The reopening of the Social Development Commission, after months of disruption, has sparked mixed reactions from elected officials.

While some welcome its return, others anticipate challenges ahead, with Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson calling for greater transparency from the agency.  

The Social Development Commission, or SDC, reopened its main office at 1730 W. North Ave. earlier this month. It’s now focusing on resuming its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, career services, child care and housing programs.

The agency provided programs and services that helped Milwaukee County residents living in poverty before it stopped services and laid off employees in late April because of its inability to meet payroll and other financial concerns. 

Mayor calls for more transparency 

At the SDC board’s meeting where leadership announced plans to reopen, Jackie Q. Carter, the board’s commissioner appointed by the mayor, voted against executive board nominations and asked for more community involvement, a formalized process and public transparency in the board’s decisions.

“The vote accurately reflected the mayor’s concerns about the lack of transparency in the latest moves,” said Jeff Fleming, a spokesperson for Johnson.

The mayor would like SDC to follow requirements of Wisconsin open meetings law, which includes publicly posting notice of its board meetings and providing agendas with information regarding the matters of discussion, Fleming said.

Since SDC suspended operations, the board has only been meeting part of the law’s notice requirements. SDC has notified individuals and members of the press of upcoming meetings, but it has not been posting meeting notices in public places or online. 

“The mayor is hopeful SDC will, once again, be a leading provider of help to low-income residents of the region,” Fleming said. “It is essential that SDC regain trust before it can resume the important work it previously undertook. The services are needed, and well-run organizations are key to serving those who deserve assistance.”

Other officials weigh in

Before the reopening announcement in November, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in an interview that the county wants to continue working with the Social Development Commission.

He said many of the services SDC provided have been picked up by other agencies, and his office has not received any constituent calls related to service issues. 

“But we also know that as a CAP (community action program) agency, there are dollars that are probably on the table at the state and federal level that we haven’t been able to take advantage of because they aren’t open,” Crowley said. 

Following the reopening announcement, Jonathan Fera, the communications director for the county executive’s office, said the state and the federal Office of Community Services are working with SDC to determine how to move forward, and Crowley is ready to collaborate with them when needed. 

“It’s encouraging that people are back at the table working on a solution to the challenges that have impacted public services provided by SDC,” Fera said. 

The county administration is encouraging residents who can no longer access services through the SDC to reach out to the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services. 

Another official interested in SDC restarting services is U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore.

When SDC abruptly shuttered in April, Moore wrote letters to SDC’s board and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, calling for a federal investigation. 

“The Social Development Commission’s closure was a loss that was deeply felt in the community,” Moore said. “While I am grateful that the Social Development Commission is resuming some of its services, I know it still faces many challenges ahead.”

County Supervisor Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones, who represents the 13th District on Milwaukee’s Near North Side and is the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors’ second vice chair, called the reopening a “critical step toward restoring vital services for Milwaukee County residents.” 

“The SDC has been a cornerstone of community support for years, and its relaunch reaffirms our commitment to uplifting people in need,” she said. 

State Sen. LaTonya Johnson, who represents the 6th Senate District, said the reopening is great news for Milwaukee County. 

“The commission’s ability to provide housing assistance and child care food services has been a lifeline for families who need a little support,” Johnson said. “I’m glad to have them back in our community, and I encourage those who need help to take advantage of their services.”

Devin Blake, PrincessSafiya Byers and Edgar Mendez contributed reporting to this story.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Milwaukee leaders weigh in on reopening of Social Development Commission is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights, community gardens with fresh fruit and vegetables coexist with dumped hazardous waste, public art and historical landmarks. 

These are among the images captured by nine Lindsay Heights community members in a unique research project.

From June 2023 into mid-2024, the residents worked with researcher Dulmini Jayawardana on a photovoice research project documenting the neighborhood’s environment.

Photovoice is a qualitative research method where participants take photographs around a topic and then discuss them as a group.

The project culminated in an exhibit called “See What We See: Stories of Environmental Stewardship in Lindsay Heights.” It showcased photographs residents took of efforts to take care of the neighborhood’s environment or of things that were hurting it, such as illegal dumping, litter and lead pipes. 

“We feel it and we want better for our community, and being part of photovoice gave us that chance to open up everyone else’s eyes,” said Maria Beltran, a longtime Lindsay Heights resident. 

Beltran participates in weekly street cleanups as a North Avenue community ambassador and is also a leader with the health-focused South Side walking group Lideres por la Salud. 

The photovoice participants consisted of Beltran, Ramona Curry, Marie Gordon, Cheryl Ferrill, Christal West, Jarvis West, Teresa Thomas Boyd, Geneva Jones and Ammar Nsoroma, many of whom are neighborhood residents and meet regularly at Walnut Way Conservation Corp. 

Researching Lindsay Heights

Jayawardana, a doctoral student in the geography program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, wanted to try community-based research in Lindsay Heights. 

The Near North Side neighborhood faces challenges, such as poverty, vacant lots and aging housing stock. 

After a group of residents met with the city’s Environmental Collaboration Office for a year to work on climate solutions and sustainability, Lindsay Heights was designated as Milwaukee’s First Eco Neighborhood in 2018.

“When coming into the Lindsay Heights neighborhood, what we wanted people to notice and appreciate was the move to make it more environmentally friendly,” said Christal West, a community activist who participated in the photovoice project. 

Photovoice brings underrepresented groups to the table

Jayawardana offered training and facilitated sessions on photovoice, which brings people traditionally underrepresented in research and policy into the process by sharing their voices, emotions and experiences. 

The participants regularly met until March to discuss their photos and findings, with Jayawardana taking notes on the discussion of the photos for use as captions.

She compensated the researchers for the initial research sessions, but they continued to collaborate beyond the planned timeline. 

“I think the process was long and it was grueling at times. However, it was worth it,” said Curry, a community organizer and independent consultant who participated in the project.  

WaterMarks, an initiative that helps people learn about Milwaukee’s water systems, is a community partner in Jayawardana’s research.

‘This was part of the Underground Railroad’

The group curated the photos for the exhibition by developing themes, such as neighborhood history, public art, toxic environments and healthy eating and living. 

“I learned about the unique history, like this was part of the Underground Railroad,” said Yahyal Siddiqu, who visited the library exhibition.

He lives near Lindsay Heights and enjoyed learning more about the landmarks and churches he recognized as well as the neighborhood’s history. 

One of Curry’s favorite photos is an image of a neighbor’s hands picking yellow flowers of St. John’s wort, a type of plant that the neighbor had been growing for over 50 years and uses to treat chronic body pain. 

“I thought that was really inspirational and worthy of presenting and showing more people what we have in our own backyards,” Curry said. 

Spotlighting problems to fix

The group hosted two exhibitions, one at City Hall, 200 E. Wells St., in April and another at Milwaukee Central Library, 814 W. Wisconsin Ave., in July. 

“We were able to take these things to the policymakers, the decision-makers in the city, so that they are aware of what’s happening and what needs to be changed,” Jayawardana said. 

Some people who attended the exhibition, including elected officials, reacted with shock and anger to Beltran’s photos and stories of discovering lead pipes and paint in her home and the ongoing process of making it safe again. 

“They’re like, ‘That happened to you? That happened to your family?’” Beltran said. 

Observers also enjoyed seeing positive developments in the neighborhood. 

“I learned about the possible solutions to the problems that need to be fixed,” Siddiqu said.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

In Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights neighborhood, residents advocate for community through photo research is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

After months of disruption, the Social Development Commission will restart some key programs on Dec. 2 in what is considered a major step toward restoring vital services to Milwaukee’s neediest residents. 

The agency plans to focus on offering the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, program; career services; child care; and housing programs at its main office at 1730 W. North Ave. and its location at 6850 N. Teutonia Ave., which operated SDC’s child and adult care food program.  

SDC’s Board of Commissioners discussed the programs on Thursday during a meeting at SDC’s main office.

It was the first public meeting in the building since the anti-poverty agency suspended operations and laid off employees in April. 

The closing of the quasi-governmental community action agency, which managed approximately 30 programs and employed 85 people, has left a major gap in services for many low-income Milwaukee residents. 

“In my opinion, it must be opened immediately,” said Jorge Franco, an SDC commissioner and newly named interim CEO. “There’s things that can be done today that increase the likelihood of getting service back in, back to the people who are of lowest income in our community.” 

The Social Development Commission will use its existing funding to support the programs and hire staff and is also seeking private donations, according to William Sulton, SDC’s attorney.

“We know we have the ability to run these programs, and we are betting on ourselves that we will be able to secure state and federal funding in the future,” Sulton said. 

A few of SDC’s former program managers were present at the meeting, including Diane Robinson, who was the manager of SDC’s VITA program and senior services. 

In the months since SDC stopped its VITA services, Robinson said she has had numerous customers reach out to ask if SDC will reopen. 

“They’re wanting to know when is SDC coming back online because they don’t trust anyone else outside of SDC to do their taxes and do them right,” she said. 

Franco named board chair and interim CEO

The board voted to appoint Franco as chair and interim CEO, replacing Vincent Bobot, who was named interim CEO in September. 

“The thing is I want to stay on as a commissioner, but I think everybody here is aware that I have a full-time law practice, and I have a couple other things going on,” said Bobot, an attorney who owns a general practice, Bobot Law Office.

Bobot is also on the board of SD Properties Inc., the tax-exempt corporation that owns SDC’s buildings. He will remain on the SDC’s board and was appointed to serve as its secretary. 

Franco, who is also the CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, will not be compensated as interim CEO, according to Sulton.

Jackie Q. Carter was nominated to serve as board treasurer. She was appointed to the board by Mayor Cavalier Johnson in June. 

Carter did not accept the nomination to be treasurer and voted against the executive nominations of Bobot and Franco, urging the board to wait until it gets more members.

New board member appointed

The board voted 2-1 to appoint Lucero Ayala, a licensed practical nurse and vice chair of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, to serve District 5 on the South Side. She has experience working with an assisted living facility and day care centers. 

“I’ve been helping the community and I’ve seen the impact firsthand, being in child care, how a lot of the kids count on those meals that SDC was providing,” Ayala said. 

Carter voted against Ayala’s appointment, saying that the board needs to go through a more thorough vetting process before voting. 

“I think it’s important for the commissioners that are here to ensure that we are not doing things in a way that is same old business and doing the things that got us here in the first place,” Carter said. 

“Nothing personal, but we’ve got to do the process in a way that makes sense, that’s transparent, that’s collaborative, and the community needs to be engaged,” she said. 

In the meantime, Commissioner Matthew Boswell’s term expired on Nov. 18.  Boswell was appointed by Milwaukee Public Schools.

A Milwaukee Public Schools representative said earlier this week that Boswell would remain on the board until the district finds a new appointment. 

Sulton disagreed and said Boswell is no longer serving on the board. 

“I will reach out to former Commissioner Boswell, but that’s not my understanding at all,” Sulton said. 

Boswell did not attend Thursday’s meeting.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Milwaukee’s SDC plans to reopen key programs in December is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A former Social Development Commission board member is positioned to gain financially from the sale of two of the troubled agency’s buildings that are on the market, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest. 

In September, SD Properties Inc., the tax-exempt corporation that owns SDC’s buildings, listed two SDC properties on North Avenue for sale  at a combined price of $3.2 million. Kimberly Njoroge, a Realtor with Ogden & Company Inc., is advertised as the listing agent. 

Although Njoroge previously held positions as a board member of SDC and SD Properties, SDC officials are uncertain about the agency’s conflict-of-interest policy for board members.

When contacted by NNS, Njoroge referred requests for comment to SDC attorney William Sulton and Vincent Bobot, SDC’s interim CEO and an elected commissioner as well as the only current SD Properties board member.  

Extent of financial benefit unclear

It’s unclear to what extent Njoroge is financially benefiting because SD Properties declined to share the listing contract or disclose the rate of commission, though Sulton and Bobot said the fees Njoroge will collect are at a discounted rate.  

“What I’m most concerned about is that we get the benefit of the bargain and then we get somebody that’s going to stay in the business to help people out of poverty in Milwaukee,” Bobot said. “So whether she gets the money or somebody else gets the money, that’s not my primary concern.” 

Sulton and Bobot both said the situation does not present an actual conflict of interest because Njoroge’s term as a board member of SDC and SD Properties ended in June. 

“I don’t think it’s a violation because she wasn’t on the board at the time,” Sulton said.

The SDC is an anti-poverty agency created by governments but functions outside of them. State, county and city statutes define the organization as an intergovernmental commission, with each government appointing board representatives. No government claims broader oversight authority.

Njoroge told SDC leadership in March that she would not seek reelection for her District 3 seat on the SDC Board of Commissioners, according to an email provided by SDC. 

However, Njoroge continued to attend SDC board meetings and be counted in roll call as a commissioner after June, including being listed in minutes from an August meeting.

Wyman Winston, a former director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, or WHEDA, said he does not understand how SD Properties could retain a former board member for the sale.

“That is unusual for nonprofits,” Winston said. “I’m not saying it doesn’t occur, but I’m saying it is not considered in any way to be the best practice.” 

Differences between SDC and SD Properties

The Social Development Commission was established in 1963 by Wisconsin law to be an intergovernmental commission that fights poverty in Milwaukee County. The agency closed to the public and laid off its employees in late April.

As a 501(c)(25) title-holding company, SD Properties acquires properties consistent with the SDC’s mission and leases space to SDC and other anti-poverty organizations. 

Unlike SDC, SD Properties is not considered subject to open meetings and records law, which is why it is not publicly disclosing the listing contract, its bylaws or conflict-of-interest policy.  

What is required of SDC in dealing with a possible conflict of interest?

SDC is required to have a conflict-of-interest policy for employees and board members, according to its bylaws. 

Sulton said he expects SDC has a conflict-of-interest policy for board members, but that he is unable to provide it because SDC does not have access to all of its files. 

SDC lost access to such records after its technology services provider, Caspian Technologies, cut off the agency’s access to its website, emails and other electronic data. 

Nonprofits like SD Properties are supposed to circulate conflict-of-interest policies annually and disclose any potential conflicts, according to Mary Beth Collins, executive director of the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“And if a conflict actually comes up, then their person is supposed to disclose it, and they are to recuse themselves from the decision-making around that issue,” Collins said. 

State law requires real estate agents to disclose who they are working for and any conflicts to anyone they are working with on a property sale, according to Scott Bush, vice president of operations for the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors. 

“I don’t see how it wouldn’t be OK as long as their disclosures were being made,” Bush said. “Unless it violates their own rules, and it could.” 

How was the decision made to list the properties?

Because SDC failed to pay rent to SD Properties for its leased spaces for several months, SD Properties could not keep up with payments for mortgages on both North Avenue properties, Sulton said. 

“This was really about SD Properties trying to resolve outstanding mortgage debt, trying to avoid foreclosure and other things that it didn’t want,” Sulton said. 

SD Properties board voted to sell the properties and list them with Njoroge and Ogden & Company, according to Sulton. 

Bobot said SDC officials listed the properties, a responsibility that would normally be relegated to him as a representative of SD Properties. 

“I wasn’t too involved in who they selected, but when they told me this was a good idea to select her and her firm with the thing and what it would sell for, it made sense to me,” Bobot said. 

Njoroge was not on the properties board at the time and could not vote, Sulton said. 

“Was she literally in the room? Yeah, I think so,” Sulton said. 

Going forward, the SD Properties board will approve any property sales, Bobot said, not the SDC board.

Real estate commission discounted

Collins said the conflict of interest would depend on Njoroge’s involvement in SD Properties’ decision to hire her and how much the commission is discounted. 

“I could see that being a very plausible scenario where you’re in an emergency, you have someone who understands the situation, they’re going to get off the board so that they can change roles,” she said. 

Sulton said Njoroge’s commission is under 6% and discounted to what he and Bobot believe is a favorable rate on the market. 

There is not a standard rate of commission for commercial property transactions, according to Tom Larson, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Realtors Association.  

Bobot said it wouldn’t be unusual for the commission to be lowered further during sale negotiations. 

Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.

Conflict of interest? Milwaukee SDC property sale would benefit former board member is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Milwaukee attorney William Sulton’s mission is to represent those considered to be the least, the last or the left behind. 

Although he has been in the news for his work with the troubled Social Development Commission and as one of the attorneys representing the family of D’Vontaye Mitchell, who died after a confrontation at the downtown Hyatt Regency, Sulton serves in various legal and board leadership roles in Milwaukee. 

“I just try to do what I can do that’s the right thing and use the legal tools that I have available to me,” he said. “But they’re often difficult problems.”

Sulton estimates that he spends a third of his time running his law practice, The Sulton Law Firm, 2745 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, which specializes in civil rights and public interest cases.  

He devotes another third of his time to volunteering, which includes serving as the board president of the ACLU of Wisconsin. He is the legal redress chair of the NAACP Milwaukee Branch and director of the Honorable Lloyd A. Barbee Foundation, which is named for the late activist lawyer and state legislator who fought for school desegregation.

Sulton is also on the board of Convergence Resource Center, 2323 N. Mayfair Road, an anti-human trafficking nonprofit in Milwaukee.

How it all started

During his childhood, Sulton lived in Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado and New Jersey.

His mother is from Racine and worked as a civil rights lawyer, which Sulton said had a huge impact on him and his siblings.  

“All three of us (siblings) had a really strong sense of social justice and wanting to help people, particularly racial justice issues,” said Sulton’s sister Patrice Sulton, who also is an attorney. 

She now runs DC Justice Lab, an organization focused on criminal justice reform policy. 

Sulton remembers one case in which his mom was defending Gil Webb, a Black teenager who was charged in the death of a police officer after a car crash in Denver in 1997. People called their home and left racist and threatening messages on the answering machine. 

“I remember being a little kid and riding my bike home so I could erase these messages because I didn’t want my mom to hear them,” he said.

Sulton studied political science as an undergraduate student at Michigan State University, where he started representing students in plagiarism cases. 

While attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, Sulton met his wife, Stephanie, and later moved to her hometown of Milwaukee. 

Public interest law

After finishing law school, Sulton noticed that many people in the courtroom were unrepresented because they believed lawyers were beyond their reach. 

Wisconsin ranks low in lawyers per capita and has an even smaller number of civil rights lawyers, Sulton said. 

Public interest lawyers usually represent poor, marginalized or underrepresented individuals or organizations not served by private sector law firms, including civil rights and social justice cases. 

“These cases are important,” he said. “They mean something. It’s not just about how much money can you make on a case, right? It’s about, can you really change government policy? Can you really make things better, right?” 

Sulton has gained a reputation for taking cases he says that few attorneys will take and demonstrating that they can be profitable. 

“If I had a magic wand and I could do one thing, I would shift the way that we talk about public interest work,” Sulton said. “I think the number one reason that people don’t do public interest work is they don’t think that it’s profitable.” 

Sulton also makes time to speak to law students at UW-Madison. 

One law student asked him about the traumatic weight of his cases and if it impacts him, which Sulton said he had not thought about before. 

“I think I’m just callous because it doesn’t,” Sulton said. 

The ultimate volunteer

Through his volunteer work with the NAACP, Sulton has taken on equal employment opportunity cases and helps clients understand legal problems if they are considering filing complaints, said Clarence Nicholas, president of the NAACP Milwaukee Branch.

“He has a friendly personality and he’s personable,” Nicholas said. 

Sulton started representing the Social Development Commission, also known as the SDC, in late 2022 on a volunteer basis when longtime attorney James Hall Jr. was getting ready to retire and brought him on. Hall died in early 2024.

SDC suspended operations in April, halting a variety of programs and laying off employees. Sulton is working with the SDC board to find paths forward for the agency.

“I don’t know anybody else that would do what he has done, the amount of work that we have put on him, especially in the last four months,” said Barbara Toles, chair of the SDC Board of Commissioners. 

Patrice Sulton said she doesn’t know anyone else in the legal field or elsewhere who holds as many time-consuming positions at the same time.

“I think it’s probably too much to juggle, but I also see how those things work together,” she said. 

One of Milwaukee’s unsung heroes

Sulton said he tries to work early in the morning or late at night to spend the final third of his time with his wife and four kids, ages 13, 10, 8 and 5. 

He said he likes the life he has built, and his main goal is to try to help people.

Debbie Lassiter, executive director of Convergence Resource Center, thinks Sulton is one of Milwaukee’s unsung heroes for his work in the community.

“He never makes you feel like: ‘Listen, I’m too busy to talk to you,’ ” she said. 

“You don’t hear a lot about him getting awards or people thanking him for what he’s done, but we will be forever grateful for what he did for us,” Lassiter added.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Attorney William Sulton advocates for Milwaukee’s most vulnerable is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The Social Development Commission is selling its properties on Milwaukee’s North Avenue for about $3 million to help pay for expenses needed to move the now-closed agency forward, NNS has learned.

The SDC’s main office at 1730 W. North Ave. and two parking lots are listed for $2.59 million, and its nearby warehouse and parking lot at 1810 W. North Ave. are listed for $639,000 by Ogden & Company, Inc.

William Sulton, SDC’s attorney, confirmed on Tuesday that the buildings are for sale. 

He said the board made the decision on Sept. 18 to sell the properties to limit ongoing expenditures, plan for future operations, pay some of SDC’s debts and avoid future debt. 

“Obviously, the board has to scale down its operations,” he said. “And the North Avenue properties, it was unlikely that those properties would be fully utilized.” 

Both locations are owned by SD Properties, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a separate board. It also owns SDC’s office on Teutonia Avenue, Sulton said. 

SD Properties was established in 2002 to acquire properties for SDC, according to a 2022 tax document.

In the months since the social service agency closed its doors to the public in late April, SDC’s Board of Commissioners has tried to unravel the agency’s financial situation and restructure it for the future. 

Former commissioner and SDC volunteer selling properties

Kimberly Njoroge is listed as the Ogden agent for the properties. 

Njoroge served as an elected member for District 3 on the SDC’s Board of Commissioners. Sulton said her term expired in June.

She has continued to attend board meetings and be included on the board roll call, sometimes taking roll at meetings. Sulton said she has continued to volunteer with SDC. 

“I think it’s fair to say that she received access that no other non-board member received,” Sulton said. 

SD Properties entered into a standard broker contract with Ogden, which includes a commission, according to Sulton.

The SD Properties board now consists of commissioners Terese Caro and Vincent Bobot.

Sulton said SD Properties did not go through a bidding process.

When considering how to utilize its resources in SDC’s crisis, the board looked at the options of selling the North Avenue locations. 

“Then the question was, who would do it and who would do it at a rate that was more favorable than the market, and Njoroge was the person,” Sulton said. 

Njoroge did not respond to a request for comment. 

Why sell?

With funds from the sales, SD Properties could pay off debt on the two defaulted mortgages of the properties as well as owed maintenance costs, Sulton said. 

“I think that SD Properties would be able to pay off all of its debt and I think SD Properties would be in a position to be able to deliver a donation to the commission that the commission could use to whatever advantage the commission believed appropriate,” Sulton said. 

As recently as January, SDC had planned to expand its properties, Sulton said. 

The main office is 32,400 square feet, according to the property listing.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Milwaukee’s Social Development Commission to sell office and warehouse is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.