evictions.
Congress is expected to vote in the coming weeks on a pandemic response bill, and utilities and consumer advocates alike have called for billions more nationwide for energy assistance. A version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives included expanded funding for energy assistance, rental assistance and also created a fund to support water utility customers hard hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Information about resources for utility customers is available at cubwi.org/covid19.

author: Citizens Utility Board


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July 24, 2020


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5 things to do and know this week in Milwaukee: July 27 to Aug. 1 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ana Martinez-Ortiz
July 27, 2020
Safe & Sound is hosting a youth march against gun violence Friday, July 31. (File photo by Sue Vliet)
It’s Monday in Milwaukee, and here are some things we think you should know about as the nation grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like your event to be considered for this column, please email info@milwaukeenns.org and put “5 things” in the subject line by noon Thursday.
1. “This is Milwaukee Talking”: Monday, July 27
This is Milwaukee Project is hosting another segment of its “This is Milwaukee Talking” series. The conversation will take place on Zoom from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, July 27. This week’s panelists are Kai Luanda Gardner-Mishlove, Michael Carriere and Kenneth Cole. Registration is free, but space is limited.
2. Walnut Way financial literacy workshops for youth: Tuesday, July 28 and Thursday, July 30
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Walnut Way’s Executive Director Antonio Butts is hosting two financial literacy workshops for young people. Youth ages 10 to 14 are invited to attend the workshop from 11 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, July 28. Those who are 15 and older can attend the workshop from 11 a.m. to noon on Thursday, July 30. The workshops will include activities that focus on career and money skills and economic systems. To register, click here.
3. “Run Back to School” registration is open
Milwaukee Public Schools and Milwaukee Recreation are continuing with their annual “Run Back to School.” This year’s run is virtual and will raise funds for Milwaukee youth recreation and wellness programs. Registration costs $5 for children and $10 for adults. People can register online, call 414-475-8410 or mail the form to Virtual Challenge, ℅ Youth Sports, 5225 W. Vliet St., Room 163, Milwaukee, WI 53208. Participants will be asked to complete four fitness activities that equal about 120 minutes from Aug. 3 to Aug. 27.
4. “School reopenings: Straight talk between students and education leaders”: Wednesday, July 29
The Milwaukee Urban League is hosting “School reopenings: Straight talk between students and education leaders” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29. The panelists include Vicki Martin, president of Milwaukee Area Technical College; Keith Posley, superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools; Mark Mone, chancellor of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Maleak Taylor of North Division High School; London Bates, UW-Madison Class of 2024; and Yazmin Cruz, UWM Class of 2024. Click here to register.
5. Youth march against gun violence: Friday, July 31
Safe & Sound is hosting a youth march at Moody Park, 2200 W. Auer St., from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, July 31. All are welcome to join the youth of the Amani neighborhood as they march against gun violence.
Bonus: The latest coronavirus coverage from NNS
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reporters are hard at work bringing readers up-to-date information regarding coronavirus. Stay informed by following us on our Facebook page and subscribing to our daily newsletter. All coronavirus related articles can be found on this landing page. If you have a question or concern about coronavirus, send them in our way. We’re here to serve you.


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
July 26, 2020


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OPINION: If we all do our part, we can beat the coronavirus | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Bernie Sherry
July 27, 2020
Artist Mauricio Ramirez created this mural honoring frontline workers and medical professionals on the corner of South Sixth Street and Lincoln Avenue. (Photo by Adam Carr)
Editor’s note: Have something on your mind? “Community Voices” is the place to let Milwaukee hear what you have to say. To be considered, we need your name, email address and phone number for verification. Please email your submissions to info@milwaukeenns.org.
Bernie Sherry is the ministry market executive at Ascension Wisconsin.
The emergence of the novel coronavirus early this year presented the world with an unprecedented challenge. Not since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 have we faced such a daunting public health crisis. By late February, it was clear our health care system, government and every American citizen would need to work together to conquer this invisible enemy.
Throughout this challenge, we have found inspiration in witnessing the incredible and selfless work of caregivers at the front lines of our health system and across the country. The doctors, nurses, facility management teams and other support teams in our hospitals are giving everything they have to meet the needs of their communities. These heroes are the embodiment of our mission to serve.
As we enter the fifth month of this public health crisis, I continue to take comfort in seeing the compassion and commitment of everyday citizens to protect their communities, families and neighbors and help our health care heroes stop this virus.
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It is important to understand that COVID-19 is easily spread and can have devastating effects. Therefore, our communities should come together to use every mitigation tool at our disposal to halt its spread. Looking after each other — being neighborly — is what American values are all about.
We should all be taking some simple steps to reduce the risk of acquiring or transmitting COVID-19. For starters, we should all wear a mask or face covering while in public. Masking helps prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people, an important aspect of “source control” of the virus.
Frequent hand washing for about 20 seconds with soap and water as well as refraining from touching your face are two of the most effective ways to remove germs and prevent infection to yourself and others, requiring nothing more than a few moments of your time. This kind of handwashing should extend beyond the pandemic and become a regular, healthy habit.
And maintaining social distancing in public spaces is another simple yet important way to keep the virus from spreading.
As health care providers, we strongly encourage everyone to take care of themselves and their neighbors through the simple acts of washing your hands regularly, keeping physical distance and wearing masks or face coverings while in public.
While we still have much to learn about COVID-19, we know that everyone in our community plays a crucial role in helping us all stay healthy and safe. Only through the cooperation of everyone can we curb the high number of cases that we are experiencing.
We appreciate the efforts of local businesses, institutions and schools that have developed and are implementing mitigation strategies, including mask guidelines and social distancing for their employees, customers and community members. We’ve seen many organized efforts come together over the past several months to ensure that front-line workers and our most vulnerable community members have access to masks and other protective equipment.
We understand that some of these safety measures may result in discomfort. However, we have a shared responsibility as members of our communities to care for others as we would ourselves. As you venture outside during these hot summer months, we implore you to proudly show your American values: Be responsible, do the right thing and love your neighbors through these simple acts.
Equally important is seeking the care you need if you become sick or develop an emergency. We’ve made many changes to our hospitals, office practices and emergency departments to keep you safe and protect you from the COVID-19 virus. Too often we’ve seen patients suffer at home with a medical emergency out of fear of coming to the hospital or other health care setting. Please don’t delay the care you need to preserve your health.
If we work together, continue to wear masks, wash our hands and adhere to social distancing, we will be successful in helping to keep each other safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

author: Bernie Sherry


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Adam Carr
July 26, 2020


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The NNS coronavirus update: What Milwaukee residents need to know the week of July 27 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Bridget Fogarty
July 27, 2020
Recent data shows suburban areas have seen a significant increase in COVID-19 cases. (Photo by Adam Carr)
Here’s the latest update on COVID-19 in Milwaukee and the resources you need to combat it.
Although Milwaukee’s North and South Side neighborhoods suffered a disproportionate impact of COVID-19 cases early on in the pandemic, recent data shows suburban areas have seen a significant increase in COVID-19 cases.
Since June, the rate of the transmission in suburban communities has been higher than the City of Milwaukee, said Darren Rausch, director of the Greenfield Health Department, during Milwaukee County’s weekly COVID-19 update Thursday.
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The countywide transmission rate significantly increased right around the Fourth of July, Rausch said.
Milwaukee County and public health officials continue to urge anyone with symptoms related to COVID-19 to get tested and encourage those at risk of exposure to COVID-19 to get tested.
Contact your health provider to obtain a test, go to a community testing center or call IMPACT 2-1-1.
For at least another month, utility shut-offs are on hold for Wisconsinites.
In a 2-1 vote on Thursday, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission extended the moratorium on utility cutoffs for residential customers to Sept. 1. This decision came in response to concerns that cutoffs would force people to leave their homes into unsafe conditions during the pandemic.
To apply for energy assistance, you can schedule an appointment, call 2-1-1 or call 414-270-4MKE. Milwaukee County also offers energy assistance for low-income residents through Community Advocates and UMOS.
Milwaukeeans have been required to wear masks while indoors and outdoors since the MKE Cares mask ordinance took effect last week. Residents will soon need to stay masked up on buses, too.
The Milwaukee County Transit System, or MCTS, is requiring masks or face coverings be worn on buses starting Saturday, Aug. 1. In cases where passengers do not have a face covering, buses will provide a mask as supplies allow.
This decision is the most recent step in the MCTS coronavirus response to protect its workforce and passengers.
Among other policies, MCTS limits bus capacity to 10 passengers to allow for social distancing and recommends riders use contactless fare payment methods like the M-CARD or the Ride MCTS App. It asks passengers to enter the bus through the front door and exit via the rear door.
Certain individuals are exempt from the mask requirement on MCTS buses, and more information can be found here.
If you’re still looking to obtain a free mask, the City of Milwaukee Health Department said the community mask distribution plan will be developed by July 31. The plan will detail more access points for free masks .
Here are the updated locations and hours for where to find a free mask. As of Friday, places were giving out up to three masks per person.
NNS reporters also compiled a list of where to buy locally made masks, if you’re looking to show some local business love when masking up.
Check the City of Milwaukee Health Department’s website for the most updated facts and answers to questions about the mask ordinance.
Here’s how to keep your utilities on.
Do you have questions about COVID-19 in Milwaukee or how the state is responding to it? What information can we provide that will help you or make life easier as we all deal with this pandemic?
Fill out this form, and NNS reporters will look for answers for you.
Look here for up-to-date statistics on COVID-19 in the county. More precautions on how to stay safe and information on COVID-19 can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.
Check out our continuing coronavirus coverage.
Looking for more personalized direction to resources and information during the coronavirus crisis? Get connected with News414, a texting-based news resource from Milwaukee NNS, Wisconsin Watch and Outlier Media. You can text MILWAUKEE to 73224 and begin to receive free, personalized data via text messages.


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As reckless driving incidents mount in Milwaukee, task force releases plan to fix problem | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
July 28, 2020
South Cesar E. Chavez Drive and West Greenfield Avenue is considered one of the most dangerous intersections in the city. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Last July, several members of the Common Council stood with other city leaders, including Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm and Police Chief Alfonso Morales, to announce yet another effort to curb reckless driving: a public-private partnership dubbed “Take it EZ Milwaukee.”
“We’ve had enough,” then-Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton said during a news conference at the intersection of South Cesar E. Chavez Drive and West Greenfield Avenue as youths held bright yellow signs that showed two colliding cars.
More than a year later, aside from tattered sections of caution tape still wrapped around street poles, not much remains of that campaign.
Yet reckless driving incidents continue to haunt the city. The latest plan by members of the City-County Carjacking and Reckless Driving Task Force contains strategies they believe will finally make a difference if implemented.
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Among the recommendations from the task force’s final report, which was released this month: More public awareness campaigns; increased access to driver education; narrowed driving lanes; and coordinated traffic signals that allow for fewer stops.
The report also calls for increased penalties for adults caught driving recklessly while fleeing officers and for other dangerous road behaviors.
“These recommendations offer a comprehensive strategy for decision-makers to tackle reckless driving, “ said Ald. Michael Murphy, the chairman of the task force. “They will be far better equipped going forward to collaborate in a coordinated and comprehensive fashion while working on changing reckless driving behavior.”
The report recommends requiring police to take youths caught in stolen or fleeing vehicles into detention rather than writing tickets and providing diversion alternatives for first-time offenders.
This home on the corner of North 13th Street and West Capitol Drive was left vacant after a vehicle being chased by Milwaukee police crashed into it, starting a fire. The driver of the fleeing vehicle died in the crash. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Sharlen Moore, co-founder of Youth Justice Milwaukee, a campaign that advocates for community-based restorative programs as an alternative to incarceration, said many of the current and proposed measures are punitive.
Moore said the best way to address problems associated with reckless driving is to focus on prevention strategies.
“What we want to make sure is that we have standards that are not pushing people into the justice system,” she said. “We have to be a lot more creative and start investing in proactive strategies rather than being reactionary.”
Moore has advocated for some of the recommendations laid out in the task force’s plan, including increased access to driver’s education.  Currently, she said, funding for those types of programs is extremely limited.
“We need driver’s education for anyone who wants to take it,” she said. “We also need programs that provide summer and year-round job opportunities to address root causes of the issues we’re facing in the community.”
The issue of reckless driving has plagued the city for years, and some believe the problem has gotten worse. Milwaukee resident Katie Velazquez said it’s not uncommon to see cars traveling at freeway speeds on residential streets.
“All these people are in such a hurry,” she said.
The task force report said from 2014 to now, there were 229,823 traffic offense cases, many of which would be considered reckless driving. Some involved police pursuits.
A report released last April by the Fire and Police Commission said police chases increased from 369 to 940 from 2017 to 2018, with more than one-fourth of those chases resulting in accidents.
In addition, a February 2020 Wisconsin Policy Forum report found that motor vehicle fatalities increased by 97 percent in the city from 2013 to 2018, with speeding being a primary factor.
And just this month, Isidro Vega-Quintero and his wife, Sandra Vega-Quintero, were killed in their vehicle by another car traveling at high speeds through a yellow light, according to news reports and a video of the crash that was posted on social media.
The plan’s recommendations were guided by community input and the work of three subcommittees: one focused on prevention and education; one on engineering solutions; and the third on accountability and enforcement. Task force members also examined best practices from other cities and reviewed evidence-based research to help create the plan’s policy solutions.
In addition to Murphy, the task force includes Common Council member Chantia Lewis;  several representatives of the mayor’s office; Milwaukee Police Department Assistant Chief Michael Brunson; Reggie Moore of the Office of Violence Prevention; Municipal Court Judge Derek Mosley and Chief Court Administrator Sheldyn Himle; and community representatives Bianca Williams and Nichole Yunk Todd.
Velazquez found merit in some aspects of the plan, including increasing penalties for offenders.
“The fines should go up after each offense and then the license revoked after so many violations,” she said.
Another resident, Kelly Waupoose Murphy, said she thinks speed bumps, red light cameras and roundabouts, all recommendations in the plan, can make a difference. But she says more policing and punitive measures are needed.
“Have traffic police posted in busy intersections during peak times and have higher fines,” she said.
Special Report: Reckless driving forces Milwaukee residents into game of ‘red light roulette’

author: Edgar Mendez


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
July 27, 2020


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Milwaukee Youth Council puts focus on mental health services | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Matt Martinez
July 28, 2020
Three nonprofits in Milwaukee hope to use funds recommended by the Youth Council to offer mental health services to young people.
Three nonprofits are one step closer to receiving funds to provide mental health services to youths after receiving a recommendation from the Milwaukee Youth Council.
The Youth Council is made up of students and young people who represent aldermanic districts in the city. Its members meet regularly with community leaders, including the mayor and Common Council, to advocate for youth issues.
The council was allotted $63,916 to recommend for spending this year and its members chose three nonprofits to fund.
They are:
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Helping with trauma
The Silver Spring Neighborhood Center in Westlawn provides education, social development and food services to youths. Latasha Holt, the youth social development director at Silver Spring, said the center will  use the money to continue services following a 10-week training session on trauma.
“We understand that kids now are going through trauma more than ever, being at home with parents who maybe don’t appreciate them or love them,” Holt said. “We knew they were going to come out of this pandemic with some kind of trauma.”
Holt said the course explains what trauma is and its effects. A counselor will be available to help attendees.
“We can talk about trauma, but then if we don’t know how to actually go get help for them … we’re not doing a good job at it,” Holt said.
The funds from the city would pay salaries for an on-site counselor and a facilitator to help bring more youths into the program so they can continue getting help past the 10-week session.
Holt said she hopes the sessions will help break the stigma behind seeking mental health assistance.
“Our youth are very vocal,” Holt said. “However, when it comes to trauma, they’re very silent.”
Expanding counseling for LGBT youths
The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center provides services to youths and older adults in the community. Associate Executive Director Natalie Zanoni said the center would use its $20,000 to expand its counseling services.
Zanoni said the center would be able to provide mental health services to about 60 individuals, including offering bilingual and alcohol/other drugs counseling if necessary.
“There’s a lot of barriers for LGBTQ youth getting the assistance and mental health specifically that they need,” Zanoni said. “It’s important to us that we keep offering it for free, and with as few barriers as possible.”
Credible messengers
Wisconsin Community Services maintains a large behavioral health division that serves Milwaukee. Nichole Todd, administrator of the division of youth services, said one program helps people who have dealt with adversity from the justice system as well as people living with mental health struggles.
The funds from the city would go toward Wisconsin Community Services’ credible messengers program, which places counselors with youths 24/7 to provide guidance and  mentoring.
“We’re here to be that trusted person in your life no matter what you’re going through,” Todd said. “We’re not going to drop you because the case is over, we’re not going to drop you because you screwed up … we’re going to be there for you.”
The credible messengers program is expected to assist 40 young people. The money from the city would provide salaries for newly hired staff.
“We shouldn’t be reacting to young people making mistakes,” Todd said. “We should be preventing it.”
Bill Arnold, the Common Council’s public information officer, said the recommendations must go through the Community and Economic Development Committee and then to the full council to be approved.


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Post from Community: Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee announces 2020 Leadership Award winners | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee
July 28, 2020
Editor’s note: Our Posts from the Community feature is a platform for community announcements and event postings. If you have a post to be considered, send it to info@milwaukeenns.org or submit it directly.
Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee (HPGM), the premier Hispanic professional organization in Milwaukee, announces its 2020 Leadership Award recipients. The annual HPGM Leadership Awards recognize winners’ professional accomplishments, community involvement and contributions to the development of Wisconsin’s Hispanic community. HPGM honors an organization that exhibits innovation and collaboration as well.
The 2020 Leadership Award winners are:
“As the Milwaukee professional community has larger conversations around diversity and inclusion in the workforce, it’s important to recognize those who exemplify HPGM’s vision of cultivating Hispanic talent in our region,” said Kim Schultz. “We are proud to honor these 2020 Leadership Award winners who exhibit true passion and commitment to building strong communities and a more equitable future for our young leaders.”
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The 2020 Leadership Award recipients will be formally recognized at HPGM’s Annual Meeting, which will be held virtually on August 14, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. In addition to the recognition of award and scholarship recipients, the 2020 Leadership Award winners will participate in a panel discussion titled A Year of Change: Conversations with Milwaukee’s Diverse Leaders. Visit the HPGM website to register.


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Post from Community: Milwaukee Bucks and Sargento Foods’ “Tipoff for Homes” initiative raises $33,500 for affordable housing | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity
July 28, 2020
Editor’s note: Our Posts from the Community feature is a platform for community announcements and event postings. If you have a post to be considered, send it to info@milwaukeenns.org or submit it directly.
The Milwaukee Bucks and Sargento Foods raised $33,500 through the “Tipoff for Homes” initiative during the 2019-20 season to support Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity. In its first season, the initiative called for a $500 donation from Sargento Foods to Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity for every tip-off the Bucks won throughout the 2019-20 regular season.
Led by center Brook Lopez, the Bucks won the opening tip in 50 of their 65 games prior to the league’s hiatus on March 11, resulting in a $25,000 donation. Sargento then committed $500 for each of the 17 regular season games that were missed during the hiatus for a total donation of $33,500 to Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity, which will help build safe, affordable homes in our community.
“With the pandemic, having safe, affordable housing is more important than ever,” said Sargento Foods CEO Louie Gentine. “We are honored to continue our long-standing commitment to Milwaukee Habitat, now in our 28th year. We thank the Milwaukee Bucks for sharing our passion about giving more families in our community the opportunity to have a place to call home.”
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“It was a very successful first season of the Tipoff for Homes program and we’re thrilled to partner with Sargento to raise $33,500 for Habitat for Humanity” said Bucks and Fiserv Forum President Peter Feigin.
Sargento Foods became the first corporate sponsor of Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity in 1992. During that time, Sargento has helped 30 families build safe, affordable homes in the area. This year, Sargento will dedicate the 30th home to a single father and his son. Just last week, volunteers from Sargento joined future homeowner Jasmine on the build site to raise the walls of their 31st sponsored home. More than 800 Sargento employees have volunteered to build those homes, devoting more than 16,500 volunteer hours to the cause.
About Sargento Foods Inc.:
With 2,300 employees and net sales of more than $1 billion, Sargento Foods is a family-owned company that has been a leader in cheese for more than 65 years. Founded in 1953 in Plymouth, Wisconsin, Sargento created the world’s first successful pre-packaged sliced and shredded natural cheeses. Today, Sargento Foods is still based in Wisconsin, where they manufacture and market amazing shredded, sliced and snack natural cheese products, as well as ingredients and sauces. Company leadership lives to serve local communities and employees, whom they refer to as the Sargento Family. www.sargento.com
About Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity
People in our community and all over the world partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. With our help, Habitat homeowners achieve the strength, stability and independence they need to build a better life for themselves and their families. Over the past 36 years, Milwaukee Habitat has served more than 1,300 families in the Greater Milwaukee community through new construction, rehab and repair programs and provided housing solutions for more than 1,800 families in developing countries. www.milwaukeehabitat.org

author: Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity


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Tipoff-GNT-Photos-4.jpg | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
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July 28, 2020


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Defund the police? Milwaukee eyes future amid Black Lives Matter protests, coronavirus budget crunch | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Allison Dikanovic, Wisconsin Watch
July 29, 2020
Calls to shift funds from policing to programs that improve quality of life for people of color aren’t new. But this time, more people are listening.
“Defund the police” is seen painted across a block of North Water Street in Milwaukee on July 2, 2020. The Milwaukee Department of Public Works removed the paint a week later, saying it presented “serious traffic safety concerns” because it covered traffic markings and was slick when wet. “The message painted on Water Street has been heard loud and clear by policy makers in city government, and the Department of Public Works has no intention to diminish the voices calling for change,” Commissioner of Public Works Jeff Polenske said in a July 9 statement. “Our concern for unauthorized street art including the current mural on Water Street is solely about safety.” (Photo by Will Cioci, Wisconsin Watch)
Milwaukee activist Annia Leonard wants a safe community without police, and she draws from her own experience when thinking about what that could be: like the time a conflict at her grandmother’s house ended peacefully in a garden — without anyone in handcuffs.
When an argument escalated earlier this summer, one person in the house called Milwaukee police, Leonard said, and someone else called 414LIFE — a team of community “violence interrupters” who are trained to intervene.
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Annia Leonard is seen outside of her grandmother’s house in the Sherman Park neighborhood of Milwaukee, on July 2, 2020. That was where 414LIFE, a local group of violence interrupters, deescalated a family dispute earlier in the summer. Leonard says 414LIFE more effectively resolved the situation than police officers who also responded to the home. (Photo by Will Cioci, Wisconsin Watch)
With her adrenaline pumping, Leonard said she was already in “fight mode” when the officers arrived, and their response only antagonized those involved in the dispute, adding to the stress.
“We didn’t need someone to come say that we could all be arrested,” she said.
The violence interrupters, on the other hand, quickly dissolved that tension once they arrived, Leonard said.
“They talked to everyone individually. They were just making sure that everyone in the space was good,” Leonard said, and it helped that some people in the house knew one team member.
“It was just a completely different approach to domestic violence that a lot of people aren’t usually privileged to see,” said Leonard, who aims to uplift Milwaukee’s Black residents in her own organizing work — holding healing events and calling for the abolition of police. “It just made it clear, this is why we don’t need police officers in our communities.”
Calls to “defund the police” have grown louder in Milwaukee and other cities after the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis fueled nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
Floyd’s death came as Milwaukee grieved the loss of Joel Acevedo, who died days after Michael Mattioli, an off-duty Milwaukee police officer, acknowledged putting him in a 10-minute chokehold during an April fight, according to media reports. Mattioli was charged with first-degree reckless homicide, and the department suspended him with pay.
Some say the goal of “defunding the police” is to shift funds away from police and towards public health, housing and other programs to alleviate conditions that lead to crime. But many local and national advocates eye a more ambitious goal: to abolish police over time. Abolitionists see reallocation as the first step toward dismantling policing and prison institutions, replacing them with neighborhood-based public safety models.
Milwaukee’s defunding movement comes as city officials set next year’s budget, and the police department wants to grow its slice of the pie. Meanwhile, a coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on the economy, promising to slash city revenue and leave less money for a host of government services.
“Even if the tragic death of George Floyd and nationwide protests had not occurred, there was very good reason for citizens and policymakers to take a look at the Milwaukee Police Department budget, and that has nothing to do with any kind of opinion or bias with putting municipal budgets into police departments,” said Rob Henken, president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, who noted that Milwaukee faced “tremendous economic stress” even before the pandemic.
The conditions and debate transcend Milwaukee. During calls to divest from police, the Madison School Board in June voted to terminate its Madison Police Department contract for resource officers at high schools. Critics of the officers’ presence highlighted disproportionate arrest rates for Black students and said the school should handle discipline outside of the criminal justice system.
Law enforcement in 2018 accounted for nearly 22% of Milwaukee’s $1.4 billion in total expenditures — the largest category in the budget, according to Wisconsin Department of Revenue data. That hovers above law enforcement’s 20% share of municipal spending statewide, according to a Wisconsin Policy Forum analysis of state data.
The Milwaukee Police Department consumes an even bigger share of the city’s general purpose budget  — the portion controlled by the mayor and Common Council. MPD accounted for about 47% of that spending in 2020, up from 40% in 2012, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum. The police budget in each of the last five years has eclipsed the city’s entire property tax levy, one of three main revenue sources. Nearly 95% of the police budget funds salaries, wages and benefits.
MPD is requesting nearly $316 million for next year as Milwaukee wades into the country’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. That proposed $18.5 million increase from last year is 20 times the Milwaukee Health Department’s $15.7 million request.
The health department houses the $2.1 million Office of Violence Prevention, which encompasses the 414LIFE team, a small-scale example of policing alternatives.
Claire DeRosa, Wisconsin Watch
The team is trusted in the neighborhoods it engages, said Derrick Rogers, program director for 414LIFE. It is among groups globally that practice an evidence-based “Cure Violence” model that sees violence as a treatable epidemic. The 414LIFE team aims to stabilize people deemed at high risk of committing violence, helping them secure housing, jobs, therapy and relationship support. The interrupters check in with people involved in disputes — even months after they defuse them.
When Rogers responded to the dispute at Leonard’s grandmother’s house, he helped one person pull weeds in a garden while talking through the frustrations that fueled the conflict. They constructed a plan to avoid future conflict and discussed how to file a restraining order. Rogers later called the person’s friends and offered connections to mental health providers.
But Milwaukee is spending roughly $504 per resident on policing compared to less than $4 per resident on such direct violence prevention.
“We didn’t get here overnight,” Reggie Moore, director of the Office of Violence Prevention, said this month during an online Wisconsin Police Forum event. “These were generations of decisions and policymaking and investment where unfortunately a lot of cities and counties responded to situations of community crisis with greater investment in law enforcement, versus looking at public health and taking more innovative approaches.”
Moore added: “How do we address the root causes of the trauma and pain that we’re seeing as opposed to trying to manage it with punishment and the criminal justice industry?”
Grassroots organizers have spent years helping Milwaukee residents envision such an approach in a city that last year declared racism a public health crisis and saw annual eviction rates of up to 15% of households in some neighborhoods —  even before the pandemic left thousands jobless and waiting on rent assistance.
Common Council members last month reported a flood of constituent requests to “defund the police.” The council on June 16 approved a resolution to study a 10% cut to the MPD budget — about $30 million. The Milwaukee School Board two days later unanimously resolved to remove police officers from public school grounds.
That’s not enough for advocates such as Markasa Tucker, director of the African-American Roundtable, a coalition serving Milwaukee’s Black residents. The coalition and other groups are calling for a $75 million cut to MPD’s budget that would shift $50 million to public health and $25 million to housing cooperatives in a campaign called LiberateMKE.
“These are our tax dollars. This is our money, and we get to say where we want it to go,” Tucker said at a June Facebook event.
The campaign is one step toward a longer-term goal of upending the city’s approach to public safety, said Devin Anderson, lead organizer for the LiberateMKE campaign.
“We believe a world without police is possible,” he said. “Defund is the goal, and divestment is the process.”
Protesters participated in the BLACK WMNZ Emancipation March to celebrate Juneteenth in Milwaukee on June 19, 2020. Calls to “defund the police” and shift resources to other health and safety efforts have grown louder in Milwaukee and cities across the country following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (Photo by Will Cioci, Wisconsin Watch)
MPD spokeswoman Sgt. Sheronda Grant directed Wisconsin Watch to Chief Alfonso Morales’ op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which warned that a $30 million budget cut could eliminate about 375 officers, increasing response times and narrowing the types of calls officers could handle.
“We must have real discussions of what ‘defunding the police’ means,” Morales wrote in July. “I understand budget cuts, and I understand investing in our community. However, I do not understand how defunding improves the underlying issues of social injustices and police brutality or increases diversity in MPD.”
MPD wants more funds after leaving 60 officer positions unfilled this year following retirements —  trimming officer ranks to 1,804. That move prompted the department to cut the third shift of its Sensitive Crimes Division, which investigates sexual assault and child abuse cases, Morales told Wisconsin Public Radio in June.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will begin holding budget hearings in August and plans to present his budget to the Common Council in September.
“The funding of our police department is one aspect of the review, but a funding cut, alone, does not address a multitude of other issues we must consider,” Barrett said in a June statement. “Our upcoming budget process is an opportunity to take a comprehensive look at how city government views public safety.”
The conversation unfolds as homicides in Milwaukee are surging to levels not seen since the 1990s following a four-year decline — a trend playing out nationwide during the pandemic. Violent crime does not necessarily correlate with a need for police officers, the Wisconsin Policy Forum noted in a 2019 report showing how Milwaukee and some other Wisconsin cities are boosting police spending even as they lose officers.
“Defund” advocates say many factors outside of law enforcement affect crime rates and create safety, and Milwaukee has never invested to scale in community-based strategies to keep people safe without police.
Monique Liston, chief strategist at Ubuntu Research and Evaluation, a Black women-led consulting firm for education, policy and advocacy, underscored that societies haven’t always relied on police, and that many of America’s police systems were created to control Black people and protect the interests of the wealthy.
“Policing was built around protecting stolen property and protecting stolen people,” she said. “One of the big disservices we’ve done in history is to act like police are a natural part of organizations. It’s so ingrained in people that police have to be there.”
Claire DeRosa, Wisconsin Watch
Distrust of police runs deep in some of Milwaukee’s Black and brown-majority neighborhoods, and some residents are tired of waiting on piecemeal reforms to change policing tactics that have disproportionately harmed people of color.
“Reforms like banning chokeholds, adding body cameras and that we need more trainings — in many ways those are not enough,” said Anderson of LiberateMKE. “By investing so much in a system that was never meant to keep us safe, that’s leaving no space and no room for the other investments, and it’s hurting us. In some cases, it’s literally killing us.”
Milwaukee police officers have for years been the subject of reform debates and criminal and civil proceedings, including after the police killings of Dontre Hamilton in 2014, Sylville Smith in 2016 and Acevedo.
Recommendations have followed — from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2017 and the city-convened Collaborative Community Committee in 2019. But the city has yet to implement many such proposals. Barrett in June announced yet another reform commission, which some activists viewed as déjà vu.
Milwaukee’s Fire and Police Commission, a civilian oversight board with the power to change policy and investigate complaints, this week issued a set of directives to Morales demanding changes. The commission itself faces allegations that it acts slowly and lacks transparency.
“We’re constantly being put where we’re in the position for these tough conversations needing to hold cops accountable,” Leonard said. “I’m not trying to demand reform from them anymore. The whole system needs to be abolished.”
In 2018, Milwaukee’s Common Council approved a $3.4 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The group alleged Milwaukee’s stop-and-frisk program led to unjustified stops, racial profiling and harassment of residents without cause for suspicion.
In a June report monitoring the department’s progress on the settlement, the Boston-based Crime and Justice Institute found that officers undercounted frisks and failed to properly justify 81% of documented frisks during the second half of 2019, showing no improvement on those measures from earlier in the year.
The report also showed that officers stopped and searched Black people at disproportionately high rates. Black residents make up roughly 39% of Milwaukee’s population but faced nearly 60% of police encounters and 80% of frisks.
“They’re not really living up to their end of the bargain,” said Molly Collins, associate director of the ACLU of Wisconsin. “It can be the police firing tear gas or rubber bullets at protesters, but also it just looks like continued patterns of police interactions with Black and brown folks that continue to break the relationship between the police department and the community.”
Said Grant, the MPD spokeswoman: “Our members continue to receive training, and MPD continues to make progress in our compliance efforts.”
Fueled by frustration with Milwaukee’s status quo, neighborhood leaders have long brainstormed ways to reinvest funds flowing to police. One tiny example: When Anderson would wrap up LiberateMKE’s meetings last year at city public libraries, he noticed the buildings would stay full until closing time, with staff asking people to leave.
“What if we took money from the police for that?” he said, suggesting staffing the libraries for longer hours.
LiberateMKE encourages residents to envision new uses for their tax dollars. The coalition surveyed more than 1,100 residents in that process, Anderson said.
Last year’s participants recommended rerouting $25 million from MPD to community-based violence prevention programs such as 414LIFE. They also called for bigger investments in employment opportunities for young people and affordable, quality housing.
Many of those recommendations referenced the Office of Violence Prevention’s 2017 Blueprint for Peace, a set of community-driven goals and recommendations.
That involved hundreds of community members who sought to identify the root causes of Milwaukee’s violence. Among those flagged: lack of quality, affordable housing, neighborhood disinvestment, limited economic opportunities and persistent trauma. Participants determined what Milwaukee should leverage to make neighborhoods more resilient, including already strong community-building groups, schools, arts and cultural expression and welcoming public spaces.
The blueprint spurred the creation of 414LIFE and other investments in youth programming, mental health and domestic violence prevention.
A mural painted near the corner of North 14th Street and West Vliet Street in Milwaukee depicts Monique Liston (right), a local activist and chief strategist at Ubuntu Research and Evaluation, a Black women-led consulting firm for education, policy and advocacy, on July 2, 2020. Liston underscores that societies haven’t always relied on police, and that many of America’s police systems were created to control Black people and protect the interests of the wealthy. (Photo by Will Cioci, Wisconsin Watch)
“We understand that when we look at the production of public safety in our city, it really takes beyond policing and the criminal justice industry, and I think that’s really what this movement and moment is challenging us to think about,” said Moore, the Office of Violence Prevention director. “When we look at neighborhoods throughout the city and throughout the country where large police presences aren’t required, those communities tend to have thriving businesses. They have thriving families who are gainfully employed.”
Moore said Wisconsin leaders should help Milwaukee and other cash-strapped cities invest in violence prevention.
Rep. David Bowen and Sen. Lena Taylor, both of Milwaukee, and other Democratic lawmakers in March proposed funneling tax revenue from vaping products into a statewide violence prevention fund. The bill failed to draw a hearing.
Other Milwaukee groups have helped lay the groundwork for this moment.
Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, which aims to invest in and empower Milwaukee’s Black residents, released a 2019 Platform for Prosperity. It incorporates voices from thousands of who responded to the question: “What would it look like for your community to thrive?”
The group is now surveying residents  — online and via text — about their vision for policing. Rick Banks, the group’s political director, said support is growing to defund MPD.
“Police brutality and things have been an issue for generations, but right now the energy around it, coupled with the budget cycle, is a huge opportunity for people to explore that idea,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like a far-fetched idea.”
The pandemic has added momentum to the push for change, said Liston of Ubuntu Research and Evaluation.
“I don’t think a lot of people knew how badly these systems were failing people, and it took a pandemic for people to realize how bad things are,” she said.
The virus is disproportionately infecting and killing Milwaukee’s people of color, and it is worsening economic hardship and flooding courts with eviction cases. Even before the pandemic, about half of Milwaukee renters paid more than 30% of their income in rent, according to a 2018 report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. The same report showed 42% of the city’s renter households earned less than $25,000 a year, while only 9% of rental units charged rents considered affordable to those households.
The pandemic is also spurring more grassroots efforts to provide food, financial help, child care and other services  —  proving that residents can take care of each other, Anderson said.
“Mutual aid, that is community care. That is community safety,” he said. “Those are people on the ground making sure that people’s needs are met by offering support to their neighbors. The community knows what keeps them safe.”
Allison Dikanovic is an engagement reporting fellow for Wisconsin Watch, which is partnering with Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and Outlier Media on News414, a news-by-text project. Dikanovic’s fellowship is funded in part by the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Wisconsin Watch (wisconsinwatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

author: Allison Dikanovic, Wisconsin Watch


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Annia-Leonard-336×503 | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
July 28, 2020

author: Dwayne Burtin


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budget requests | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
July 28, 2020


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Dwayne Burtin
July 28, 2020


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Dwayne Burtin
July 28, 2020


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Dwayne Burtin
July 28, 2020


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PHOTOS: Muskego Way residents create community-engaged mural | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
July 30, 2020
Community artist Tia Richardson and her community collaborators did not let the pandemic stop them from finishing the third in a series of murals that stretch over 200 feet along West Forest Home Avenue.
Richardson and a team of eight youth artist interns spent a month collaborating to create the mural, which is named “Together as one heart.”
The team worked throughout July and are celebrating the mural’s completion with a “drive-through car parade” at 6 p.m. Thursday at Forest Home Avenue School, 1516 W. Forest Home Ave.
During the painting process, the group wore masks and practiced social distancing.
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The first two sections of the mural were completed in 2018 (named “Growing gateways to unity”) and 2019 (named “Nurturing the roots of life within the community”), with hundreds of Muskego Way residents participating in the community design workshops.
The stretch of murals is located on the 1300 block of Forest Home Avenue, on the northwest wall of a building that houses an El Rey supermarket and was once a Sears department store.
Richardson also painted a collaborative mural in the adjacent Butterfly Park in 2016.
The project is a collaboration of Richardson, Milwaukee Christian Center and Muskego Way Forward Initiative, with financial support from MPS Partnership for the Arts and Humanities, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the City of Milwaukee Office of Violence Prevention.