Milwaukee has roughly 2,500 vacant properties across the city, a problem that weighs more heavily on predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. Research has shown that vacant houses attract crime, are easier to set on fire, and can lower the value of homes nearby.
Martha Chambers Speaks Out for Disability Voting Rights
Kai Gardner Mishlove Helps Communities Find their Similarities through Food
Food tells the story of migration, evokes memories, reminds us of where we came from and connects us to the land that produces the food we eat. As Kai Gardner Mishlove so beautifully explains, food unifies us and heals us. “When you prepare a dish, you’re putting your heart and soul into it and you’re evoking the memory of your ancestors in that work,” she says.
Dr. Samantha Majhor and Danielle Barrett are Working to Restore Ecosystems and Culture with Wild Rice
The students and faculty working on the Wild Rice Project in Marquette University’s Indigeneity Lab are trying to answer the question: Will wild rice grow in Milwaukee’s rivers? What may seem like a straight-forward science-based approach, requires relationship building with Indigenous communities and a deep understanding of the connection Native people have with the waters and wild rice.
Mariana Rodriguez Built a Space for Latinas to Thrive
“I think about my 20-plus years advocating for the safety and empowerment for women, and healthcare has always been core to everything we do,” says Mariana Rodriguez, director of the Latina Resource Center at United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS). “When women have resources and when they have options, they’re safer.”
Sheila Badwan Helps Refugees Seeking Freedom
On July 4, America celebrates its independence—our day of freedom. But many of us may never truly appreciate the freedom we have because we’ve always had it. For centuries, America has offered the promise of safety and a better life for those fleeing war, religious persecution, or other hardships. Unless we are Indigenous, our ancestors came to this country seeking that freedom we celebrate today.
Richard Diaz fights for families with lead poisoning
Three thousand, nine-hundred and twelve children up to the age of six were reported being poisoned by lead in Wisconsin in 2018—and that’s with a testing rate of only 10 percent of children. The fact is simple. There is not enough being done in Wisconsin to prevent lead poisoning and to help families who are being lead poisoned.
Ericka Sinclair is Redefining Healthcare
After working in the healthcare industry for over 15 years, Ericka Sinclair had a vision of redefining patient care by creating a community-based clinic. In traditional clinical care, she saw patterns that were not beneficial to the patients: physicians weren’t trained to have deep conversations with them, and people often didn’t know how to use their insurance.
Dontrell Corey Fells Shares the Value of Therapy
For Dontrell Corey Fells, co-founder of Black Space, therapy wasn’t always a pleasant experience. When he was a teenager in late high school, his mother passed away. “After that, there was just a young boy that wanted to be able to find somewhere to live and to figure out life for myself,” says Fells.
His family suggested he see a therapist to cope, but the man they found made Fells uncomfortable. As a young Black man, Fells couldn’t relate to his therapist who was an older white man. He felt the need to use coded language and give additional context to explain where he grew up and the challenges he faced. It wasn’t working.
Cetonia Weston-Roy Centers on Black Literature
Thresa Stevens is an Advocate for Native Victims of Sexual Violence
If you look up the number of victims of sexual assault, sexual violence and sex trafficked victims in Milwaukee, the numbers are striking. Particularly among Native women, the rates of sexual violence and abduction are high and under reported.
Thresa Stevens, who is Menominee, works with Native women and men in Milwaukee who fall victim to this violence and suffer from trauma. As the Native American Advocate for Women and Children at Healing Intergenerational Roots (HIR) Wellness Institute, she helps people find resources, gets them to a safe space, and if they want, she connects them to counselors at HIR Wellness.
Jilly Gokalgandhi Works for Equity in Education
Newly elected to the Milwaukee Public School Board representing District 5, Jilly Gokalgandhi has big plans for her new role. Committed to following through on her campaign promises, she is determined to make policies centered around equity, which include funding for special education, multilingual education, and working on restorative justice practices. As an immigrant, she brings a unique lived experience to her role and cares deeply about creating an education system that is inclusive for all students.
Rafael Smith is Helping Restore his North Side
“My passion comes from being a Black man born in the city of Milwaukee during a period of time where deindustrialization was destroying all our institutions that we held dear,” says Rafael Smith, the Civic Engagement Program Director at Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Smith is deeply committed to moving Milwaukee forward on climate action and equity by helping his North Side, community understand how climate change impacts their lives.
For Smith, taking action on climate is personal—it’s not just about saving the planet, it’s also about building back an economy and restoring middle class jobs to areas, like the North Side that were left behind when the industrialization boom ended.
The Muslim Women's Coalition Builds Bridges of Understanding
The Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition (MMWC) sits on the South Side of Milwaukee, run by a group of influential Muslim women who have worked to educate people about Muslim culture for the past 25 years. The idea for the organization started to take shape when the group would meet regularly to discuss the prejudice and disparaging comments they were experiencing at work. Upset about the remarks made about their hijabs and customs, the women decided that teaching others about their culture was the solution.
“The vast majority of people are not racist by nature, but their racism is manifested as a result of fear of the unknown,” says president and founding member Janan Najeeb. “If we can work to help them understand and to help them address those fears by creating opportunities to engage with them, then I think we will do a tremendous job of dismantling a lot of these hatreds that are out there.”
Vaun L. Mayes Demands Change in Milwaukee
We are in the midst of a movement that is different than any other from the past, according to Vaun L. Mayes, a local activist in Milwaukee. People are organizing communities and marching on the streets to demonstrate the unequal opportunities that people of color have had in this country and to demand that our governmental systems change. “I think people’s involvement and enthusiasm about changing things is different this time. And this is one of the only times in history I think that most people agree that change needs to happen or that what we all saw was wrong,” says Mayes referencing George Floyd.
Keisha Robinson Reaches Out to Voters Year Round
Keisha Robinson grew up on the north side of Milwaukee and like many people in her community, she experienced hardships like poverty and discrimination while job searching. She eventually worked her way up to her current role as Program Director at Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) where she uses her personal experiences to help the people in her neighborhood get involved in the political process. The team at BLOC believes that change needs to happen from within the community because sharing experiences creates a deeper level of trust.
Vivian King Leads Riverwest’s Kneel in Solidarity for George Floyd
On June 2, Vivian King kneeled for nine minutes in honor of George Floyd alongside at least 50 other people in Riverwest’s Gordon Park. A long-time activist, King learned about the national Kneel for Nine event the day before it happened. She planned to participate in the peaceful action taking place around the city but wanted to do so in her own neighborhood.
Devin Anderson Calls for a Liberated Milwaukee
In March of last year, Devin Anderson joined Wisconsin Voices as the Lead Organizer. In that role, he has motivated underrepresented Milwaukee residents to participate in the political system. Wisconsin Voices is an organization dedicated to harnessing the collective voices of citizens by helping them engage in their democracy. When Anderson joined the team, he fit right into a group of strong outspoken individuals. And now Anderson and the team are demanding reform for George Floyd and black lives through their campaign called Liberate MKE.
Juneteeth, the Day of Freedom and a Shout Out to Some of Milwaukee's Heroes
Juneteenth is the day that Texas proclaimed all slaves free and to this day it is a celebration of freedom among African American communities. Slavery has ended but there continues to be systematic racism in our country as well as underrepresented African American neighborhoods. There are many organizations and people in Milwaukee fighting for liberation and equality. These are only a few of our local heroes, but today is the day they should be recognized. Take today to learn about the causes they fight for.
Here are their names and organizations in order from left to right:
Brenda Coley of Milwaukee Water Commons
Cendi Trujillo Tena of Leaders Igniting Transformation
Kwabena Antoine Nixon: www.sensitivewarsongz.com
Antonio Butts of Walnut Way
Markasa Tucker of Wisconsin Voices
Angela Lang of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities
Fidel Verdin and Shalina S. Ali of True Skool
Supreme Moore Omokunde, representative of District 10 of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors
Andre Lee Ellis of We Got This
Valerie Carter is Helping Patients on the Front Line
Valerie Carter MD works as a hospitalist in Internal Medicine at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. The job has its challenges on a regular day: determining the right treatments for severely ill patients and keeping them calm during uncertainty. But in the middle of a pandemic, Carter’s job has become drastically harder because she also has to manage her own anxiety. “It was a whole different ball game when this started because we didn’t know what this was and what the right treatments would be,” says Carter.