neighborhood

Kavon Cortez-Jones

When you first meet Kavon Cortez-Jones, you will be inspired by his optimism and avidity for Milwaukee.  Also known as K.J., he is a poet, spoken word performer and to some, a mentor who is immersed in Milwaukee's art community.  His dedication to writing is remarkable to say the least. “I don’t think I’ve missed a day of writing in the past 10 years,” says Kavon proudly before mentioning that he has filled 65 composition books.  But his words don't stop at the end of those pages, rather he makes a point to influence and teach others what writing has taught him.  Through performances, collaboration with various art organizations, and the written words in his book Club Noir, Kavon is very much a part of the city's pulse.

Currently 23 years old, Kavon grew up in the Harambee neighborhood of Milwaukee. Everything changed for him when Kwabena Antoine Nixon and Muhibb Dyer came to his elementary school to perform poetry for the students, as part of their "I Will Not Die Young" campaign.  "They wowed me with their performance and that was the spark," explains Kavon. Ever since that day, he was inspired to write and become a poet but did not know what to write about until he met Paul Moga, an educator at Riverside High School who opened up new possibilities for him.  That's when Kavon discovered performance and slam poetry, focusing his efforts on that medium.  K.J.'s early life in Harambee was challenging but writing carried him through and allowed him to express himself in the only way he knew how.  Now he tries to share his love for writing with others in the community.

After high school, Kavon started performing his poetry at open mics around the city such as Linneman's and Miramar Theater, and now runs an open mic called "Express Yourself Milwaukee," which happens on the second Friday of the month at 1300 West Fond du Lac Avenue in collaboration with the Express Yourself Milwaukee youth organization.  After gaining recognition, he began receiving commissions to perform at places like the Kimpton Hotel and to run poetry workshops for students at Whitefish Bay Middle School and Riverside High School.  "It’s beneficial for folks in Milwaukee to learn poetry because it’s so subjective. All you need is a notebook and a pen, and you can just create your life all over again. You can tell your story," states Kavon.  He is also an intern at TRUE Skool, an organization where youth come to express themselves through hip-hop and the creative arts as a means to educate themselves in social justice leadership and entrepreneurship.  When Kavon teaches workshops, he has the kids "splash the page" or simply write down whatever is in their minds for 15 minutes, helping them to understand the self-discipline of writing.

Kavon's proudest achievement is his book Club Noir which showcases his writings from ages 18 to 22 and acts as his "coming of age story," as he puts it. "I realized that poems kind of spilled out of me cuz I started writing about what I wanted to write about... That book is a dream come true." As explained in the book's introduction, Club Noir is Kavon's imaginary utopia; a cafe by day and club by night, located on Doctor M.L.K. Drive that welcomes all people, specifically catering to the black community and is a safe haven in the midst of our complicated world. "Every city civilian from oldies, youngins to passionate visual artists and writers garrulously make the place come to life," writes Kavon in his vibrant introduction.  Dive into his book to feel the essence of Milwaukee and the nostalgia of his youth.

If you want to have a genuine, engaging conversation, reach out to Kavon on Facebook (search Kavon Cortez-Jones) and he will most likely offer to meet you at one of the many coffee shops around the city where he finds his muse.  Listen to Kavon perform two of his poems by clicking the audio links below.  The first is called "Paris of the Midwest," written when he was 18 years old and is featured in his book Club Noir.  The second poem is called "A Love Letter to Milwaukee," written in 2017 at the age of 23.

Silver Spring Neighborhood Center

As you pull off Silver Spring Drive onto 64th Street, you may not think twice about the large building in the quiet neighborhood but once you walk through those front doors, you are greeted by smiling faces and a vibrant chandelier made by the kids that are part of the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center (SSNC).  The community center is a nonprofit organization that services the people in the neighborhood through programs relating to health & wellness, education, and employment.  At the heart of this organization are the people that work tirelessly to ensure these community members thrive in their city. “Whenever you are doing social service work, it is so critical.  You go through a lot internally. It’s no easy job,” says Devin Hudson, the Development Director at the SSNC.  The work they do at the neighborhood center opens so many doors for the individuals that take part in the programs.

The Silver Spring Neighborhood Center started in 1958 as a settlement house servicing the Westlawn neighborhood.  The center was a resource for new residents to turn to as they started their lives in Milwaukee.  Throughout SSNC's history, their partners have helped shape who they are and who they impact.  So in 1986, the center partnered with the UWM College of Nursing, which allowed them to implement programs like health care services for people that are under-insured, classes to teach teens about choosing healthy foods, collaboration with the Childhood Development Center and the list goes on.  At the core of these programs is the director Jean Bell-Calvin, who has been with the UW-Milwaukee Silver Spring Community Nursing Center since the start.  “It’s a blessing to do the work that we do,” says Jean, “It’s about resources.  It’s about how you advocate for resources in the community and it’s a challenge.”  The lives Jean has touched in the community is hard to put into words, much less fit into a blog post.

Jean Bell-Calvin (left) and Devin Hudson (right)

The next major partnership happened in the early 2000s when SSNC joined with Browning Elementary School, part of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).  The two started their cooperative because MPS was focused on bringing neighborhood schools back to the city.  A neighborhood of support is what binds these organizations together.

The core of the SSNC's programs have always been youth oriented, but they also have a number of programs for adults such as their GED program and the Transform Milwaukee Program which opens job possibilities for those with a criminal background or a child support order.

For those in the area needing guidance or a way to start over, the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center stands as a center for hope.  The SSNC has quality employees that can work with you to make the program successful.  As soon as you step onto the campus, you are confronted with encouragement and place of comfort away from the challenges of everyday life.  The SSNC's impact on Milwaukee is overwhelming.  Learn more about what they are accomplishing on their website: www.ssnc-milw.org

Milwaukee Talks Green

“The partnership works perfectly because we get to engage the community and broaden our reach by working together.”  That’s Jessy Ortiz, Outpost’s Sustainability Manager talking about how she and Anastasia Kraft created Milwaukee Talks Green. Jessy and Ana started this group this past January because they wanted to inform our community about sustainability.  The group meets roughly once a month to host events with guest speakers, tour local facilities, clean up rivers and more.  “The whole idea of MKE Talks Green is to educate our community so people will know more and can make better decisions in their everyday life,” explains Ana Kraft.

But lets back up a moment because these two ambitious women didn’t even know each other until November 2016.  Ana, originally from Germany, saw things differently than many Americans because she grew up in a country with small cars, renewable energy, extensive waste management and elaborate recycling.  “Instead of complaining, I wanted to meet people. I’m sure there are many people out there that care about the environment and want to learn something,” she says.  Inspired by TED Talks, she decided to make a Meet Up group where speakers could present to the community and everyone could discuss the topic afterwards.

Enter Jessy Ortiz and Outpost Natural Foods.  At about the same time, Jessy and the company were discussing how to better engage the community in sustainability.  The original idea was to start a group only for owners of the Outpost co-op, but when Ana showed up at the Bay View location asking if Outpost would host the Meet Up group, it made more sense to include the whole community.

Ana and Jessy plan out the events with themes based on the time of year or relevant holidays.  For instance, in March their theme was water for World Water Day and they invited speakers from Milwaukee River Keeper, Feed Mouths Filling Minds and water expert Dr. Moe Mukiibi.  In April they focused on local farming, hosting speakers from the Young Farmers Program and Victory Garden Initiative.  In the summer months, they organized outside events like a tour of Milwaukee recycling facilities and of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center.  August’s theme will be sustainable grazing and later in the fall they will be focussing on energy efficiency.

The two women emphasize that the group is meant to inform people of what’s already going on in their community and hopefully inspire them to get involved.  “The idea is think global, act local,” says Jessy.  “This is one way for Outpost to extend their mission: to provide owners a healthy, diverse and sustainable community.”

“Education is the most powerful tool we can use to change the world,” Ana passionately states. “Hopefully we will create a community where people see their impact.”

To join these two inspiring women at their next event, visit their Facebook page and learn more about how Milwaukee is becoming a sustainable city.

View the full blog at www.MKEinFocus.com

Springdale Farm

Located just Southwest of Plymouth and alongside the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forrest, Springdale Farm sits peacefully in a valley.  In the fall of 1987, Peter and Bernadette Seely moved to Wisconsin to start their farm with a business model that was new to the midwest: Community Supported Agriculture.  When their farm first opened in 1988, they had 45 members that subscribed to the farm in order to receive fresh produce every week of the growing season based on which crops were available.  “It seemed like a good idea to build a better economy based on good food,” says Peter Seely.

Raised in a suburb of New York City, Peter didn't know much about farming but when a movement for organic food started in the 70s and early 80s Peter states, "the role of food and health became pretty obvious to me.”  So he apprenticed at an organic vegetable farm in Maine for a summer, which first made him consider farming full time.  A few years later, Peter taught high school math at a school in Iowa where he first met his soon-to be-wife Bernadette.   The school had a garden that was part of a program to teach kids about farming that Bernadette and Peter managed together.  In 1986, the couple spent a season touring farms, and among them were the first CSAs in the country.  After learning how these farms functioned, the couple thought: “Let’s see if that idea could take route here in Wisconsin.”

That idea took off.  For the first 20 years, they had a waiting list for their CSA, which serves Sheboygan, Ozaukee and Milwaukee counties.  Springdale is now one of about 12 farms in Southeast Wisconsin that follow the Community Supported Agriculture model. The farmers are in the process of creating a group called CSA Farms of Southeast Wisconsin, in which they help each other with advice and outreach about CSAs.

"So how does Springdale Farm benefit the Milwaukee community?", I asked Peter Seely.  As a CSA member, Peter explains, people "know they are directly supporting a local farm dedicated to keeping the soil and the environment safe to pass it on to future generations.”   Additionally, people know exactly where their food comes from and can have it delivered the day after it was picked from the field.

Now 29 years later, Peter and Bernadette Seely have 750 CSA members, 13 greenhouses, electric tractors powered by solar panels and a continued mission to provide healthy food and a sustainable future for our environment.  And in case you're wondering, their favorite thing to cook this time of year is pesto.

Learn more about the farm on their website: www.SpringdaleFarmCSA.org

View the full blog at www.MKEinFocus.com

Kathy Papineau and MKE Kitchen

It's hard to capture all of the things that Kathy Papineau does for the community in one blog post.  The best way to describe Kathy Papineau is that she puts her community before herself.  She runs three businesses that all work together: MKE Kitchen, Localicious and Soup in a Jar.  On top of all that, she is a huge advocate for the local food movement in Milwaukee and a role model for composting and eating local.

Kathy first became interested in food at a young age.  She grew up in Manitowoc, WI with 5 siblings, an unhealthy father, and a mother that didn't have much time to cook.  Kathy's childhood fueled her motivation to eat healthy and learn to cook by watching cooking shows on TV and reading magazines like Home & Garden and Good Housekeeping.  Years later as a stay-at-home mom, Papineau started her catering company Localicious around 2007.  She started small in her home kitchen, but the business kept growing until 2012, when she opened MKE Kitchen, her commercial kitchen in Riverwest. Soup in a Jar is her food truck you may see around town that she uses to sell her homemade soup and meet new customers. Naturally, Kathy thought of others before herself. “If I was going to build a kitchen for my business, I thought I should build a kitchen big enough so that other people could build their businesses too," she explained.

But that's not all the kitchen does, not even close.  Kathy teaches cooking classes to kids, and the classes incorporate the importance of composting and the benefits of a local market.  “Schools need to find room in their curriculum to cover stuff like that,” she says.  At the same time, the kitchen acts as a meeting place for local food groups such as volunteers from the Urban Ecology Center advocating for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs.  Papineau has created a welcoming place for ideas to spread and for the local food community to grow.

Kathy moves fast and doesn't sit still for very long which means she has a million ideas for the future.  She wants to teach a course about starting your own business to teach people about all the business technicalities they don't consider at first.  Whether she planned it or not, Kathy has become a guide for the new entrepreneurs that rent from her and she's willing to share her experience.  One of those new entrepreneurs, Collin Wallace of Chillwaukee, talked about how helpful Kathy had been to his new business.  “She’s very accommodating and gives us the space we need, and puts us in touch with people and news stations,” he said.

With every new idea, Kathy stays true to her core goal: “I want people to eat healthier. I want them to understand the relationship between their food, their health and the environment. That’s what I want.”

Dr. Moe Mukiibi

How clean is the water we are drinking?  Is bottled water really any better for us than tap water?  How can I be sure that the water I am drinking and using in my home is safe?  If it's not safe, what can I do to fix it?

These are some of the questions that Dr. Moe Mukiibi is asking for us.  As a globally recognized Water Exert and Tech Innovator, Mukiibi has been all over the world trying to solve our water problems and wants to empower the average person by helping them understand what is in their own water.  “We gotta do better, we gotta educate the people,” he proclaims.

Dr. Mukiibi grew up in Uganda walking miles with his mother every day carrying water back to their village.  They did not have many sources of water, so the only option was to walk to the closest source, and bring it back to their home.  When I asked Mukiibi what motivated him to go into the water field, he replied, "I [went] into the water area to find a solution…I was so determined that I was going to help my mother out to find water…I remember that vision very well when I was 5 years old.”

Since then, he received a PhD in Chemical and Environmental Engineering and has worked around the world with various water technology companies. He now resides in Milwaukee working as the Executive Chief Technology Officer with Stonehouse Water Technologies at the Global Water Council.  But for Dr. Mukiibi, that is not enough.  He has 9 patents out for water technologies that he invented, including a machine that can convert air into water.  Don't believe me? Ask him yourself.

As part of his "Wise Up on Your Water" initiative, Mukiibi also wants to start a water co-op in Milwaukee for the average person like you and me because most of us don't really know what is in the water that comes from our tap, bottled water or wells.  Mukiibi points out that he has seen a lot of people looking for solutions but they don’t know how to decide which is right. For instance, people use waters filters at home, but often choose a filter based on advertising, personal bias or simply guessing.  “I want to change that. I want to empower and educate the people. I want to give them the tools.”

If people joined this co-op, he would teach them how to read the water report they receive in the mail every year, teach them how to test their own water and help them find a filtration system that matches their water supply quality and lifestyle.  Dr. Mukiibi's idea is to first educate this group of people.  Then once educated, these people can take this information and educate others, make money off their ideas or simply be safe in their own homes if that is what they desire.

Dr. Moe Mukiibi is a strong believer that knowledge is power.  He explains to me that we need to be informed and "together that is how we are going to make a difference in the world.”

To get in touch with Dr. Mukiibi, visit his LinkedIn or email him at dr.moe.m@fwmtech.com

Flying Squirrel Pilates

Jaime Hayden is an outgoing and engaging pilates instructor that runs a small studio in the Third Ward called Flying Squirrel Pilates. Jaime is a busy woman, teaching a wide variety of classes along with running the business on her own.  She first became certified in pilates 12 years ago while working a surprising mix of other jobs.  Originally from Houston Texas, Jaime moved to Milwaukee to be closer to family.  She started her business seven years ago out of her home with a little support from her dad and it has been growing ever since.  She now has bragging rights for winning the best Milwaukee pilates studio in 2013, 2014 and 2016 according to Milwaukee A List.

When describing her path of how she got here, Jaime described her love of athletics and history as a softball player and gymnast.  Later in life, she had two knee surgeries and consequently found pilates.  She quickly fell in love with the new sport and pursued the idea as a career.   Pilates was "designed to make your body feel good doing everything else you do," she explains.  "It is meant to strengthen your core and keep your vertebrae decompressed."

Jaime sees pilates not just as a sport, but as a healing practice.  She began telling me about her very first client, Terri, who has taken her classes in every location she's taught for 7 years now.  The two met at the occupational therapy clinic where Jamie was working at the time. Terri has severe rheumatoid arthritis and used to have a very limited range of motion, but has been taking Jaime's classes twice a week ever since she started the business. Now Terri "can do planks better than anyone. What it's done for her rheumatoid arthritis is amazing," says Jaime with a proud smile on her face.

If you talk to Jaime for more than 30 seconds, you can tell that she is passionate about her business and her clients. "My clients are amazing, they've become super good friends," she mentions and adds that she would much rather be doing this than anything else.  So talk to her yourself or better yet, take a pilates class.

You can view her website at http://fspilates.wixsite.com/flyingsquirrel.

Voyageur Book Shop

One morning on my day off, I was wandering down Kinnickinnic Avenue just after grabbing a cup of coffee from Stone Creek.   I figured I would check to see if there was anything new on the main street when I stumbled across Voyageur Book Shop, a hidden little book store at the end of the block with an impressive collection.  I thought that surely I must have walked by this place a thousand times, but after walking in and talking to co-owner Blaine Wesselowski, I learned that he and Jeremy Mericle just opened the shop in spring of 2016.

Blaine and Jeremy met while working at Renaissance Book Shop a few years back.  Once the shop closed, they bought a large collection of the books and art (now hanging on Voyageur's walls) in order to open their own place.  Blaine, originally from Kansas and Jeremy, originally from Wisconsin are a perfect match for going into business together.  They both have a love for rare books and a knack for finding unique copies.

So how does one acquire books to fill a small book store?  Well, you have to do your homework.  Blaine explains that it's about knowing the right type of places like certain estate sales or specific library sales.  "Often you get referrals from people that have a library they want to sell out of" and those can be gold mines.  But there's more to it than simply finding the books, you also have to know your customer base and carry the books that people will buy.  Popular authors like Edgar Allen Poe always sell out.  "The earlier in life people experience the author, the more broadly known they are," says Blaine.

You might be wondering what book shop owners Blaine and Jeremy are currently reading so lucky enough, I thought to ask.  Jeremy is deep into  The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God by George Bernard Shaw while Blaine just finished a biography of Lewis Carroll and has now moved onto Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.   And yes, conversations with these two are as unique as their book choices.  So take a stroll over Voyageur and venture through the boundless collection of stories.