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Youth recall violence, encourage peace at North Side gathering | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 28, 2013
High school students Vanisha Wallace-Nelson (left) and Leora Wells address the gathering at the Fox Field Community Celebration for Peace. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Laural Williams wants to help kids. She wants to be “the person they come and talk to if they don’t have anybody to talk to at home, the person who keeps their secrets and gives them positive advice.” Laurel, age 17, a senior at Washington High School of Information Technology, would like to stand in as an older sister for kids who need one.
By promoting behavior that develops children’s growth and wellbeing, Williams also hopes to make her community safer.
A youth intern/mentor at Express Yourself Milwaukee, Williams joined with colleagues and teens from a half dozen organizations to take a stand against violence at the Fox Field Community Celebration for Peace near Washington Park. The event attracted about 50 neighborhood children and members of their families for art activities, drumming, singing, refreshments and a memorial to a slain teen from the neighborhood.
Express Yourself Milwaukee Youth Intern/Mentor Charles Chappel and Vincent High School sophomore Vanisha Wallace-Nelson (in black t-shirts) chant and drum with neighborhood children at Fox Field. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Express Yourself Milwaukee Youth Intern/Mentor Charles Chappel and Vincent High School sophomore Vanisha Wallace-Nelson (in black t-shirts) chant and drum with neighborhood children at Fox Field. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
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In addition to Express Yourself Milwaukee, Safe & Sound 27th St. West Drug Free Coalition, Milwaukee Reality Check Coalition, Neighborhood House, Our Next Generation, Washington Park Partners and Westside Academy participated.
Fox Field, a vacant lot between two houses near the corner of 41st and Brown streets, was transformed into a football field for neighborhood youth a year ago.
Westside Academy middle school teacher Jennifer Koss wants to see other changes in the neighborhood. She has lost three former students in the last 18 months, all of whom died of gunshot wounds.
Speaking to attendees, Koss said she is “fed up with going to funerals … fed up with Teddy Bears on the street corners … fed up with faces on T-shirts.”
She urged young people to recognize the power they have to influence their friends to make safer, more positive choices. When you see peers making bad choices, she told them, invite them to do something else.
Those former students might still be alive, Koss believes, “if they had even one person in their life stop them and say, ‘You know man, you don’t need to go do that. Come with me. Let’s go play some basketball. Let’s go play some video games. Let’s go chill at home.’”
Koss is beginning her eighth year at Westside Academy, 1940 N. 36th St.
Neighborhood resident Renee Carver, who lives across the street from Fox Field, brought her little cousin, Baqueen Johnson, to the celebration. In addition to entertaining Baqueen, Carver came because she wanted to support the effort to promote thoughtful behavior among neighborhood youth. “There’s too much killing. Our babies aren’t even guaranteed tomorrow,” she said.
Vincent High School sophomore Vanisha Wallace-Nelson, who came with Our Next Generation, addressed the gathering and recalled her recent birthday. She had been anticipating a fun-filled, happy day. Instead, she ended up mourning a friend who was shot to death, she said.
Safe & Sound’s Drug-Free Communities Manager Elena Burke said the event was largely planned by area youth in cooperation with the organizations. They chose Fox Field because it is associated with positive youth activities, but also because 19-year-old Jamal Lowe was killed on the block three years ago.
“Our young people experience violence on a regular basis,” Burke said. The event was planned in part because they wanted to show that young people do positive things in their communities, Burke explained.
“We always hear the negative things that happen,” she added, “but there’re more young people doing positive things.”


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 28, 2013

source: news-milwaukeenns

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

author: Adam Carr


text:
La Luz del Mundo opens violence prevention center on South Side | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
August 29, 2013
Executive director Patricia Ruiz-Cantu cuts the ribbon with Mayor Tom Barrett and Jose Perez during an event celebrating the opening of La Luz del Mundo Family Services violence prevention center. (Photo by Brendan O’Brien)
La Luz del Mundo Family Services has opened a violence prevention and intervention center on the South Side in an effort to address domestic and street violence that can besiege a family and the community.
The center, at 1570 W. Greenfield Ave., will offer support groups and classes intended to foster more peaceful households and neighborhoods.
Mayor Tom Barrett called the creation of the center a “gigantic step for the community,” during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The center is proof that “we can provide a place for people to empower themselves to have better lives,” he said.
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A volunteer shines the La Luz del Mundo Family Services sign outside at the center before the event.
The project to open the center began two years ago when Patricia Ruiz-Cantu, the center’s executive director, approached officials at La Luz del Mundo Church, 1316 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr., to explain that domestic violence services were not available on the south side of the city.
“There are a lot of services available in other parts of the city, but nothing on the south side,” Ruiz-Cantu said.
La Luz del Mundo Family Services receives support from the Milwaukee Fatherhood Initiative and referrals from agencies and organizations throughout the area, including the Department of Correction.
La Luz del Mundo Family Services will host support groups in Spanish and English for perpetrators. The group setting allows perpetrators to discuss anger management, the pressures that come with being a parent and in a relationship, and their past encounters with violent individuals.
The center will also host support groups where father and mothers will be able to hone their parenting skills and learn methods to create healthier relationships.
“A key in this community and society is dealing with the family as a whole,” Ruiz-Cantu said. “It’s teaching some of the skills and learning how to be a parent.”
The cheerful 1,500-square-foot center, which is a product of hundreds of volunteer hours, will also provide services for children who have witnessed violence, a college-preparation center and community rooms.
Ruiz-Cantu said the group meetings and educational opportunities will focus on street violence as well.
“For me, the (center) means a better neighborhood,” said Jose Lopez, 52, a volunteer at the center, who added that its opening sends a message to those who create violence in the neighborhood. “If they come through (our) doors, they are more than welcome, no questions asked.”

author: Brendan O’Brien


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South Side organizer does ‘a little bit of everything’ to improve quality of life | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
August 30, 2013
Maritza Ugarte, community organizer for Safe & Sound, speaks to Anthony Tolsky, who raises concerns about garbage in the area. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Maritza Ugarte recalled meeting a woman while conducting outreach in the Walker Square neighborhood and asking whether she had safety concerns. Reluctant at first, the woman eventually told her about a vacant house across the street that she believed was a hub for drug activity. Going door to door, Ugarte heard the same story over and over again. She notified the community prosecutor, and soon after, the drug dealers were evicted.
Ugarte hopes to achieve the same type of results as she takes her organizing efforts into Clarke Square and Layton Boulevard West, two South Side neighborhoods that are part of the Zilber Neighborhood Initiative.
A $120,000 grant from the Zilber Family Foundation to Safe & Sound is being used in part to fund Ugarte’s position as a bilingual community organizer working with the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative and Layton Boulevard West Neighbors to support implementation of their Quality of Life Plans.
“She’ll be working with them on the public safety and resident engagement aspects of the plans,” said Barbara Notestein, executive director of Safe & Sound.
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An overflow crowd of residents voiced their concerns at a recent crime and safety meeting in District 2. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Ugarte also will work collaboratively with the Department of Neighborhood Services, the District Attorney’s Community Prosecution Unit (CPU), and officers from Districts 2, who serve the communities, added Notestein.
Ugarte began working as an organizer for Safe & Sound a year ago and was recently promoted to her new position.
“There are so many exciting efforts going on in these neighborhoods,” said Ugarte, mentioning the Journey House Center for Family Learning and Youth Athletics, the new Packers Field at Mitchell Park and youth programs at MCC and Ascension Lutheran Church.
Her tasks include organizing block clubs and watches, going door to door to address resident concerns and collaborating with youth leaders to implement anti-crime initiatives. She began working in the community while still in high school, first as a youth volunteer and then an employee of the Milwaukee Christian Center (MCC). She then became an organizer at Safe & Sound in the neighborhood near Kosciuszko Community Center.
Violent crime has been a problem this summer across the city, including in District 2 on the South Side. More than 75 concerned residents attended a recent crime and safety meeting. Though robberies in the district have gone down, a spate of shootings, some of which were fatal, have residents on edge and led police to plead for help in identifying confrontations before they turn violent, according to Sgt. Mark Krowski.
Krowski told the overflow crowd that most of the shootings, as well as many other crimes in the neighborhood, are directly related to house parties and “problem properties.”
He asked residents to call police to report nuisances such as loud parties or music, fighting or loitering. Lt. Richard Stein, also of District 2, said this type of information is law enforcement’s most useful tool.
“Without it, we don’t know what we’re targeting or what we should be looking for,” Stein added.
That’s where an on-the-ground effort by organizers such as Ugarte comes in, Notestein said. “She (goes) door to door, engaging with residents who air concerns,” explained Notestein, who noted that Ugarte also reports her own observations.
Knocking on doors is fine with Ugarte, who said she’s not an office person anyway, as she walked down West Scott Street.
Notestein said that Ugarte is great at organizing block clubs and watches, and fostering relationships among residents, Community Prosecution Units and police. One of her main tasks is to identify and document resident complaints of illegal activities and also deliver warning letters for nuisance properties.
Ugarte is still getting to know residents in Clarke Square, though she’s already met with local leaders. On a sunny day in late summer, she met Anthony Tolsky, who’s been living in the same green house surrounded by a white picket fence since 1953. She greeted him with a smile, and he told her that he tries to keep the area near his house clean, but that young people are littering the neighborhood.
Ugarte explained that her duties include organizing and conducting neighborhood cleanups. Tolsky smiled, saying, ”They need to get taught to do it.
Walking away, Ugarte said, ”I love this stuff; you do a little bit of everything.”

author: Edgar Mendez


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
August 30, 2013


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College Possible freshmen move in to their futures | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
September 4, 2013
UWM freshman Peter Khanthavong moves into his dorm room in Sandburg Hall. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
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Meet four high school seniors who are participating in College Possible, a program to help low-income students get in to, pay for and succeed at college. This is the first in a series following them from acceptance through freshman year.
Read More
A week into her freshman year at Marquette University and a few days after moving into Cobeen Hall, Panou Xiong moved back to her parents’ home near 45th and Locust streets.
The problem is not with her roommate, whom she likes a lot. It’s a change in anticipated financial aid combined with obligations to her extended family.
When Xiong decided to live on campus, she thought the Educational Opportunity Program, which is a major component of her education financing would pay for classes she plans to take next summer. The day before fall classes started, she learned that EOP would fund summer classes only for seniors. Unwilling to take on more debt, Xiong decided to save her dorm fees to cover her summer classes. At the same time, her family asked her to help out with after-school care for two young relatives.
“I am disappointed, but considering I will have less debt, I’m pretty relieved,” said Xiong, who will commute on city buses or ride with a sister who works near Marquette.
Xiong’s unexpected change of residence gave her the least smooth transition into college among the four College Possible students that Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service is tracking during their first year in college. The others are Peter Khanthavong, Nury Plascencia and Darneisha Virginia.
Virginia, initially unsure about living at Mount Mary University, decided in late summer to try campus life. She met her roommate, a transfer student from the Chicago area, the day she moved in.
“I feel good about it. It’s something different I haven’t done before but it’s interesting to find out what happens. I’m used to having my own room … so it’s new, but I can adapt,” Virginia said.
Like Xiong and Khanthavong, Virginia’s scholarship included a pre-college summer program. In addition, she continued working at the two part-time jobs she held in high school.
Mount Mary University freshmen Kadesia Hill (left) and Darneisha Virginia share a funny moment at the welcome picnic in the courtyard outside their dorm, Caroline Hall. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Virginia earned four credits for the six-week Grace Scholars Summer Bridge Program course, College Reading and Thinking. She said it was difficult but it helped prepare her for college work. “Everything had to be typed and if you didn’t have it in [on time] there was no point in you even turning it in,” she said. She was shocked, she said, but clearly pleased that she got an A.
Xiong had an opportunity to experience dorm life during two summers in Marquette’s Schroeder Hall. In July, she took three college-level courses in chemistry, calculus and the history of Western civilization as part of EOP.
Registered for a yearlong chemistry class, a prerequisite for the five-year physician assistant program she is interested in, Xiong appreciated the opportunity to preview the subject. “It was pretty difficult. It’s definitely prepared me to study, to be more focused and just to be better prepared,” she said.
Mount Mary freshman Nury Plascencia chose to live in a single room, but as one of six Caroline Scholars entering the university and one of 24 on campus, she has a built-in peer group.
The scholars kicked off the school year with a three-day retreat. They were introduced to campus resources and local nonprofits, where they will put in 300 volunteer hours. Plascencia signed on at Community Advocates’ Milwaukee Women’s Center.
For the second summer, she participated in a one-week World Affairs Seminar on gender equity with students from around the world on the Carroll University campus in Waukesha. She said the seminar helped her feel more confident about the academic challenges ahead.
“After my parents and younger sister left [on move-in day], it was nerve wracking because I didn’t know where to go or what to do,” Plascencia said. But that feeling subsided quickly as she joined the other Caroline Scholars for dinner and a showing of the movie “The Help,” just half an hour later, she said. “They made me feel way welcome.”
Panou Xiong sets up her room in Marquette’s Cobeen Hall. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Because of UWM’s schedule, Peter Khanthavong was the last of the four College Possible students to move into his dorm.
Khanthavong arrived at Sandburg Hall, 3400 N. Maryland Ave., on a hot Friday morning. His sister, her boyfriend and a friend drove him there and helped him carry his belongings up to the 6th floor of West Tower.
He had only met one of his three suite-mates, a young man from Johnson Creek, Wis. Though he admitted to feeling a bit nervous about not knowing the people he will be living with, he expects that within a week he will “get to know them well enough not to be nervous.”
Khanthavong is participating in the Student Support Services Program (SSS) for low-income, first-generation and disabled students at UWM. SSS’ Summer Bridge Program included three classes: math, financial literacy and College Success. College Success taught him about resources on campus, study tips, time management, how to get involved in clubs and terminology used on campus, he said.
“Instead of being placed in a remedial class, it allowed me to go into a regular math class that will give me credits toward my graduation,” he said.
Although Khanthavong did not earn credits this summer, the program provided experience, which enhanced his self-assurance and sense of comfort about staying on campus, he said. “I’m feeling pretty excited. I’m really happy to be here. Hopefully, I’ll learn to live by myself and make new friendships and get started on my career in whatever field I choose.”

created: September 4, 2013

author: Andrea Waxman


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 2, 2013

created: September 2, 2013


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 4, 2013


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United Way grant to help test-takers finish GEDs before deadline | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
September 9, 2013
Fatima Lara, who’s taking GED prep classes at Journey House, is trying to complete her GED exams before the test changes. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
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Educational and community advocates are working to notify people who’ve begun their GED exams but haven’t completed all five that they need to finish by Dec. 13, when a new testing system will go into effect.
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A final push is under way to help GED testers who’ve completed some but not all of the five exams needed for certification to finish before sweeping changes go into effect next year. These students will need to start over if they don’t earn their GEDs by Dec. 13, the last day the current version of the exam will be offered.
A 10-year $1 million grant from the Bucyrus Foundation will help support that effort. Some funds, aimed at reducing barriers to unemployment, will go to three GED programs working against the clock, as time ticks away for testers.
“We’re working closely with the test sites to make sure that adults who are test ready are able to achieve and complete their tests before Dec. 13,” said Nicole Angresano, vice president of community impact for the United Way of Greater Milwaukee.
As of June, 2,800 students from Milwaukee had taken some of the tests but not completed all five.
Angresano called the strategy to help those students complete their GEDs “short-term and intense.” The grant will fund additional testing hours at each of the three sites the organization funds.
“We’re really concerned about the changes and want to invest in ways that achieve the best results so that people can get their GEDs,” Angresano said. “Not having a basic degree is a huge barrier to unemployment and employment sustainability,” she added.
The Literacy Services of Wisconsin, Next Door Foundation and the YWCA, which receives the bulk of the funding, are the sites funded by the United Way. They receive more than $340,000 from the organization, according to Angresano.
Patricia Adams, workforce training and education director at the YWCA, said prep classes as well as seats for GED tests have been full and staff members are extremely busy. Tests are offered there Monday through Thursday.
“Eighty seats for tests have been full and we have about 20 standbys that come in just in case there’s a no show,” said Adams, who added that two MATC instructors have been brought in to alleviate the rush by helping students prepare for the exams.
Adams said her site is not taking any new students. It serves only those who’ve completed some of the exams there or are transitioning from other testing sites. She said the organization simply doesn’t have time left to prepare students starting from scratch.
“It’s sad, but there’s such a narrow window and we need to focus on those with the ability to finish in time,” said Adams.
The YWCA, 1915 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, is one of four GED testing sites in Milwaukee. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
At the UMOS testing site at 2701 S. Chase Ave., the seats also are full, albeit fewer of them. The site is offering only 60 tests a week due to lack of funding and staff. At full capacity, in March, April and May, the site offered 120 tests a week, according to Tony Tsai, education manager at UMOS.
Nevertheless, UMOS has helped 595 testers achieve certification this year, compared to 382 at this time last year, said Tsai, who’s been working at UMOS for more than 20 years. Tsai added that 136 additional clients have taken all five tests but either failed one or two, or passed all of them but don’t have the required 2,250 points to achieve certification. A minimum of 410 points is required to pass each exam.
“We’re trying to target those people,” said Tsai.
The UMOS adult education programs are not currently funded by the United Way but that could change, according to Angresano.
If UMOS were to receive additional funding, it would certainly look at increasing capacity to meet the growing need, said Rod Richardson, a spokesperson for the organization.
Besides the challenges in finding funds to support more testers, Tsai said that there is also increased pressure to be prepared for the transition to the new tests.
“We’re in the process of updating our technology and getting our systems ready for the change,” said Tsai.
The new, completely computer-based GED test will include four exams instead of five, and test-takers will need to do more high-order thinking to pass, said Westmore Holmes, instructional chair for the High School Education/GED program at MATC, in an interview earlier this year. The test will continue to assess whether students have achieved the equivalent of a high school education and will comply with state and national standards, Holmes said.
The cost of the test is expected to increase from the current cost of $80 to $120 to $137. According to Schinika Fitch, a spokesperson for United Way, the grant funds could be used to help defray the additional cost of the exam or pay for testing centers to stay open later.
Additional dollars from the grant will go towards programs that offer specific services to reduce unemployment, such as attaining driver’s licenses, building soft skills and targeting hard-to-employ populations, including people with disabilities or those who were incarcerated, according to Angresano.
Richardson said he doesn’t wants GED testers to look at the exam as the final step in their journey. “We want them to look at the GED as the next step in their professional and educational pursuits.”

created: September 9, 2013


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 8, 2013

created: September 8, 2013


text:
District 3 police, residents bond on the ball diamond | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rick Brown
September 10, 2013
North Side resident Kevin Windom takes a batting stance at Next Door Foundation’s community safety softball game at Merrill Park. (Photo by Rick Brown)
North Side resident Kevin Windom took a big swing at the plate at a recent softball game, hitting a home run and scoring two runs.
The pitch came from Assistant District Attorney Christopher Ladwig. Windom’s teammate was Lt. Mike Schmitz of the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD).
The three joined with other residents, police officers and representatives from several organizations at Merrill Park, 461 N. 35th St., for a community safety-themed softball game organized by Next Door Foundation to foster better relations between the community and police in District 3.
Parent ambassador Cameron Burks (right) grabs a bite between innings. (Photo by Rick Brown)
Off-duty officers volunteered their time to play in teams with local residents and Next Door parent ambassadors on Merrill Park’s softball diamond. Parent ambassadors engage families and children with community-building and educational activities.
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Approximately 30 people watched or played in the 6-inning game, taking time out halfway through to eat hot dogs, chips and sweets provided by MPD.
Members of Next Door, MPD, Students Talking It Over with Police (STOP), the Merrill Park Neighborhood Association and Safe & Sound, which helped facilitate the game, attended the event.
Herbert Bowie, a parent ambassador, organized the game in cooperation with MPD to improve communication between District 3 police and residents.
“In my neighborhood, some officers that patrolled our area didn’t speak to us, and many people didn’t talk to them,” Bowie said. “I wanted to change that. The more community involvement we have with officers, the better we can make the statistics and outcomes in our communities.”
Many residents are apprehensive or even afraid to interact with police officers because of negative media portrayals, according to parent ambassador Bridget Howard, a South Side resident who batted in the game.
“We need to get the fear out of everyone and show them that police are not going to be violent toward them,” Howard said.
Cameron Burks, a parent ambassador who helped organize the event, said he hopes the game will help community members feel more at ease with speaking to police about nuisance issues such as abandoned houses and loitering.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Ladwig throws a pitch in the six-inning game. (Photo by Rick Brown)
“People don’t report the little stuff, which turns into bigger stuff,” Burks said.
Ladwig, a community prosecutor in District 3, explained that crime could often be prevented by better communication between law enforcement and residents.
“If citizens know people with alcohol or drug problems, we can help those people get into a program,” Ladwig said. “If they know of people perpetrating violence, we can prosecute them. But we don’t always know who these people are. We need to form better relationships with the community to build our neighborhood capacity for when officers aren’t present.”
In addition to the softball game, Next Door organized two information panels with District 3 police earlier in 2013.
Next Door Foundation, 2545 N. 29th St. in Metcalfe Park, provides educational and developmental programs to children and families in the central city.
The game was the first of its kind in District 3, but both Bowie and Schmitz hope that it will not be the last.
“We had a great time,” said Schmitz. “This was a great way to break down barriers and create relationships, doing the simple things that make the biggest differences.”
“We’ll play a full game next time,” Bowie added, smiling.

created: September 10, 2013

author: Rick Brown


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 10, 2013


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Support for SDC programs | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
September 11, 2013
Fiscal support has been committed for several programs and activities involving the Social Development Commission (SDC).
The Forest County Potawatomi Foundation has announced it is supporting work at the agency with a $30,000 grant.  That funding will help the free Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, financial literacy efforts, and a partnership SDC has with the Milwaukee Fatherhood Initiative that presents the annual Milwaukee Fatherhood Summit.
$20,000 of the Forest County Potawatomi Foundation grant will support the VITA program coordinated by the Milwaukee Asset Building Coalition and SDC.  That program assists thousands of Milwaukee County residents by preparing and filing at no charge their state and federal tax returns. During the past tax season, more than 15,000 tax returns were filed that brought back more than $14-million in tax refunds and credits.
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The remainder of Forest County Potawatomi Foundation grant will support SDC’s efforts in coordinating the Milwaukee Fatherhood Summit in partnership with the Milwaukee Fatherhood Initiative.  That free two-day event will be held October 4 and 5 at Destiny Youth Plaza located at 76 Street and Good Hope Road.  It offers resources and information designed to help men become stronger and more involved fathers including information on the Affordable Healthcare Act, child support reduction, driver’s license recovery, as well as a Health, Job and Resource Fair.
Acting SDC CEO Jan Stenlund expressed gratitude for the Forest County Potawatomi Foundation grant, saying it will help the agency serve more low-income residents of Milwaukee County.  She added the Foundation supports SDC efforts not only financially but through volunteer contributions of its staff that assist agency programs like the VITA effort. To learn about the programs and services of SDC, visit the agency website at www.cr-sdc.org.

created: September 11, 2013

author: Social Development Commission


text:
Volunteer basketball coaches needed | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Journey House
September 11, 2013
– Must be available on Tuesdays/Thursdays for practices from 4:30-6pm. Saturday games will be played @ WCLL (1017 N. 12th Street)
Must be available on Tuesdays/Thursdays for practices from 4:30-6pm. Saturday games will be played @ Davis Boys & Girls Club (1975 S 24th St)
– Must be available on Wednesday/Fridays for practices from 4:30-6pm. Games will be played @ Davis Boys & Girls Club (1975 S 24 St)
Practices will start November 19, 2013 and the last game will be March 8, 2014 –
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Criminal Background Checks will be done.

author: Journey House


text:
Visitors travel world in one South Side neighborhood | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
September 12, 2013
“B-Boy Archie” preps for the break dancing contest under the 35th Street viaduct. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
The diversity of Silver City was on full display recently as visitors symbolically traveled the world through visits to ethnic restaurants, while a variety of artists and street performers showcased their skills during the neighborhood’s second annual International Food and Art Walk.
The activities on this rainy day stretched from South 31 to South 39Street along West National Avenue and a few blocks on West Pierce Street on the city’s South Side. Six ethnic restaurants—serving fare ranging from Puerto Rican mofongo, Thai spring rolls and Peruvian ceviche—a pub and grill and an Asian grocery store line the busy street.
Natanael Martinez, economic development manager for Layton Boulevard West Neighbors (LBWN), a non-profit serving the area, said visiting those businesses was a great way for people to experience the authentic cuisine the melting-pot neighborhood has to offer.
“The food is part of a celebration of the rich diversity of cultures here in Silver City,” said Martinez, adding that most of the business owners are first-generation immigrants.
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Sarah Luther, a visual artist from Milwaukee, displays the quizzes she created to help people graph their leisure time. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
The neighborhood has seen an increase in economic development and social activity since being chosen in 2010 to be part of the Zilber Neighborhood Initiative. Its Quality of Life Plan, developed by residents and community leaders, identified economic development and community engagement as key strategies to improve the neighborhood, and the event helps achieve that goal, said Martinez.
The budget for the event, sponsored by LBWN, LISC Milwaukee, the Satellite Gallery Project and other groups was just under $10,000, according to Martinez.
Fourteen artists, many part of the Satellite Gallery Project, conducted live art performances. Artist Sarah Luther of Milwaukee created a quiz to help residents visualize how they are spending their free time. ArtWorks for Milwaukee also unveiled a youth mural project during the event.
Down the hill and under the 35 Street viaduct, people gathered to witness a lively break dance battle. Anthony Burchetce, who won his first battle in the tournament, traveled from Madison to participate in the contest.
“I came because I love to dance,” said Burchetce, who’d never visited the area before but said he was impressed by all the neighborhood had to offer.
Emily Michi and Walter Sams, who work at the nearby Urban Ecology Center, were also impressed, and said they recently bought a home in Silver City.
“The Hank Aaron State Trail, the liveliness, and the diversity of the people brought us here,” Sams said.
Perhaps the most popular event for visitors was SoccerFest, a three-on-three soccer tournament sponsored by the Milwaukee Soccer Development Group (MSDG). The tournament, which featured 16 teams, was played on the hard court surface behind the Silver City Townhomes. James Moran, founder of MSDG, said he created the group to share his love for the sport. MSDG donated 16 “indestructible” soccer balls, one for each team, to various organizations after the tournament. Eleven of the balls went to South Division High School’s soccer team.
Moran said he was amazed that players came from as far away as Madison and surrounding suburbs just to participate in the tournament. He was even more impressed by the day’s activities. “It’s a brilliant event that brings all nationalities together in an urban setting like this.”

created: September 12, 2013


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 12, 2013


text:
Tour showcases highs and lows of Bronzeville development effort | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Mark Doremus
September 13, 2013
Participants board the trolley, as Alderwoman Milele Coggs and Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development talk over the tour. (Photo by Mark Doremus)
During the first-ever Bronzeville Week in Milwaukee, a tour group piled into a rubber-tired trolley for a ride around the neighborhood and an update on the city’s efforts to redevelop the area.
The guides were Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development, Deshea Agee, a city economic development specialist, and 6th District Alderwoman Milele Coggs, who represents the Bronzeville Tax Increment District and the Bronzeville Cultural and Entertainment District.
As the trolley puttered along, the trio teamed up to tout the area as a great place for private real estate investment and urban redevelopment.
The selling points: great freeway access, high traffic volumes on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and North Avenue, lots of consumer buying power, low-cost residential and commercial properties available for development, and more.
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The first stop on the tour was a brick house on the corner of W. Meinecke Avenue and N. Fourth Street that had been rehabbed by the city and sold, according to Coggs.
“Everybody can’t build from the ground up but there are beautiful homes with beautiful bones throughout the Bronzeville area so we are attempting to use the resources available to us to bring those to life,” Coggs said.
A few blocks later, the trolley passed several new townhomes developed by the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation.
The trolley bus was full during the afternoon tour of Bronzeville. (Photo by Mark Doremus)
“A true well-balanced neighborhood has renters, it has owners, it has multi-family apartment buildings and it has very large single-family homes,” Marcoux observed, “and Bronzeville has that right now. That’s one of the reasons we think it’s saleable – it’s in a real neighborhood.”
He noted that the more people who live in the neighborhood, the more customers for businesses and the more people out walking — “eyes on the streets that help to keep crime down.
“In Bronzeville we’re trying to do both the commercial and the residential,” Marcoux added.
As the tour continued, the guides pointed out a library, corner grocery, fast-food restaurant and a Walgreens.
“When you think about a community, you ask ‘Is everything there?’” Agee told the group. “You think about a pharmacy, a grocery, are there restaurants, is there retail, are there schools?”
“We have a library here, a Walgreens pharmacy, a Burger King. There’s an art gallery, a dance studio, a business center, a fitness center. … All of those things are right here on King Drive.”
The city’s Bronzeville redevelopment program has two components.
The Bronzeville Tax Increment District (TID #59) was established by the Common Council in 2005 to restore economic vitality to an area that stretches from W. Garfield and W. Lloyd on the south to W. Center on the north, with a thin sliver running further north to E. Burleigh on both sides of King Drive. The east-west boundaries are 2nd and 7th streets.
The Bronzeville Cultural and Entertainment District is a small portion at the southern end of the TID. It was set up to recreate the old Bronzeville neighborhood along Walnut Street, which was the business, economic and cultural center of Milwaukee’s African American community from the early 1900s through the 1960s.
As the trolley, packed to capacity, ambled down King Drive, Marcoux talked up the commercial potential of Bronzeville. What the low-income neighborhood lacks in personal income, he argued, it makes up for in population density, and therefore purchasing power.
Walgreens’ 2009 investment in a new, expanded building on King Drive is evidence of a vibrant retail market in Bronzeville, Coggs added.
“When it was on North Avenue it was the highest grossing Walgreens in the region,” she said. “One of the reasons they moved here to King Drive was that they believed that with a drive-through pharmacy they could increase their sales by up to 30 percent annually. So there is no doubt that there is a lot of purchasing power in this area.”
Marcoux also praised King Drive as a street that “presents well.”
“You don’t see a lot of trash and graffiti,” he said. “The city has invested a significant amount of money in the lighting, in the street itself, millions of dollars over the last 20 years.”
The tour soon arrived at the centerpiece of the Bronzeville TID, King Commons, a multi-use building with commercial space at street level and mixed-income residential units upstairs developed by the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation.
Some of the rental units are “Section 42,” which means the tenant earns 30 percent of the median income for Milwaukee County and some of it is market rate. “Nobody knows what you’re paying, you don’t know what I’m paying. All we know is that we’re living here together,” Marcoux said.
“The more multi-family buildings we can build on the main thoroughfares, the more customers there are for the businesses, he reiterated.
A high-profile addition to King Commons is Growing Power’s Deli and Food Market at 2737 N. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.
“You can’t turn the television on these days, you can’t turn on the radio without somebody talking about food deserts or healthy eating,” Marcoux observed. “Will Allen of Growing Power is the acknowledged leader of this movement worldwide. He chose MLK Drive. He made a statement he wanted to be in Bronzeville.”
“We’ve got to be willing to support people who were willing to put the money out and invest in us,” Marcoux said. “Get some of your folks that are visiting from out of town to come here.”
Eventually the trolley entered the Bronzeville Cultural and Entertainment District, the “postcard” view of Bronzeville for people who drive through on their way to and from the east side, according to Marcoux. “We want to make sure it’s as highly regarded as any other stretch of North Avenue.”
The trolley stopped just west of a banner strung high over North Avenue proclaiming Bronzeville Week. Across the street, as Deshea Agee pointed out, were the boarded-up America’s Black Holocaust Museum on N. 4th Street, and the derelict Grant’s Restaurant on W. North Avenue. The city owns both buildings.
“That museum needs to be in Bronzeville,” Marcoux said. “We are going to keep it until the community decides which way we’re going with this.”
Added Agee, “From what I understand, the board of directors hopes to open the museum back up, possibly in 2015.”
Further to the west the city has offered up a large plot of land, mostly vacant. The request for proposals went out in 2012 for the half-acre tract at 628-30 W. North Ave. and two adjacent vacant parcels. The asking price was $30,000. Despite the bargain price, as yet no one has taken the city up on the opportunity.
The 2005 plan for the new Bronzeville envisioned broad, tree-shaded sidewalks, pocket parks, and a mix of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, shops and art galleries along North Avenue. None of that has come to pass. Last year the city added decorative crosswalks, benches and trashcans, along with some signage, but with the notable exception of the Vangard Group’s renovation of the Inner City Arts Council building, no new development has occurred in the cultural and entertainment district since the plan was unveiled.
The Bronzeville Advisory Committee has not met since last spring and, according to information available online, and the appointments of four of the five members have expired.
Nevertheless, Marcoux remains bullish about the prospects for the Bronzeville Cultural and Entertainment District. “Ultimately, the goal of the city is to own nothing,” he told the tour group. “But because the city does own it we can control what happens, and that’s important.”
Turning south on N. Sixth Street, the trolley stopped at a new house in the middle of the block on the west side of the street.
“What we want in Bronzeville, in addition to businesses,” Agee said, “is property owners like Tara Ali.“ Ali rides her bike to work at Manpower. “She bought this lot for a dollar and built her home here.”
“Tara Ali could build anywhere she wants,” Marcoux added, “but she chose to build here in Bronzeville.”
The city will sell up to 20 vacant lots in the new Bronzeville for a dollar to anyone who promises to build a single-family home on the site. So far, six buyers have stepped forward.
The tour’s last stop was a vacant lot between the I-43 Freeway and N. 7th Street.
“That is one of the biggest pieces of land that is located next to a freeway exit in the entire city Milwaukee,” Marcoux said. “It would be very difficult for anyone to assemble that amount of land that close to the freeway and that close to downtown. We have very high hopes about this development.”
The tour ended where it began, at the Vangard development. The restored building opened in February 2011. According to city tax records it is still owned by its previous occupant, the Inner City Arts Council. The lower-level office-commercial space is vacant, as it has been most of the time since the building opened.
Agee put a positive spin on the prospects for Bronzeville as the tour wrapped up.
“You’ve seen new construction, you’ve seen new homes go up, you’ve seen new apartments, and you’ve seen opportunities for new businesses, new residents,” he said. “The Bronzeville Cultural and Entertainment District, we want this to be a tourist destination.”
Despite the successes elsewhere in the area, the North Avenue cultural and entertainment district has not materialized. From the trolley, tourists were nowhere to be seen.

created: September 13, 2013

author: Mark Doremus


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New neighborhood leadership program featured at national conference | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
September 17, 2013
The new Neighborhood Leadership Institute at Cardinal Stritch University was highlighted at a national conference of Grassroots Grantmakers, held in Milwaukee. Grassroots Grantmakers is a network of individuals and organizations working to build communities through neighborhood participation.
Initiated by four local organizations committed to improving the quality of life in central city neighborhoods, the NLI’s mission is to build neighborhood leadership capacity among residents and nonprofit professionals.
“The partners that do neighborhood work in Milwaukee were looking at the continuity of leadership, at sustaining leadership in the community,” said NLI Director Jeanette Mitchell.
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After more than a year of planning and 10 months of meeting with participants, the NLI is nearing completion of its pilot program. A final celebration is planned for October.
A nonprofit professional and resident from each neighborhood applied for the program as a team. Beginning in January, participants met three times each month, twice at Stritch City Center, 1037 W. McKinley Ave., and once in the participants’ neighborhoods. Guest speakers addressed the participants regularly.
According to Mitchell, the group focused on three main issues: assessing their neighborhoods’ assets, studying best practices from around the country and developing participants’ leadership skills.
In addition to working on such skills as public speaking, participants examined their own strengths and weaknesses and considered, in detail, how to add new perspectives and ways of working to their repertoires, Mitchell said.
In addition, the pairs created projects for their neighborhoods. Many of those were aimed at increasing resident engagement, Mitchell said. The projects included establishing a neighborhood association, providing landlord training and developing a strategy for formalizing neighborhood communication.
Over the course of the program, Mitchell said she observed an increase in self-confidence, especially among the neighborhood residents.
“The residents now are asking more questions,” she said. “You can’t tell in the class now, who’s who.”
In addition to sharing information and resources, the participants have formed friendships. They work through issues together in class and offer each other ideas, she said.
“Neighborhood work can be isolating,” Mitchell pointed out, and the participants “are understanding the importance of building networks and relationships.”
Part of the university’s agreement with its partners was to “train the trainers,” according to Mitchell. The next step will be to select participants from this year’s program and train them to become trainers for next year. The next session is planned for 2014.
Zilber Family Foundation, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, LISC Milwaukee and United Neighborhood Centers of Milwaukee partnered with Cardinal Stritch. The Northwestern Mutual Foundation provided significant financial support.

created: September 17, 2013


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 16, 2013

created: September 16, 2013


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Rain can’t dampen Mexican Independence Day celebration on South Side | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
September 17, 2013
Parade-goers huddled under umbrellas as they watched the UMOS Mexican Independence Day Parade wind its way through the South Side to celebrate Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1810.
The procession led to a festival featuring mariachi music, food, carnival rides and other activities at UMOS, 2701 S. Chase Ave. This year’s honorary parade marshal was George F. Banda, who earned a Purple Heart and a Silver Star of Gallantry, among other commendations, for his service in Vietnam.
Thousands participated in the celebration, and many visited community resource booths offering information ranging from HIV prevention, to domestic violence awareness to tobacco prevention.
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Tina Rivera, manager of the Wisconsin Hispanic Tobacco Prevention Network at UMOS, said she was there to help educate festival attendees.
“Not smoking saves lives and saves money,” Rivera said, adding that Hispanic youth, as well as other minority groups, are targeted by tobacco companies.
UMOS has been serving Milwaukee and surrounding communities since 1965, when it began providing childcare services to primarily Hispanic migrant families during summer months.
Currently, more than 152,000 Hispanics live in the Milwaukee metro area, according to a recent press release from the Pew Hispanic Center. Twenty-seven percent are foreign-born and Mexicans comprise 62 percent of the Hispanic population.


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Volunteer tutors needed for GED Classes – Spanish and English | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Journey House
September 17, 2013
– Volunteer Tutors will help Spanish-speaking GED students prepare for the GED test.  Tutoring can take place one-on-one or in a small-group setting.  Areas of particular need are math and writing.
Volunteers are asked to commit to at least one hour per week.  Available times include:
Monday:       9-11am
Tuesday:       5:30-7pm
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Wednesday: 9-11am
Thursday:     5:30-7pm
Volunteer Tutors will help English-Speaking GED students prepare for the GED test.  Tutoring can take place one-on-one or in a small-group setting. Areas of particular need are math and writing.
Volunteers are asked to commit to at least one hour per week.  Available times include:
Monday:       9-11am, 1:30-4pm, 4:30-7pm
Tuesday:       9-11am, 1:30-4pm, 4:30-7pm
Wednesday: 9-11am, 1:30-4pm, 4:30-7pm
Thursday:     9-11am
Friday:          9-11am (Math Focus Only)
For more info about volunteering, please e-mail Cherise Myers at cmyers@journeyhouse.org or call (414) 647-0548 ext.104.


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Neighborhood ambassador program moves parents ‘from W-2 to the workforce’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rick Brown
September 19, 2013
Neighborhood Ambassador Keonna Taylor reads her personal vision statement. (Photo by Rick Brown)
Every weekday, Michelle Deal, 26, takes an early morning bus ride from Cudahy to Milwaukee’s South Side. The ride is long, but Deal hopes that the hassle will pay off.
At the end of her commute, Deal dons a bright “safety green” uniform and joins the ranks of the “neighborhood ambassadors” at Journey House, spending her days cleaning up the community and learning career skills that she hopes will help her in the future.
Deal is one of 20 new neighborhood ambassadors at Journey House, located in Clarke Square. Now in its seventh year, the ambassador program helps connect Wisconsin Works (W-2) recipients with job training while beautifying the Clarke Square and Layton Boulevard West neighborhoods.
Wisconsin Works provides employment preparation services, case management and cash assistance to low-income parents with minor children who meet eligibility requirements and who are willing to work.
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Alderman Bob Donovan spearheaded the initiative and helped secure funding using Community Development Block Grant money, according to Kevin Turner, who oversees the ambassadors at Journey House.
The program is a collaboration between United Migrant Opportunity Services and Journey House, which also partners with the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative. Ambassadors also receive training from the Milwaukee Police Department.
Kevin Turner addresses neighborhood ambassadors at Journey House. (Photo by Rick Brown)
Neighborhood ambassadors spend half their time in neighborhood cleanup activities. Ambassadors pick up trash, remove graffiti, document and clean the exteriors of boarded-up houses, pass out fliers and introduce themselves to local businesses.
The results of the ambassadors’ efforts can be seen throughout the neighborhood, Turner said.
“You’re looking at a safer and cleaner community,” Turner said. “We want people to see the ambassadors and take pride in their neighborhoods and help keep them clean.”
Participants work 20 hours a week and receive a stipend in addition to career and life skills training through Journey House’s Urban Careers Institute. They also work with leadership and financial coaches to earn certifications in customer service and financial literacy.
Each ambassador develops a portfolio consisting of a resume, mission statement and personal vision statement.
“One of the first things I tell the ambassadors is, ‘I will not fail you,’” Turner said. “We want to help them move from W-2 into the workforce. We want them to have the confidence to walk into an interview and tell people that they deserve this job.”
The ambassadors come from all backgrounds, neighborhoods and walks of life, Turner said.  Some are seeking education. Others hold degrees but could not find work.
A former assembly line worker, Deal learned of the program while trying to find a job with assistance from Journey House. Now she hopes to go back to school and enter the medical field to support her 2-year-old daughter, Tatyana.
“I couldn’t wait to start,” Deal said. “The older I get, the shorter my time to achieve my goals will be. The program has really put my spirits up.”
Keonna Taylor, 20, is also a neighborhood ambassador. A lifelong Milwaukee resident, Taylor said she worried that she would never find a job and “didn’t know where to begin.” With help from Journey House, she now has a scholarship to begin studying to become a certified nursing assistant in October.
Reciting her vision statement to her fellow ambassadors, Taylor said that she sees herself graduating from college and earning a stable income.
“I wake up happy every day,” Taylor said. “[The program] lets you know that you’re capable of doing whatever you want to do. I love it.”
Journey House, 2110 W. Scott St., provides community residents with educational, athletic and career programs ranging from citizenship classes to GED assistance.
Turner said that funding is an ongoing concern for the neighborhood ambassador program, which is funded through June.
Sharing his own vision statement, Turner said, “I envision a larger picture for the ambassadors, and I hope we can get the program funded to the capacity it should be.
“It’s life-changing. Anyone who comes to this is not the same.”

created: September 19, 2013


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 18, 2013

created: September 18, 2013


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Providing GED testing option | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
September 19, 2013
Students trying to complete their GED tests before a December deadline are being offered a testing site by the Social Development Commission (SDC).
SDC provides state-certified testing at its 4041 N. Richards Street building.  The program offers the GED tests in both English and Spanish for students seeking to earn their diploma.  Adult students need to pass five tests in order to gain the GED diploma.
The timing for adults who are partway through the testing process is critical.  They need to complete all five tests successfully before December 13.  At that time, a new testing system will go into effect statewide.  If students have passed only some but not all five of the tests by that date, their tests results will be nullified and they will be forced to start the process all over again with a new series of tests.
The new tests will begin on January 2.  They will be completely computer-based, are expected to be more challenging and are believed to cost more for the student.
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To learn more about GED testing at SDC, visit the agency website at www.cr-sdc.org/index/Programs–Services/Education–Training/GEDHSED-Testing.htm  or call 414-906-2834.


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UWM program nurtures Latino community leaders | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
September 20, 2013
Latino Nonprofit Leadership Program participants work together to solve programs during a class. (Photo courtesy of the Latino Nonprofit Leadership Program)
Two years ago, Iris Gonzalez had a life-changing experience that has flowed down to benefit the members of the Latino community who live along the Kinnickinnic River.
The 29-year-old participated in the Latino Nonprofit Leadership Program, which gave her the confidence to galvanize residents to address challenges resulting from a project to widen the river’s base and demolish more than 80 homes in their neighborhood. Gonzalez helped create a neighborhood organization focused on these issues.
The leadership program “was a unique way to take an introspective look at myself, my identity and my leadership skills,” said Gonzalez, who is the community engagement specialist at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center.
“My role is to work with the neighborhood to help them understand the large-scale transformation that is going to happen and to have them be able to influence that project,” she said.
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Gonzalez is one of 138 participants who have graduated from the nine-month Latino Nonprofit Leadership Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Roberto Hernández Center. The program was created in 2005 to meet the demand for leadership in local nonprofit organizations that focus their attention on the Latino community.
“The intention is to establish a sense of philanthropy within our community,” said Enrique Figueroa, director of the program.
After a retreat during the first or second weekend in February, participants meet for four hours each Wednesday for 28 weeks. The weekly meetings consist of presentations and discussions led by experts in leadership, management and other aspects of nonprofit organizations.
Changes resulting from a flood control project on the Kinnickinnic River prompted Iris Gonzalez to create a new neighborhood organization. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Participants are required to complete personal vision and mission statements and a final project. They also are paired with a mentor, who is a professional in the community.
The curriculum consists of four components: the leader within, the organization leader, the nonprofit manager and the community leader.
After completing the program, participants are able to answer “who am I, how am I and why am I,” Figueroa said. “We feel it’s very important for people to have an understanding of the answers of those three questions. It empowers them.”
Participants “are getting a sense of who they are and they are getting the sense of their ability to interact in the community,” Figueroa added.
A 2008 graduate, Jennifer Flamboe, 35, said she entered the program because she was interested in the local nonprofit community and had a strong connection to the Latino community.
“My experience in the program was unbelievable,” said Flamboe, an assistant professor of Spanish and healthcare interpretation at Alverno College. “You do a lot of soul searching. So you start learning about yourself and where you want to be as a leader… and how you want to help the community.”
Flamboe said one of the benefits is the networking that has occurred with program alumni.
“Everyone is very cordial, open and willing to help each other — kind of a fraternity, so to speak,” she said.
The program, which costs $400, does not require participants to be Latino, but they must be bilingual and have a history working or volunteering for a nonprofit organization.
Having a keen sense of one’s leadership abilities “is so important for building trust, which is unique to people of color. They want to see what you are made of and that you are for them and with them and not leading them along,” Gonzalez said.
One of the program’s strong suits is that the individuals who participate are diverse in age, education and experience. Figueroa said that diversity is challenging, but at the same time, “it’s a very powerful force.”
Many graduates are serving on nonprofit boards and leading organizations, according to Figueroa, who noted that about a fourth of graduates have gone on to get bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
“True benefits of the program are not going to manifest themselves until five years after they graduate,” he said.

created: September 20, 2013


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 19, 2013


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Building stronger fathers | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
September 24, 2013
Fathers across the Milwaukee area are faced with many challenges.  They will be offered tools they can use to become stronger fathers and cope with those challenges at the 8 Annual Milwaukee Fatherhood Summit.
The Fatherhood Summit will be held Friday and Saturday, October 4 and 5 at Destiny Youth Plaza at 7210 N. 76 Street in Milwaukee.  The focus of the free two day event is “Changing Milwaukee Through Male Empowerment”.  The Summit will offer access to information and resources that will help men become more effective fathers, creating stronger families and stronger communities.
During the Summit, men will be able to learn about the Affordable Healthcare Act which will start enrollment on October 1.  Workshops and informational sessions will explain to summit participants how the new system will work, who it will impact, and how residents can enroll in it.
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The Fatherhood Summit will feature on both days a Health, Job and Resource Fair.  This component will provide a variety of free health screenings, access to employers who are seeking to hire, and access to programs from areas that include housing, education, job training, public safety, and financial education.
The Milwaukee Fatherhood Summit is being organized by the City of Milwaukee and the office of Mayor Tom Barrett, the Milwaukee Fatherhood Initiative and the Social Development Commission. It is free and open to the public. Men interested are encouraged to pre-register by visiting the websites of the Milwaukee Fatherhood Initiative or SDC at www.cr-sdc.org or www.MilwaukeeFatherhood.com. Onsite registration will also be offered.

created: September 24, 2013


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Despite setbacks, projects to reduce black infant mortality are getting underway | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rick Brown
September 25, 2013
More than six months after receiving $2.25 million in grants from the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF) to help reduce black infant mortality in Milwaukee, 12 city-based programs are edging toward implementation.
The programs are developing at different paces, according to Quinton Cotton, LIHF Program Officer for the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP), which runs the initiative. The projects are “just now getting under way,” Cotton said.
At the same time, WPP, a program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health, is working to create an infrastructure in each of its four target cities: Milwaukee, Racine, Beloit and Kenosha. It recently issued a competitive request for applications from convening agencies that will be awarded grants for up to five years to support Lifecourse Initiative collaboratives, and — in Milwaukee — to re-establish the collaborative.
In July, the Partnership Program established a regional program office in Milwaukee to serve as a central coordinating resource for all four collaboratives.
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WPP also is holding a public forum on Sept. 27 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Zilber School of Public Health, 1240 N. 10th St., to discuss the future of the Milwaukee LIHF collaborative.
LIHF’s Milwaukee initiatives stalled in January, when “irreconcilable differences between the WPP and the Milwaukee LIHF Collaborative” led the WPP’s Oversight and Advisory Committee to withdraw a $250,000 implementation grant from the collaborative, according to committee minutes.
Meeting records state that the issues stemmed from challenges in “staffing, leadership, infrastructure and communication” in the Milwaukee LIHF Collaborative, including the resignation of two Milwaukee LIHF co-chairs in 2012.
Controversy arose when Dr. Patricia McManus, president of the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin (BHCW) and a member of the Milwaukee LIHF, claimed that the WPP attempted to take control of the collaborative from community organizers.
In an article on the BHCW website, McManus claimed that the WPP “created an implementation structure that was very problematic for Milwaukee” due to inadequate funding, poor communication and other issues.
An LIHF transition team guided by Jump at the Sun Consultants has worked to provide recommendations to move the Milwaukee LIHF initiative forward. The lack of a local convening agency has hindered communications among projects, however.
“There’s no backbone agency,” said Allison Amphlett, who directs the United Neighborhood Centers of Milwaukee (UNCOM) Initiative for Healthy Families, a LIHF project. “The way the WPP has set it up, each of the programs is operating pretty independently of one another.”
Cotton declined to say exactly how many or which projects had been launched, but pointed out that “they are all at different phases [of] their start-up.”
Mayor Tom Barrett urges Milwaukee clergy and health professionals to support a campaign to reduce infant mortality by promoting “safe sleep” practices.
Fledgling Projects
The mortality rate for black infants is nearly three times that of white and Hispanic babies in Milwaukee.
LIHF hopes to address that disparity and to fulfill the aims of the 2012 Milwaukee LIHF Community Action Plan.
The plan calls for a three-pronged, holistic approach to reducing black infant mortality in Milwaukee through improving healthcare access for black women, building families and communities, and addressing social factors including poverty and employment issues.
“Community and social determinants of health, access to healthy food, affordable healthcare, transportation and jobs – all these things have an impact on health,” Cotton said.
One project moving forward is the City of Milwaukee Health Department’s Direct Assistance for Dads (DAD). Led by Leah Jepson, project coordinator, and Dr. Geoffrey R. Swain, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health, the project will employ three “fatherhood involvement specialists” in collaboration with a partner agency, My Father’s House.
The specialists initially will provide parenting training to fathers of young children whose mothers are involved in health department programs.
“The more involved and effective the mother and father are in a newborn’s life, the healthier they’re going to be and the more successful in the long run,” Swain said.
The Health Department has hired three specialists, who should “begin taking on cases in the community before the end of the year,” said Health Communication Officer Sarah Deroo in an email.
The UNCOM Initiative for Healthy Families will also stress family interactions. Amphlett, UNCOM special projects manager, and Dr. Mary Jo Baisch, an associate professor with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health, have partnered on the project, which aims to provide “relationship-building groups” to families through agencies that are part of UNCOM.
“The groups will explore crucial emotional intelligence-building and stress reduction techniques,” Amphlett said. “We want to create opportunities for family members to develop better relationships with one another.”
According to Baisch, a researcher in maternal and child health, the stress that mothers face can sometimes be intergenerational, affecting birth outcomes by increasing the chance of premature deliveries.
Amphlett said that the project will continue in its planning stages until at least November.
Each of the 12 two-to-three year programs is supported by an individual grant from LIHF of up to $400,000. Each Milwaukee program pairs community organizers with academic partners from the University of Wisconsin to address a different aspect of the city’s ongoing infant mortality crisis.
Infant Mortality Crisis
According to preliminary data released by the city Health Department in June, 96 Milwaukee infants died before their first birthdays in 2012. It was the lowest yearly number on city record.
But those 96 deaths are still “96 too many,” Mayor Tom Barrett said at a recent event for the city’s Safe Sleep Sabbath initiative at Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital.
Barrett and city Commissioner of Health Bevan K. Baker discussed the need to confront Milwaukee’s “infant mortality crisis.”
Using three-year rolling averages, Milwaukee’s overall infant mortality rate for 2010-2012 is 9.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, the lowest city average ever recorded.
That improvement is not reflected across people of all races in Milwaukee, however.
Milwaukee’s 2010-2012 white and Hispanic averages were 5.2 and 6.1 respectively. The black average was 14.6, a figure nearly three times the white average and a slight increase from the 2007-2009 average of 14.3.
The lack of progress is troubling, according to Swain.
“Statistically speaking, the black mortality rates [for 2007-2009 and 2010-2012] are actually about the same,” he said. “Still, we have a goal to reduce the rate significantly, and we are not making progress toward that goal.”
Barrett said the disparity told “a tale of two cities.”
“There are parts of the city that are doing remarkably well, and there are parts of the city that are falling further behind,” Barrett said.
Community Support
City leaders including Barrett and Baker have expressed support for the LIHF projects. Barrett said the pace was anticipated.
“We knew that there would be ramp-up time,” Barrett said. “We want to make sure the money is spent wisely, and we want the programs to be effective. And we hope these projects will get going as soon as possible.”
Baker said he was confident that the LIHF projects are providing the framework for effective programs, but stressed that Milwaukee’s campaign to reduce infant mortality is a long-term one.
“We may be here for the next decade, but Milwaukee will be better at the end of that decade,” said Baker.

created: September 25, 2013


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 25, 2013


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Business development aid for refugees | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
September 26, 2013
A program that helps refugees seeking to start up their own home childcare business is recruiting for its next class.
The SDC Refugee Childcare Microenterprise Development Project is beginning signup for its next class.  The program is designed to train refugees and asylees (persons who have been granted asylum) to become state certified home-based family childcare providers.  Classroom sessions are designed to help participants develop a business plan, become certified, and set up operations as a childcare provider.
The program is a partnership of the Social Development Commission (SDC), the Pan African Community Association (PACA), and the Multicultural Entrepreneurial Institute (MEI).  It is funded by the federal Administration for Children and Families Office of Refugee Resettlement.  Signup for the next session begins October 1 with the classes scheduled to start in January.
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To be eligible for the program, a person needs to have refugee or asylee status, a basic competency in the English language, an appropriate space to operate a home-based childcare business or willingness to move, an ability to attend evening course sessions, and the ability to work on a business plan.  The most recent class sessions helped a group of refugee women and men from Iraq, Ethiopia and Eritrea gain the knowledge and receive assistance they need to start and to successfully operate their own businesses.
To learn more about the SDC Refugee Childcare Microenterprise Development Project, call SDC at 414-906-2768 or visit the agency website located at www.cr-sdc.org/index/Programs–Services/Refugee_Childcare_Microenterprise_Development_Project.htm.

created: September 26, 2013


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Día de los Muertos Parade 4th Year | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Celeste Contreras
September 26, 2013
This year we march as a community, we march in peace together in honor of those Children and All of our Loved Ones who have passed into Death. Please join us for our 4th Annual El Día de los Muertos Parade:Noche de Niños. We dedicate this entire parade to all of Los Niños/ The Children.
Friday, November 1, starting at 3pm events in Walker Square Park will be taking place. Walker Square Park is located across the street from the United Community Center at 1028 south 9th street. All are invited. Families and friends. For Free, come be part of a parade. All are welcomed to march in the procession with us, as a community we march for our loved ones who have passed away.
Schedule:
Friday, November 1, 2013
3-4pm Milwaukee Art Museum:Kohl’s Family Sundays will have art making for all
3-4:30pm-facepainting, art making, getting ready to line up for the procession
4:30pm-line-up to begin
5pm- procession
6pm-Aztec Dancers in Walker Square Park
7pm-Vigil for Peace
8pm-Clean-up
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Come dressed up in costumes or your fanciest attire. Bring fotos and candles and flowers for the community altar in the park. More info at: http://diadelosmuertosmilwaukee.yolasite.com/

author: Celeste Contreras


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Nohl grant helps YMCA reintegrate art into regular programming | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
September 26, 2013
After several years of limited arts programming due to budgetary constraints, the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee will reintroduce regular visual arts programming, thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund.
The YMCA will partner with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and Milwaukee Area Teachers of Art community program on the programming, which will engage teaching artists to offer two six-week visual art sessions at John C. Cudahy, Rite-Hite, South Shore, Feith and Tri-County branches.
The Foundation awarded a total of $260,000 to 23 visual arts programs during the third quarter from the Nohl Fund with co-investment from other Greater Milwaukee Foundation funds.
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author: Greater Milwaukee Foundation


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Consumers seek help as Obamacare launches | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Brendan O’Brien
September 27, 2013
South Side resident Brianna Mason fears being fined if she does not buy health insurance. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
When Brianna Mason gets sick, she goes to a free health clinic on Saturdays on the city’s North Side.
That’s because the 19-year-old, who lives with her grandmother in a one-bedroom apartment on the South Side and works two part-time jobs, has no health insurance.
Things may change for Mason in the coming months as she decides whether to purchase insurance offered through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Enrollment begins Tuesday, Oct. 1, for insurance plans offered through the online healthcare marketplace.
“I’m worried about being fined for not having insurance,” Mason said during a town hall meeting about the Affordable Care Act held at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
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Mason attended the meeting hoping to learn how the Affordable Care Act will affect her. Among other things, she found out that she would not incur a penalty unless she is uninsured for three months after the open enrollment period ends on March 31, 2014.
Honyeh Moye, 36, lost his job because of a health problem that required surgery. Moye, a South Side resident, said he was concerned about being denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. However, beginning Jan. 1 the Affordable Care Act requires all insurers to provide coverage to everyone who applies, regardless of health status.
Others at the meeting said they were concerned that they will no longer be eligible for BadgerCare Plus, the joint federal/state Medicaid program in Wisconsin. People now covered by BadgerCare whose income is at the federal poverty level or below will remain in the program. Individuals on the waiting list now will be able to enroll in BadgerCare if they meet the same income requirement. However, those with income above the poverty line will need to obtain health insurance through the marketplace (see graphic).
Is it for me?
The state expects 142,000 Milwaukee County residents to purchase insurance through the marketplace by the end of 2014.
J.P. Wieske, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, explained that if people have insurance through their employer, they should compare the cost and services of their current coverage with the plans offered through the marketplace and by providers outside of the marketplace.
“You need to shop around,” Wieske said.
Consumers should keep in mind that while enrollment begins Oct. 1, the effective date for the marketplace insurance plans is Jan. 1, 2014, so they have some time to do their research, Wieske added. Another date to keep in mind is Dec. 15, the deadline for consumers to enroll for coverage to begin on Jan. 1.
Mason and others who are uninsured can decide to forgo insurance, but they will have to pay a penalty the first year of $95, or 1 percent of their income, whichever is more. In 2014, the penalty goes up to $325 per adult; and in 2016 and beyond, it is $695.
In addition to the penalties, there are risks to being uninsured. Health care costs are the leading cause of bankruptcies. In addition people without insurance are less likely to see a doctor regularly and less healthy.
Four tiers
Individuals who participate in the marketplace must decide what percent of their healthcare costs they want the insurer to cover. The bronze tier covers 60 percent of costs; silver, 70 percent; gold, 80 percent; and platinum, 90 percent. In general, the higher the percentage of coverage, the higher the premium.
Other factors that affect premiums are income, age, tobacco use and whether people are signing up for individual or family coverage.
According to the federal government, a Milwaukee family of four making $50,000 a year that chooses the silver plan would pay about $282 a month after tax credits; the same family would pay about $70 a month after tax credits under the bronze plan. The dollar amount of the tax credits is based on plans at the silver level in the place a person lives.
Insurers in the marketplace are required to offer “essential health benefits” in at least 10 categories, including emergency services, hospitalization, and maternity and newborn care. But the exact services they cover will differ, leaving it up to consumers to decide what plan is best for them.
Where to get help
Beginning Tuesday, consumers will be able to enroll for insurance and have their questions answered by experts online at www.healthcare.gov.
They can get personal assistance enrolling at the 16th Street Community Health Center, Outreach Community Health Centers, Progressive Community Health Centers and at other organizations.
A collaborative of local health care organizations and providers has set up a website at www.mkehcp.org, where individuals can learn about the Affordable Care Act and resources throughout the Milwaukee area.
Individuals interested in the marketplace or who have general questions can call (800) 318-2596.

created: September 27, 2013


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 27, 2013


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Here’s how to sign up for affordable health care coverage | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
October 1, 2013
Like citizens throughout the country, Milwaukeeans will be able to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act until Dec. 15 (for coverage beginning Jan. 1). But if you’re the type who likes to check items off your list as quickly as possible, enrollment starts today.
You can sign up on any computer with Internet access. If you need help filling out the application, you can get your questions answered online through a “live chat” or by calling (800) 318-2596. Both options are available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
However, if you prefer personal assistance from a live human being, below are some of the local organizations where trained individuals will be available to help you. Most suggest calling ahead.
DHS (Department of Health Services) Milwaukee Enrollment Services (MilES)
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1220 W. Vliet St.
Milwaukee, WI 53205
(888) 947-6583
7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday – Friday
Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc.
230 W. Wells St.
Room 800
Milwaukee, WI 53203
(414) 274-3455
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday – Friday
Spanish language assistance available
Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, Inc.
3020 W. Vliet Street
Milwaukee, WI 53208
Phone: (414) 933-0064
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday – Friday
Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. (City of Milwaukee Health Department)
Community Healthcare Access Program
Keenan Health Center
3200 N. 36th St.
(414) 286-8620
8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
12 p.m. – 6 p.m. 3rd Thursdays
12 p.m. – 4 p.m. All other Thursdays
Northwest Health Center
7630 W. Mill Rd.
(414) 286-8620
8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, 3rd Thursdays and Fridays
8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesdays and all other Thursdays
Southside Health Center
1639 S. 23 St.
(414) 286-8620
8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Mondays
8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8 a.m. – 5:45 p.m. Thursdays
Milwaukee Public Library
814 W. Wisconsin Ave.
(414) 286-8620 (Dept. of Health)
3 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays from 10/2/2-13 – 3/26/2014
Outreach Community Health Centers
Outpatient Clinic
210 W. Capitol Dr.
(414) 727-6320
8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Mondays – Fridays
Progressive Community Health Centers
Hillside Family Health Center
1452 N. 7th St.
2nd Floor
(414) 935-8000
8 a.m. to 5p.m.
Mondays-Fridays
Lisbon Avenue Health Center
3522 W. Lisbon Ave.
(414) 935-8000
8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Mondays – Thursdays
8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Fridays

created: October 1, 2013


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healthcare | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Dwayne Burtin
October 2, 2013

created: October 2, 2013

author: Dwayne Burtin


text:
HealthCareGov | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 30, 2013

created: September 30, 2013


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New program teaches ‘ABCs’ for healthy infants | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
October 1, 2013
Lawrencea Myles, 21, looks over a fetal development chart with Michelle Uttke, a registered nurse. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
When Tinathea Kingsby, executive director of Abundant Blessings Community Outreach Services (ABC), hears about the death of an infant in Milwaukee she feels sad, but also motivated.
Kingsby said she wants to reach more parents about the dangers of co-sleeping and other risk factors associated with infant deaths.
ABC, 6550 N. 76 St., was created to decrease Milwaukee’s high infant mortality rate by educating and empowering expectant and new mothers. The organization has been operating for six months.
Many women enter the program with no education about pregnancy, parenting or breastfeeding. They may also have housing issues or fathers who aren’t involved, said Program Director Victoria Brown, who heeded a call from Kingsby asking if she was interested in creating a program that could help save newborns.
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Brown worked 18 years for Aurora Health Care in women’s health and eight specifically in labor and delivery. She left the agency after suffering a stroke last year.
Data from the Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) showed that 96 infants died before the age of one in Milwaukee last year, the lowest number on record. However, the rate for African Americans was 15.1 deaths per 1,000 live births while the city’s overall rate was 9.6, according to the report.
Victoria Brown, program director for ABC, greets Juanita Woods, who’s been in the program for several weeks. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
The program is open to all women but most participants are African American.
“I tell them to watch the news; that it could have been you,” said Brown, when talking to clients about the latest report of a co-sleeping death.
More than 200 women are enrolled in either the Pre-Natal Care Coordination class or Care Coordination Classes (CCC). They first fill out a questionnaire, which helps identify risk factors that could negatively impact the health of their baby or themselves, according to Brown. The information is used to create an individual care plan developed by a registered nurse.
The women then attend workshops on topics such as what constitutes a safe sleeping environment, the benefits of breastfeeding, how to cook healthy meals on a budget and how to keep a job, among other life skills. They are paired with care coordinators, who are responsible for helping clients access resources identified in their care plan.
After the child is born, the agency offers parenting classes, along with home visits. The home visits help ensure that the baby is sleeping in a safe environment, and also reinforce the need to go to doctor’s appointments, according to Brown. “We want to keep them encouraged,” she said, adding that the approach is crucial for her clients.
Michelle Uttke, a registered nurse who works at ABC, commented that the program helps the women build an education base and a support system.
“We talk a lot about being an advocate for yourself and your family and having the information to make the right decisions based on your resources and situation,” said Uttke.
Brown acknowledged that many times those resources are extremely limited.
“We have clients who are homeless,” she said. The organization tries to connect them with agencies that provide emergency housing services.
ABC is funded by the state based on the number of Wisconsin Works (W-2) participants served. W-2 is available to parents of minor children whose family income is below 115 percent of the federal poverty level, and is designed to help individuals develop employability plans.
Some of the funding is used to buy participants a car seat, a “pack and play” and a breast pump, which the women receive when they complete the program. Brown said the agency is looking for donations or other funders, and that it won’t turn any women away.
Lawrencea Myles, 21, joined the program in August and has a baby is due in February. She already has a 5-year-old daughter, but said she never had the opportunity to experience classes such as those provided at ABC. Myles said she’s had her mother around to help her, but many people don’t have that advantage. She said she’s more informed this time around.
“I took parenting head on the first time but this is my second baby and I can be more prepared this time,” said Myles.
Myles said she never co-slept with her first child and won’t do it with her new baby either. “I know what can happen if you do,” Myles said.
Brown noted that the agency wants women to participate in the programs and then move on. “We don’t want to enable them, so once they complete their programs we say goodbye,” she said.
Clients can reenroll if they have another child, but Brown said she hopes that by going through the program the first time the mothers have gained the skills and confidence to help them raise their baby. “We believe in these young ladies.”


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 30, 2013


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10028245735_6b993da726_z | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 30, 2013


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 1, 2013


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Walnut Way vows to rebuild after fire | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rick Brown
October 2, 2013
A fire started in the attic of the Walnut Way Conservation Corp. headquarters
Walnut Way Conservation Corp. is planning to rebuild after suffering a significant fire at its community center and offices on Friday.
No one was hurt in the fire, but the building, located at 2240 N. 17th St., will be closed for an indeterminate amount of time.
Director of Programs Sharon Adams was the only one in the building when the fire began. Adams discovered the fire after a peculiar smell began to fill the building. When she investigated the attic, she saw a flash and exited the building, according to the Milwaukee Fire Department’s report.
MFD investigators concluded the fire was accidental. The cause has not yet been determined, but an electrical box had heavy fire damage.
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Adams said that four fire trucks responded to the incident. The Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD) dispatched units at 3:44 p.m., according to investigation unit records.
The building suffered both fire and smoke damage to the second floor and attic walls, according to MFD records. The fire also charred two air conditioning units.
Despite the damage, Walnut Way is determined to move forward, according to Adams. Its Harvest Day event on Saturday, Oct. 5 will proceed as planned.
“We will rebuild and build stronger,” Adams said.
Neighbors gather at Walnut Way for Harvest Day 2012
Walnut Way staff met for the first time after the fire on Wednesday. Center personnel are working from a temporary office nearby.
“It’s a lot of hard work to rebuild,” said Adams.
Walnut Way is a nonprofit neighborhood organization founded in 2000 under the leadership of Sharon and Larry Adams. The damaged building was constructed in 1910, and at one point had been a drug house. The organization decided to restore the building, which had been slated for demolition.
The center sponsors a wide variety of community activities, ranging from providing educational opportunities for local youth to selling honey from its own hives and providing produce to Fondy Food Market.
Walnut Way is the lead agency in Lindsay Heights for the Zilber Neighborhood Initiative. It was one of two pilot neighborhoods chosen by the Zilber Family Foundation for grants to improve the quality of life for residents.


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| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 2, 2013


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Enrollment lags behind demand for affordable health care | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
October 3, 2013
The Lisbon Avenue Health Center informed patients of open enrollment before Oct. 1 via mailings and a bulletin board in the waiting room. (Photo by Rick Brown)
Local health clinics and other organizations offering in-person counseling on the Affordable Care Act have been able to dispense a lot of information since the online marketplace went live on Oct.1. But as of Wednesday evening, few, if any, Milwaukeeans had been able to enroll.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement that the problems were the result of high volume on the site, according to several news organizations. The agency reported that more than 4.7 million people visited healthcare.gov, the federal government’s ACA website, in the first 24 hours.
In-person turnout was light on the first day at almost all Milwaukee locations offering assistance. More people requested help by calling local government offices and other health and community organizations.
At the City of Milwaukee Health Department’s Southside Health Center, 1639 S. 23rd St., a few people trickled in during the morning, most to ask questions regarding plan differences and costs, according to an official.
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(Photo by Rick Brown)
Lisbon Avenue Health Center, 3522 W. Lisbon Ave., had three certified application counselors ready to assist North Side residents, primarily by appointment. The center sent out a mass mailing to patients, many of whom are low-income and have put off doctor’s visits and healthcare because of high costs. The center on Lisbon is one of two Progressive Community Health Centers sites.
Sarah Bailey, marketing manager at Progressive Community Health Centers, patients’ chief concerns about the new plans were practical: the price of premiums and what coverage plans would include.
Bailey noted that the error messages on the federal site were frustrating to center staff as well as patients. “When we try to enroll anyone, we’re able to log people in, but not to complete the process,” she said.
Loma Haywood, a North Side resident, visited the Lisbon Avenue Health Center Tuesday. Counselors provided information, but she was not able to enroll that day.
At three clinics run by the City of Milwaukee Health Department, “the phone was ringing off the hook,” said Lori Hoffman, a program assistant at the Community Healthcare Access Program.
Jessica Gathirimu, director of the program, explained that for people who come in and can’t be enrolled, “We take down their names and numbers and we’ll be reaching out to them when we know we can complete the enrollment process.” She added that none of the clinics’ visitors appeared upset about the delay.
Gathirimu said the city health department and its partner organizations found that some people came in because they do not have health insurance and they thought they’d be able to get it immediately. Staff members explained that insurance coverage starts Jan. 1 for everyone who enrolls by Dec. 15.
John Devine is one of those who need coverage. Devine, 50, said he has a cyst behind his left ear that should be treated. Self-employed and without insurance, he said he has had a tough time proving his income when he has tried to apply for Medicaid.
“Bills are getting out of control, every time I see a doctor,” he said as he waited at the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin.
The coalition received phone calls and visitors “non-stop,” from people looking for information on the ACA and to learn how to enroll, according to Clarene Mitchell, director of communication and collaboration.
“It’s been very busy. The system is backed up, because the demand is so great,” Mitchell said.  “It’s showing the need for health coverage.”
Gathirimu agreed. The fact that so many people tried to log on to the main Web site shows that they “heard the messaging and are excited to get healthcare access.”

created: October 3, 2013


text:
| Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
October 3, 2013