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Milwaukee has become part of a mass surveillance apparatus. Surveillance technology is dangerous, and few know that these are counterinsurgency tactics being practiced on residents by our own police department. 

Integrated surveillance technology tactics, like drones, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR), video cameras, “Stingray” international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) catchers, and social media trackers, were developed during colonial endeavors and on battlefields like Vietnam, Colombia and the Middle East to pacify local populations. 

These types of surveillance technologies made their way back for use against the domestic populace in the United States. 

The dangers of Flock cameras

It’s unfortunate that the police have resorted to counterinsurgency tactics to surveil Milwaukee residents, but one is uniquely dangerous: automated license plate reading technology, more popularly known as Flock cameras. 

Flock technology can establish a “pattern of life” for Milwaukee residents, especially when combined with other surveillance technologies, without a warrant or probable cause. 

A “pattern of life” is the recurring patterns, behaviors and cycles that make up your average day-to-day activities. Establishing a pattern of life involves law enforcement collecting surveillance data and combining it to build a detailed picture of a person’s habits, routines, relationships and behavior. This includes where a person sleeps, when they leave, where they work, where they regularly meet, what vehicle they drive, which routes they take and much more. 

Flock cameras and other automatic license plate recognition tools also record other information, such as make, model, color, body style, temporary tags, damage and stickers. They call it the “vehicle footprint” and use it when there is no license plate or the license plate is unreadable. These cameras actually record everything in a wide angle, but allegedly the interface that the local police can see only displays what I’ve mentioned. 

The companies that make them, and theoretically anyone who accesses the recording, can see everything captured in the videos. That means faces, cellphones, clothes, actions – everything. 

The Milwaukee Police Department combines this with open-source intelligence like Babel Street, which analyzes publicly available information, such as social media data. This means they can also begin to build out a psychological profile, ideology, interests and a network of associates. 

Over-policing the community

Although the MPD has acquired this technology under the pretext of solving crime, it indiscriminately monitors all Milwaukee residents’ whereabouts and online activities, and that does not make Milwaukee safer. Instead, it reinforces over-policing, and these technologies tend to be concentrated in Black and Latino communities.

Studies show that over-policing produces more crime because it deteriorates community-police relations, causing communities to abide by what sociologists call the “code of the street,” which causes retaliatory violence. 

Researchers have clearly illustrated that most crime is a result of unmet needs, so if we intend to make Milwaukee safe, policing and surveilling the populace will not create a safe community. If people still have to survive harsh circumstances, the government can place all the surveillance technology and police they desire; people will still find ways to survive when faced with intense, concentrated poverty, hyper-segregation, economic exclusion and structural racism. 

Furthermore, the current federal landscape has set a dangerous precedent for how it accesses and exploits the surveillance data collected by local police and sheriff’s departments. We must oppose and ban Flock automated license plate readers and any other technology that undermines civil liberties and privacy. The abuse of these technologies causes more problems for Milwaukee residents. We need to remove them to protect our privacy and democracy.

Nickolas X Doherty is the Confronting Mass Incarceration coordinator at the Milwaukee Turners.

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service invites community members to submit opinion pieces of 500-800 words on topics of interest to central city Milwaukee. To send a submission for consideration, please email info@milwaukeenns.org. The views expressed are solely those of the authors.

Guest opinion: We must oppose and ban the use of Flock technology 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.

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In Milwaukee at H.W. Longfellow School’s Community Learning Center, which is operated by the South Side nonprofit Journey House, staff are always finding new ways to immerse students in art and culture.

To help, Cherise Myers, Journey House director of community partnerships, said the nonprofit utilizes state Child Care Bridge payments to bring in instructors specializing in art, dance, digital media and more.

Now Longfellow and other Milwaukee Public Schools-based before- and after-school programs must grapple with how to continue exposing students who don’t often get exposure to art while losing thousands of dollars in stabilization payments.

“This is kind of putting the nail in the coffin,” Myers said. “Not being able to have the money to contract or work with these opportunities.”

The Child Care Bridge Payments Program was the state’s temporary solution to the federal government sunsetting Child Care Counts, a monthly federal child care stabilization program born out of the pandemic that supported nearly 1,400 child care providers in the city of Milwaukee. 

The Wisconsin Legislature budgeted for a year of Child Care Bridge payments, which ended last month. 

Journey House received over $6,300 from the state in 2026 to support the Longfellow Community Learning Center. About 90 MPS-based before- and after-school programs collectively received $1.2 million in 2025.

Activities to be cut

Milwaukee Recreation, which received Child Care Bridge funding to operate child care as part of its programming at MPS locations, has struggled to attract and retain high-quality staff with competitive wages.

The monthly Child Care Counts and later state Child Care Bridge funding were critical in raising wages and giving employee bonuses, Community Learning Center coordinator Leighton Cooper said. 

Cooper, who coordinates Community Learning Centers through Milwaukee Recreation, said the funding helped staff stay longer at their programs overall.

“It’s causing us less and less to have to go out and find and recruit more and more staff to operate our programs,” he said. 

Now that Child Care Counts and Child Care Bridge payments have ended, Cooper said Milwaukee Recreation may have to cut funding for some supplies and activities, stop giving bonuses and cut staff positions beyond the required ratios from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.

“Our staff wages certainly can’t be changed,” Cooper said. “Staff are paid and that’s going to help us to keep staff in spaces.”

Journey House received less funding than other Community Learning Centers, and Myers said the organization already can’t always compete with wages at other schools.  

Myers said the ended funding may not affect new employees who were hired on starting pay, but veteran employees may leave if pay drops. Many already rely on other jobs to make ends meet, she said. 

Still, Myers said the money helped Journey House bring in instructors from local colleges, universities and community organizations to lead activities because those instructors aren’t always free.

Myers said Journey House programming depends on student needs, but the organization runs chess and Lego clubs, flag football, basketball and cheerleading classes, painting and metal classes and more.

500 programs across state losing funds

Across Milwaukee, about 90 MPS-based Community Learning Centers and before- and after-school camps received $1.2 million in 2025, according to Wisconsin Department of Children and Families data. 

Randy Neve, lead of the Wisconsin Out of School Time Alliance, estimates more than 500 before- and after-school programs serving school-aged children statewide are losing monthly stabilization payments. Milwaukee’s MPS-based programs are among them.

Many of the providers who received state and federal stabilization payments were early-childhood centers serving infants and toddlers, NNS reported in June. 

But Neve said these programs, including the ones across MPS, serve thousands of 4- to 12-year-olds. The loss of stabilization payments will affect that population of children and families. 

“In the long run, the kids are the ones that lose out and are hurt,” Neve said.

Push for the state

The state budgeted for one year of Child Care Bridge payments in the biennial budget. 

Legislators including state Sen. LaTonya Johnson, who represents District 6 on Milwaukee’s North Side, proposed SB 322 to support child care providers, but the bill didn’t get a hearing, NNS reported. 

Neve said the Wisconsin Out of School Time Alliance is working with other organizations to advocate for greater funding for before- and after-school programs like the one Journey House hosts at Longfellow. He and other partners are educating policymakers about what the loss of this funding will mean for providers and families. 

Myers said many of the families at Longfellow are already struggling with the rising cost of living, and the loss of stabilization payments will ultimately hurt students and families. 

“Things are tough, and it’s sad to say that this is just going to make things tougher,” Myers said.

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Alex Klaus is the education solutions 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.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

After-school programs lose thousands each month as child care stabilization funding ends 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.

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Every morning, rising senior Chris Hutcherson takes two Milwaukee County Transit System buses to get to Audubon Technology and Communication Center on Milwaukee’s South Side.

Hutcherson said he doesn’t mind his daily commute on MCTS, except when the buses are delayed. If his bus hits traffic, he sometimes misses his transfer.

“Then the 57 don’t come for like a good, good 20 minutes,” Hutcherson said.

Hutcherson is one of about a fifth of Milwaukee Public Schools high schoolers who district officials say ride MCTS buses to school. The district is now deciding on whether to send more students on county buses as part of a transportation system overhaul. 

To hit its transportation budget for the year that began in July 2026, MPS needs to cut roughly $3.5 million, according to figures the administration presented to the school board in June.

MPS Senior Director of Transportation Services David Fifarek said the district will not implement most changes until the 2027-28 school year, to allow for community engagement and to determine which recommendations are most practical.

Betting on the bus

Hutcherson tracks county buses on Google Maps, which he said is the most reliable of the apps he’s tried, though it isn’t foolproof. 

“I was actively watching that app on my phone, and I remember getting on the bus, and it’s saying that it didn’t leave,” Hutcherson said. 

MCTS buses are on time 80% of the time, which, by its definition, is within one minute before or five minutes after the scheduled departure time, according to transit officials. 

Fifarek said students who live more than seven miles from their high school are assigned to MCTS, while those within seven miles typically ride a yellow bus. 

“You can’t have a yellow bus running effectively more than seven miles from starting point to destination without having to run at least an hour long to do it,” Fifarek said.

MCTS buses will likely be most effective for students in high-density areas who can take a bus to school with no transfers, Fifarek said. It also alleviates some safety concerns because students are quickly on and off the bus without having to get off the bus and wait for another one to connect them to school. 

He said things get tricky when students live on the opposite side of town and children have to transfer buses in an area that is unfamiliar to them.

Fifarek described a “tug of war” between MCTS covering more of the city with county buses and running them often enough so riders aren’t stranded waiting for a transfer.

MCTS is weighing that very dilemma as the agency begins its own overhaul of the county bus system to provide efficient service amid a looming budget deficit. 

For the next 12 to 15 months, a spokesperson said MCTS will engage with stakeholders including MPS as part of the MCTS Forward system redesign.

MCTS has already made tough decisions to recover from a $14 million deficit, reducing frequency on routes like Hutcherson’s 57, and running the 55, the main line for commuting Reagan High School students, during peak hours. Midday service has since returned for the 55.

Fifarek said the district’s future plans will largely depend on how MCTS will change its coverage and ride frequency in the next year. 

“If that coverage model changes, then we’re going to have to pivot and then reinstate some yellow buses or some other form of transportation to replace the void that might be created by the county transit system,” Fifarek said.

On July 15, MCTS proposed cutting bus service by 25% in 2027 to address the deficit.

Chronically late

McQuinn Coleman said his yellow bus is late multiple times each school year. When he has too much trouble with the bus, he stays home.

Four other students at Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education, Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School and Milwaukee High School of the Arts said their buses are routinely late in the morning. They sometimes take MCTS buses as a result. 

A district-commissioned analysis by 4MATIV presented at the June board meeting found that 73% of trackable bus trips to MPS are on time. But, looking at all trips, including about a third that have no GPS data, less than half of MPS bus trips could be confirmed as arriving on schedule.

Coleman said he dealt with so many transportation issues that he lost a credit and had to take summer school.

‘On point ever since’

One day, Coleman said he got robbed as he left summer school. 

He said he doesn’t feel safe waiting at stops anymore and stays vigilant on his walks to and from the bus.

“I’ve been on point ever since,” Coleman said. 

Hutcherson said he generally feels safe taking MCTS buses, but he also makes sure to stay aware of his surroundings. 

Other male high school students who spoke to NNS said they feel safe walking to and from their stop and waiting for the bus.

Students like Coleman are the ones School Board Director Darryl Jackson thinks the district should consider when forming a transportation plan. 

He said cost saving measures are important, but safety shouldn’t be overlooked in favor of cost. 

“Currently, a lot of adults don’t want to walk through certain neighborhoods,” Jackson said. “We got to keep that in mind with having our students walk through certain areas.” 

Fifarek said safety is one of the biggest concerns as MPS reviews the recommendations and overhauls the district transportation system.

The report presented to the school board in June estimates $11 million in savings if the district consolidated stops, for example. But Fifarek said implementing such a step by only considering distance could potentially send young children crossing busy streets like Capitol Drive or Fond du Lac Avenue.  

“Eleven million dollars of savings in stop consolidation would have to completely wipe out this concept of no cross streets,” Fifarek said. “You might create some safety issues and risks in the process.”

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Alex Klaus is the education solutions reporter for 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.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Milwaukee Public Schools weighs sending more students on county buses to cut transportation costs 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.

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Monday afternoon brought the Milwaukee community together to honor late baseball icon Henry “Hank” Aaron.

The day’s festivities included a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new mural featuring Aaron and a proclamation from Mayor Cavalier Johnson recognizing July 20, 2026, as Henry Lewis “Hank” Aaron Day.

Hammerin’ Hank’s history

Aaron, who died on Jan. 22, 2021, spent the first 12 years of his career playing for the Milwaukee Braves, before the team moved to Atlanta.

His love for Milwaukee brought him back to the city to play his last two professional seasons for the Brewers.

“I knew how much he loved this place, this community and these people,” said his wife, Billye Aaron.

Billye Aaron continued to appreciate all that Milwaukee had done for Hank.

“Thank you to each of you for the love that you showed him and for the legend that you continue on his behalf,” she said.

It was in Milwaukee 50 years to the date when Aaron hit the 755th and last home run of his career. At the time it was the most ever hit by a player.

Aaron’s 755 home runs are still the second most hit by a player all-time in Major League Baseball. Brian Anderson, the voice of the Brewers, said Aaron is still the all-time home run king. His monstrous home runs earned him the nickname of “Hammerin’ Hank.”

For those who he impacted, his legend grew beyond just the name of baseball. 

“The number 755 represents much more than a milestone. It represents perseverance, excellence and strength in the face of adversity,” Anderson said.

City figures chime in

Politicians and other public leaders were also in attendance for Monday’s celebration and mural unveiling.

They underlined the importance of celebrating Hank Aaron as not only a baseball player but a Milwaukee icon.

“His legacy reminds us that greatness isn’t measured only by records and awards, it’s measured by character, perseverance and service,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. “Those are the values that continue to define our community in Milwaukee.”

Johnson also touched on the vitality of Aaron’s Milwaukee presence.

“It’s a lasting tribute to a man whose story belongs in the hearts of people right here in neighborhoods like this,” he said.

Bud Selig, former commissioner of Major League Baseball, also attended the ceremony. Selig, a friend of Aaron’s for over 60 years, was instrumental in returning baseball to Milwaukee after the Braves left for Atlanta in 1966.

“I will always be very grateful. He was the greatest player of our generation and maybe the greatest human being of our generation,” said Selig.

Inspiring the future with art

The new mural of Aaron unveiled during the ceremony is completely textile fabric. Milwaukee artist Rosy Petri created the piece as a part of a series that celebrates African American cultural contributions through baseball. She interweaved traditional African patterns and used kente cloth. The version that hangs above the Clinton Rose Senior Center, 3045 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, is an installation version of Petri’s textile art.

“I made it for myself, but I hoped that someday it would end up some place where people could see it, appreciate it and learn from it,” said Petri.

Now, it hangs high in Bronzeville – her own neighborhood.

Throughout her creative process, she said she made sure to portray an aura that doesn’t normally attach itself to Aaron’s legacy.

“They talk about him as a humble man and very down to earth, but I wanted the piece to have some swagger to it,” Petri said.

That swagger plays out in the bold white and black color contrast and Aaron’s stance.

Petri hopes that kids playing baseball in the park across the way can see it and be inspired.

“They’ll know that there was somebody else that came before them and did the thing,” Petri said.

Despite the many years since Aaron crushed his last home run, his figure continues to live and inspire in Milwaukee and beyond. 

“When we celebrate icons like Hank Aaron, we’re not just looking back on history, we’re inspiring the next generation of leaders,” Crowley said. 

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Fifty years after his final home run, Milwaukee honors Hank Aaron with new mural 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.

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Progress is possible, and Milwaukee’s decline in violent crime in recent years suggest it’s happening. 

Advocates and violence prevention workers say keeping crime trending down depends on investment in the trusted relationships that make violence less likely. 

Examples of investments that can create tangible alternatives to violence, they said, are mentorship instead of isolation, employment instead of boredom and community instead of retaliation.

At the center of it all is trust, said Reggie Moore, director of community safety, policy and engagement for the Comprehensive Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin. 

“Trust is universal,” Moore said. “Trust is the door opener.”

City and county leaders highlighted declines in violent crime on July 7 as they presented data for the first half of 2026.

Compared with the first half of 2025, homicides fell 30%, nonfatal shootings fell 27%, and carjackings fell 34%.

“Milwaukee is a safer community,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. “This continues a multiyear trend that is very positive news.”

Karin Tyler, director of the city Department of Community Wellness and Safety, said the progress reflects years of collaboration among law enforcement, violence prevention organizations, community groups and residents.

“Milwaukee is making progress, and that progress belongs to all of us,” Tyler said.

Aziz Abdullah, co-founder of INPOWER Solutions, said he doesn’t want to gloss over the progress or take it for granted.  

INPOWER is one of several organizations participating in the Destined for Greater initiative, a collaborative effort to reduce violence in Milwaukee County. 

“Lives are being protected, and that should not be overlooked,” Abdullah said. 

Moore pointed to reductions in retaliatory shootings, group-based gun violence and youth-related gun violence as signs of progress. 

He said programs such as 414LIFE intentionally focus on the people and neighborhoods at highest risk of gun violence.

‘We don’t shoot up stuff’

Vaun Mayes, a community organizer and violence interrupter with the city’s Department of Community Wellness and Safety, said he sees these interventions firsthand every day. 

“We also get to see the changes in some of the key players who are even doing a bit of self-control and self-policing,” Mayes said. 

He described one instance at a block party where two groups were in conflict and one group was armed.

Mayes said he heard one of the young men say, “Aye, we don’t shoot up stuff where it’s kids at.” 

Community violence intervention workers de-escalated the conflict, and the result, Mayes said, was that no one was shot.

“That’s one of maybe over a dozen incidents in the past two months I can give you,” he said.

Looking forward

Violence prevention workers and local leaders said the local efforts are by no means complete.

“We still have work to do,” Tyler said.

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman pointed to violence on the Fourth of July weekend as an example.

Moore said what’s needed is more employment and educational opportunities and helping people develop the skills to resolve conflicts without violence.

Bridget Whitaker, executive director of Safe & Sound, said residents continue to express concerns about reckless driving, youth conflicts, neighborhood safety and other quality-of-life issues.

“Ultimately, the goal isn’t simply fewer crimes on a dashboard,” Whitaker said in an email. “It’s creating neighborhoods where people feel comfortable sitting on their front porch, children can safely walk to the park, businesses can thrive and neighbors know and look out for one another.”

Homicides, shootings and carjackings fall as Milwaukee violence prevention efforts show progress 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.

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On Milwaukee’s North Side, women 40 and up are coming together to jump double Dutch. Members say that beyond the ropes they are building a sisterhood, strengthening their health and becoming confident in aging.

40+ Double Dutch Club is a nonprofit founded in Chicago by Pamela Robinson in 2016 that uses double Dutch and other fitness activities to encourage wellness, sisterhood, mental health and more for women over 40.

“It amazes me how God can use something as simple as a plastic clothesline to connect women all over the world,” said Robinson, who is also the group’s CEO and board president. 

Robinson, 55, launched the organization after discussing the idea with her friend Catrina Dyer-Taylor. At the time she was battling depression. 

“My husband and I were about to get divorced, my oldest kids were grown and I just had my youngest one in the house,” Robinson said. “I needed to find a happy place.”

She promoted the meetup on social media, and many of her friends and community members came out to support her.

“I remember telling (Dyer-Taylor) that if no one came then we’d tie the ropes to a fence and jump together,” Robinson said. “However, we never had to do that because our friends came out.” 

Since being founded, the organization has expanded into hundreds of subclubs nationwide, including Milwaukee’s. 

“I knew that God wanted me to do something and it’s given me purpose and he has put me on a path where 40+ Double Dutch is a part of that,” said Angela Scott, captain and founder of Milwaukee’s double Dutch subclub.

Launching the Milwaukee subclub

Scott, 54, established the 40+ Double Dutch subclub in Milwaukee in 2024 after discovering the organization on Facebook. She took weekend trips to Chicago and sometimes Texas to participate with women of the club.

“The feeling I got from the ladies when I entered the gym was like I’ve known them all my life,” Scott said. 

As a breast cancer survivor, Scott said she was glad to have found something that brought her comfort that wasn’t a traditional gym space. 

“Double Dutching is a full body workout, and I don’t like the gym, but I knew I needed something to keep my body moving and to keep cancer out of my body,” Scott said.

Once officially joining 40+ Double Dutch, Scott talked to Robinson about bringing a subclub to Milwaukee.

“She said that they had been wanting one in Milwaukee, they just had no one that was interested and committed,” Scott said.

Milwaukee’s subclub now consists of 37 members. Among them is Scott’s mother, Shirley Tomlinson, 76, who is the first and oldest member.

“I feel like my family has grown here and that’s a very positive thing for a person my age,” Tomlinson said. “It helps keep me feeling young, and there’s a lot of support in it.”

Tomlinson said she joined the club after hearing about her daughter’s Chicago experience and watching the film “Beyond the Ropes: The 40+ Double Dutch Club Documentary.“

Though Tomlinson doesn’t jump double Dutch, she does other things for the subclub like record keeping, videography, planning birthday celebrations and more. 

“I do everything I can because I’m my daughter’s ride or die,” she said.

Reliving childhood memories

Scott said double Dutch gives her a joyous nostalgia from growing up, especially as she learned how to double Dutch from her aunt who was like a big sister.

“If you were a girl that jump-roped, then you know it takes you back to that space,” Scott said. 

When the Milwaukee subclub appears at local events like the Juneteenth parade, residents typically will jump in the ropes with smiles and recall memories as they walk down the streets.

“As you watch us grow, you can see God’s hand in it,” Tomlinson said.

The women of Milwaukee’s subclub meet from 6:30 to 8 p.m. every Wednesday at Abundant Faith Church of Integrity, 7830 W. Good Hope Road.

The meet typically begins with a stretch, then leads to open play that includes dances and songs to let them double Dutch, hula hoop or play a rhythmic game. 

One fitness activity recreated by 40+ Double Dutch is African Hopscotch, which includes members jumping to a song called “Double Dutch Bus” by Frankie Smith and sometimes holding pompoms. 

To end the session, members close with a double Dutch hymn followed by a circle of prayer. 

“We hold hands and then we sing the song,” Scott said. “Regardless of what meet you go to each one will have the same format.”

Building a strong sisterhood

Scott said the relationships being built at the club remind her of the organization’s mission. 

“Part of the mission is friendship, fitness, fun and fellowship,” she said. “All of those things resonate with me and in my spirit because it’s a sisterhood that’s based on God’s direction.”

When away from the ropes, members try to support each other in different ways.

“There are several of the ladies in our club that have businesses, and we’ll do anything to support them,” Scott said. 

For Tomlinson, who experienced a few health crises this year, it brought relief knowing that there was a sisterhood standing behind her.

“They reached out to me and let me know they were praying for me,” she said. “It’s like having a big family of daughters.”

Achieving long-term goals

Within the next few years, Scott hopes to see the subclub grow in membership and the women begin to intentionally take more time for themselves.

“I truly believe that a healthy and strong woman makes a healthy and strong world because we are the mothers of this world,” she said. “If the woman is not healthy mentally, physically or spiritually, then the world is not healthy.”

Another goal of hers is to visit with incarcerated women. 

“For whatever reason that they’re there, I just want to take them out of that space for just 30 to 40 minutes,” she said. 

Tomlinson said it amazes her to see her daughter lead, receive support from the community and promote health to other women. 

“It’s been wonderful watching her grow and watching how dedicated she is because that’s a big responsibility,” she said.

How to join 40+ Double Dutch Club

If you are a woman over 40 and interested in joining, click here to find a subclub near you and find details about weekly meetups.

Membership is $120 and includes a digital ID card, access to all nationwide subclubs, subclub support and more. 

Scott said the summer has been the busiest time for the organization and wants to remind women that you don’t have to jump to be a part of it. 

“People are starting to realize we’re in the city and we like it that way because the more women that know then the more that can be impacted by what we have to offer,” she said.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

‘You can see God’s hand in it’: How Milwaukee women are building a double Dutch community through sisterhood and fitness 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.

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How does one love thy neighbor in 2026?

For the interfaith community in Milwaukee, sharing stories over a communal meal makes the process easy.

On the last Wednesday of every month, the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee hosts the Amazing Faiths Dinner Dialogue. It’s here where people of all religions, denominations and backgrounds are invited to break literal and figurative bread.

Cultivating the conversation

“It’s really one of our most important grassroots programs because we are trying to build connections between people of different faith backgrounds,” said Ahmed Quereshi, executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee.

Quereshi, a member of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, was appointed executive director of the Interfaith Conference in April 2023. 

Active since the 1970s, it wasn’t until right after 9/11 that the Muslim community was invited to join Interfaith, according to Quereshi. He said the events of 9/11 sparked the group to become significantly more diverse.

“It was felt that there was a need to reach out and have better connections with religious leaders in the local community as well,” Quereshi said.

That marketplace of ideas and diversity lives on through the Amazing Faith Dinner Dialogue.

But first, we feast

For the last 15 years, people of varying faiths in the greater Milwaukee area have sat down to converse and connect. For a while, the dinners took place in people’s homes, limiting the number of people who could attend. 

Today, the growing appetite for interfaith connection has moved the dinners to large church halls, with over 50 attendees on some nights. Even though the event has expanded, it still features cozy tables of no more than seven people, which gives members a chance to connect with those around them.

As conversations begin, predisposed walls start to fade. 

“When you sit down at a table with people, you realize that somebody put up those barriers,” said Monica Gramling, who said this was her seventh or eighth time attending the dinner. “I never leave one of these dinners without feeling more connected to the other people in the world.”

Quereshi said the importance of the event ties back to his early days and family values. 

“It was always more important about how you treated your neighbor rather than whether your neighbor checked all your boxes,” he said.

Quereshi serves as one of the moderators for his discussion group. Each of the eight tables that span the church hall has its own moderator. It’s the moderator’s job to keep time and the flow of conversation going. 

One of the ways they achieve this is by handing the first participant a unique question. Sometimes it’s faith-related, sometimes not. Examples include “Have you ever been the recipient of unconditional love?” and “What do you believe happens after death?” 

The prompts reader is the only respondent. It isn’t until the person is finished responding that the moderator hands out the next question. According to Quereshi, this practice of listening rather than thinking about one’s own response promotes appreciative inquiry and listening.

Modern-day interfaith importance

In the world’s current state of conflict, interfaith conversation may be more vital than ever, said Irfan Omar, a longtime Amazing Faiths attendee. 

“There’s a lot of perversion of interfaith dialogue taking place right now,” said Omar, a professor of peace studies and theology at Marquette University.

“We have to actually emphasize authentic interfaith relationships where people can talk about spirituality and faith and even challenges that it presents to us. These are the venues where we can do that.”

For many, a shared meal and a conversation end up being more impactful than what first meets the eye. 

“There isn’t as much difference as we want to believe there is. We want to believe we’re the only ones with the right answer, and that isn’t true,” Gramling said after the latest dinner.

The Amazing Faiths Dinner Dialogue’s next event is July 29 at Deer Creek Senior Village in New Berlin. Click here for more information.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Amazing Faiths Dinner Dialogue sparks interfaith connection 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.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Researchers from Children’s Wisconsin and the Medical College of Wisconsin found an association between motor vehicle crash injuries and firearm injuries among children and adolescents.

The findings could help inform violence prevention efforts, said Dr. Mike Levas, one of the authors of the study and a professor of pediatric emergency medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Wisconsin. 

“I think that car crashes, especially in our teens and young kids, can be a marker for that increased escalation and risky behaviors or risky situations,” said Levas, who is also medical director of Project Ujima. 

Project Ujima is a violence intervention program at Children’s Wisconsin. The program works to end the cycle of violence by providing crisis intervention and other support to youths and adults who are victims of violence.

Findings of the study

Nearly one in four patients treated for a firearm injury had multiple emergency department visits for firearm, non-firearm violence or motor vehicle crash injuries during a four-year period, according to the study.

The study examined 2,614 emergency department visits for violent injuries or motor vehicle crashes involving children and adolescents ages 0 to 17 from 2018 to 2022.

Researchers found a significant association between prior motor vehicle crash injuries and later firearm injuries.

In other words, motor vehicle crash injuries can serve as a marker for increased risk of a firearm injury later on.

Interpretation of findings

Traumatic events often do not occur in isolation, said Dr. Deanna Behrens, a pediatric critical care physician and American Academy of Pediatrics spokesperson.

“We know that there are clusters of activity, like risk-taking behavior, exposure to violence and traumatic injuries, that can happen in adolescence and early adulthood,” she said.

In addition to social and environmental factors, Levas said adolescents are still developing the parts of the brain responsible for decision-making.

“Most people, as they grow, don’t make great choices all the time,” Levas said. 

These developmental realities place some responsibility on society to help young people avoid risk, he said.

“If we don’t have guardrails for them, then I think from a public health standpoint, then we’re not helping the situation, we’re not helping to prevent injury,” he said.

Levas said Children’s Wisconsin is considering whether the findings could help identify opportunities to intervene earlier.

One possibility is expanding Project Ujima. 

Currently, the program serves youths who have been shot, stabbed or physically assaulted and provides case management, mental health services, mentorship and family support.

“One of the things that we’re looking at is: Do we expand our inclusion criteria to include victims of a motor vehicle crash so that we can prevent the firearm injury from happening altogether?” Levas said.

Important to note is that the program doesn’t just serve the direct victim of violence.

“We wrap our arms around the entire family, so not just the immediate victim, but we also support the entire household,” said Brooke Cheaton, manager of Project Ujima. “Those conversations are centered very much around concerns, whether it be for safety, for physical health, for mental well-being, emotional well-being, social supports.”

These types of support are necessary because violence can profoundly change the lives of victims, families and communities, Cheaton said.

“We are always talking about prevention, and early intervention is key to reducing injury and mortality,” said Maria Beyer, one of the authors of the study and a community health evaluation manager at Children’s Wisconsin. 

Collecting information early through interventions, she said, can help them learn of those shared risk factors that might be leading to both reckless driving and also gun violence. 

She said that mentoring and youth development programs are among the resources that could help communities intervene earlier.

What can parents do?

As Children’s Wisconsin explores ways to use the study findings to prevent future injuries, Levas said parents and caregivers can take steps of their own.

On a basic level, he said, parents can start by opening lines of communication with their children and helping them connect with trusted adults.

“Seeking mentorship for your child across multiple sectors is very helpful,” he said. “The more that the youth can get engaged with adults that are guiding them to make better choices, or learn how to stay out of risky situations, the better.”

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Researchers say car crashes could help identify youth at risk of gun violence  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.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Grief is complex.

In the same way that there is no one cause, there is no one cure. 

On a Friday night on Milwaukee’s South Side, local Indigenous community members gathered to grieve and try to find healing together.

On June 19, the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center held a candlelight grief vigil for loved ones to remember those who have passed.

The center, at 930 W. Historic Mitchell St., has been around since the 1970s. The grief vigil event began in 2024. 

“Spaces like this are a way to bask in culture and connect with one another,” said Madison Black, project officer at the health center. “We just want people to have a safe space to be as they are.” 

Mark Denning, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, sat at a table coloring a page that read “Thinking of you always.” There were about 15 names down the side of the sheet.

“Learning is eternal, faith is eternal, and so is this process of what we’re going through,” said Denning, referring to the complexity of grief.

It’s Denning’s third year attending the event. During the first two years, when the program focused on recognition of drug overdoses, he was invited as a speaker and someone who had lost multiple children to overdose.

In the back of the room, Narcan kits and training were offered to all attendees. Preventive methods like these have grown as the event has evolved. 

“It wasn’t just about mourning people, they also wanted to be about saving people,” Denning said.

Before the health center offered these events, it wasn’t unusual to lose 26 people in a season, said Denning, a longtime instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. For native communities across the nation, young people ages 10-24 have the highest rate of suicide of all demographic groups.  

It’s why the importance of banding together spoke volumes at the vigil. 

“Our community is so small and close-knit that a lot of times when there’s a loss, it’s felt across the entire community,” Black said.

The night included a welcome song from the RedNationBoyz, a powwow drum circle group for Indigenous youths. 

“(This event) gives other people an opportunity to communicate the same feelings that we may be sharing to each other,” said Avery Nahwahquaw, co-founder of the RedNationBoyz.

Communal food, crafts and music cultivate conversations about personal grief. 

“Sometimes you feel like nobody else knows what you’re going through. But when you go to something like this, you realize real fast that there’s a lot of people who feel the same way you do,” Nahwahquaw said.

Denning’s journey with grief meant he didn’t work for two years following the passing of his last child. It wasn’t until one day he looked out over a field during a light snowfall and thought, “They’re a part of this now. They’re a part of this world, and wherever I look and wherever I go, this world’s going to be with me, and I’m with them.”

The process of grieving is vital, according to Denning. 

“No one should walk away from our funerals and say ‘they didn’t know I loved them’ or ‘I wish I could have told them I loved them,’” he said.

Next to Denning sat Oneida tribal member Jeremiah Johnson, who has his own journey with grief. 

“We have to speak up and do it together. Not one by one, but next to each other,” said Johnson, a South Side native.

The event also gave a larger perspective.

“Even though I have lost a lot, there are people that have suffered 10 times more than me,” Johnson said.

Togetherness during grief gifts the ability to freely express the emotions felt because of grief, Denning explained.

“It doesn’t mean that you’ll ever stop crying. It just means that I see you, I love you, I feel what you’re feeling. I can’t know it, but someone can identify with it,” Denning said.

Attendees spent the evening sharing meals, stories, songs and the peace created in the unity of their grief.  

Grief has no solution, but for the night, it had a place to rest.

Indian Health Center’s grief vigil offers space for remembrance in Milwaukee 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.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Aminat Bakare, who has grandsons ages 8 to 19, is looking for programs that could help them. 

“I have a lot of grandsons,” Bakare said. “I want to know what’s going on as far as different programs that can help them to stay on the right path.”

She was among residents on hand Wednesday for Milwaukee County’s launch of the Destined for Greater initiative, a collaborative effort to reduce violence.

Milwaukee County officials announced during the event, held at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum, they will use $1.5 million in state violence prevention funds to help connect residents in high-need neighborhoods with employment opportunities, housing assistance, mental health support and violence intervention services.

The initiative, overseen by the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, brings together existing violence intervention programs, wellness services and projects funded through the $1.5 million in state funding. 

Bakare, who lives on the Northwest Side, said peer pressure is one of the biggest challenges facing her grandsons.

She said she was particularly hopeful the initiative will result in employment opportunities.

“Something that can spark their interest,” she said. 

Robert Fisher, 15, attended the event with a mentor from the city’s 414LIFE, a community and hospital-based violence intervention program, to learn about the same opportunities.

Fisher said jobs and opportunities to create things are also hard to come by.

‘This is about peace’

Violence prevention workers and community members say the increased state funding could expand services and strengthen partnerships to help improve public safety.

Among the most enthusiastic was Kenneth Burns, a Milwaukee Public Schools student who described the benefits of INPOWER Solutions’ Grow Rich Initiative, which teaches gardening, entrepreneurship and other job-readiness skills. INPOWER is one of several organizations participating in the initiative. 

“For me, this is about peace,” Burns said. “Being in the garden gives me a place to slow down, build on something positive.”

Other partners include Milwaukee Turners, Milwaukee Bucks Foundation, Bloom Art and Integrated Therapies, and Community Justice Council.

According to a county press release, the Destined for Greater initiative will reduce community violence by building on the success of existing programs. 

The release cited the Advance Peace Fellowship, created in 2024, and the Credible Messenger program, as examples.

The release said 95% of fellows reported no new gun injuries and that 76% of youths who participated in Credible Messenger recently had no referral or offense while in the program. 

Moving forward

Crowley told NNS the goal of the initiative is to create collaboration in which organizations understand each other’s roles and can connect residents to needed services, even when they cannot provide those services themselves.

Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern told NNS he supports the effort.

“This is good news,” Lovern said. “It is important that this work is community-led.”

Both Bakare and Fisher said they, too, liked what they heard.

“I was very impressed,” Bakare said.

What’s next?

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The county and its partners plan to provide regular updates on the implementation and progress of the initiative.

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

State funding strengthens collaboration among Milwaukee violence prevention organizations 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.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Milwaukee’s Public Transportation, Utilities and Waterways Review Board waded into the statewide fight over utility regulation on Wednesday with a three-hour hearing discussing forming a publicly-owned electric utility. 

The proposed starting point: assuming control over We Energies’ infrastructure within city limits.

“Energy networks are best delivered by monopolies,” said Jim Carpenter, a board member. “The problem is that We Energies is a profit-driven monopoly, and sometimes profits get in the way of providing the best solution to a problem.”

The board has no power to recommend action by Milwaukee’s Common Council; Wednesday’s meeting was the board’s first since 2023. Instead, Aldermen Alex Brower and Robert Bauman used the hearing to open a discussion about the viability, risks and potential benefits of a possible city-owned electric utility. Backers and critics alike packed the board room, some eager to weigh in on the proposal.

“Everyone deserves to have savings. Everyone deserves to have the option to have control over their power,” said Cleopatra White, a working-class single mother in Milwaukee’s Southgate neighborhood. 

She said she wanted to show support for creating a publicly-owned utility because it’s an issue that affects everyone in Milwaukee, regardless of political party. 

What is a public utility? 

Wisconsin’s publicly-owned utilities — Manitowoc Public Utilities, for instance — generate roughly 11% of the electricity produced in the state, often with lower electric rates than their investor-owned counterparts. 

Wisconsin law allows municipalities to acquire utilities’ property, but that option is largely untested.

Brower pitched the takeover as a means to shield residents from electrical rate increases. We Energies filed its most recent rate case in April, projecting a roughly 9.3% increase in customers’ electricity rates over the next two years. 

But the plan faces pushback from We Energies and the union representing its workers. They argue that residents benefit from the economies of scale that a large, well-established utility provides.

“Reliability is not created by changing who owns the utility,” said James Meyer, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2150. “It comes from trained workers, proven emergency response systems and the ability to move crews, equipment and materials quickly when customers need help. Milwaukee has that today, and this proposal puts it at risk.”

We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said his company is responsive to ratepayers’ concerns about costs and service. 

“We know many families in Milwaukee are feeling pressure from rising energy costs, and we’re focused on keeping bills low while delivering the reliable energy customers count on every day,” Conway wrote in an email. 

How would a municipal utility be created? 

State law offers two routes for municipalities to assume control of utility infrastructure within their territory: seizing the facilities through eminent domain or negotiating a purchase agreement. 

The eminent domain route would likely require legal action by the city to prove the “necessity of the taking,” attorneys working with the Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) wrote ahead of Wednesday’s hearing. 

Brower won his seat representing District 3 in a special election last April with the backing of Milwaukee’s DSA chapter, which helps organize the “Power to the People” campaign drumming up support for a municipal electric utility. Many of its members attended the hearing. 

Both options would require a referendum and a hearing before Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission to determine a fair price for We Energies’ property. But Milwaukee’s suburbs rely  on much of the same infrastructure as the city, which could block Milwaukee from acquiring shared infrastructure. 

Shorewood Village Manager Rebecca Ewald, whose community shares a substation with Milwaukee, told Wisconsin Watch that she hasn’t discussed the idea with its sponsors. Oak Creek City Administrator Andrew Vickers declined to comment on the plan; his city, which borders Milwaukee’s southern edge, hosts several We Energies power plants. 

Milwaukee itself has only one We Energies power plant: the Valley Power Plant along the Menomonee River near the city’s central business district. It generates enough electricity to meet roughly 10% of Milwaukee’s annual needs, Conway said. 

Brower argues the current lack of generation within city limits wouldn’t hinder his goals. “We have the power to purchase (electricity) on the wholesale markets,” he told Wisconsin Watch.

State law allows municipal utilities to construct generators outside of their boundaries. In Brower’s view, Milwaukee could expand rooftop solar and battery storage to meet some energy needs — possibly sited on the city’s abundant vacant land.

Municipal control of We Energies’ substations and transmission assets could also mean shrinking the pool of customers paying for that infrastructure, including We Energies’ new mixed-use Juneautown substation in the city’s Historic Third Ward.

Act 10, a 2011 state law stripping most public-sector employees of collective bargaining rights,  also complicates the picture. 

Brower believes a Milwaukee public electrical utility should aim to hire the We Energies workers who currently operate infrastructure within the city, but doing so would make them public-sector employees. “We don’t want that,” he said.

“We are seriously considering a legal option of outsourcing the day-to-day management to a third-party entity once we acquire the utility infrastructure,” he added — a possible workaround to ensure that  employees under a municipal utility would retain their current rights. 

His pitch has yet to sway the IBEW, which generally supports We Energies in cases before the PSC and Legislature. 

“If the workers are forced into uncertainty over pensions, healthcare, seniority, contracts and union protections, many may not move to the city from the utility,” said Sam Rozenberg, an IBEW member and We Energies dispatcher who spoke at the hearing. “They have options. And if they leave, Milwaukee loses more than employees. It loses the people who know this system and know how to restore service safely.”

While there is no guarantee current We Energies workers would join a new municipal electric utility, Ursula Schryver, senior vice president of education, training and events for the American Public Power Association, told the board that Milwaukee could tap into a national network of public utilities to respond to natural disasters.

Other cities explore municipal utilities

Milwaukee isn’t the only city exploring this option. 

St. Petersburg, Florida’s city council approved a feasibility study earlier this year. Ann Arbor, Michigan’s city council voted down a proposal to study a municipal takeover of electric infrastructure last spring, though the plan’s backers now plan to take the matter to voters as a ballot petition.

A similar study commissioned by the San Diego, California city council produced an $8 billion cost estimate,  prompting some city leaders to balk at the idea. The same study also suggested that San Diego residents could recoup the costs in the long run. 

Brower said  San Diego’s deliberations offer a chance to pressure an investor-owned utility to make concessions. Even if the possibility of a municipal takeover in Milwaukee acts as a bargaining chip during an upcoming rate case, he said, “there’s power in winning concessions. But we are fighting for the entire thing.”

Samuel Mendoza, who recently moved with his wife to Milwaukee near the Harambee neighborhood, discussed his experience working in public works for the City of Los Angeles. While he didn’t work under the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, he said the municipal utility paid its nearly 12,000 workers well.

“I’m surprised coming here that there wasn’t already something municipal,” Mendoza said. “Especially things that are really specific to the city, you’d want to have a utility company that could handle those issues instead of just being so widespread.” 

What happens next?

We Energies was absent from the hearing. Brower invited the company to join a meeting with the board or the city’s representatives to make its case. 

As for next steps, Bauman suggested exploring the public utility concept through a task force made up of members of the Common Council, mayoral administration and Department of Public Works and then requesting that the council fund a feasibility study.

Could Milwaukee create its own electric utility? Officials explore taking over We Energies infrastructure within city limits  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.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

It isn’t easy running a child care center. 

But for business owners like Daniel Balderas, who owns two centers, a monthly stabilization payment from the federal government called Child Care Counts was a major help to bring the children on field trips and take care of his employees. 

“I’m giving teachers bonuses based on performance, or sometimes it’s random or I see teachers working hard,” Balderas said. “Gifts for teachers’ birthdays, I buy the teachers’ lunches often.”

When those funds dried up last year, the state stepped in to offer one more year of stabilization payments through a Child Care Bridge Payment Program.

Now, Balderas’ daycares are among almost 1,400 child care centers in Milwaukee that will lose state funding at the end of June.

Without the support, about one in five Milwaukee County child care providers predict they’ll have to close, 39% will have to raise tuition and another 44% will have longer waitlists, according to a 2025 study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty.

‘Don’t got the funding anymore’

Balderas’ biggest challenge has been finding and retaining staff. 

Balderas, who is also certified as a lead teacher, said he’s lost some great teachers to schools or franchises that offer higher pay he can’t afford to match. As a result, he covers shifts, and employees sometimes work between his two child care centers when they are short-staffed. 

The number of children a child care center can legally serve is limited by the number of staff working at that business, even if a facility has the physical space and materials to accommodate more, said Paula Drew, director of Early Care and Education Policy and Research at the Wisconsin Early Childcare Association. 

Balderas has not struggled with retention alone. Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2024 found that about 33,000 potential child care spots across the state could be filled if staffing barriers were addressed.

Child care stabilization funding made it easier for providers like Balderas to offer more competitive benefits to retain staff. 

But when the federal government cut Child Care Counts funding in half in 2023, Balderas said there were times that the business was merely breaking even as he continued supporting the staff with the reduced funds. 

Ninety percent of providers who received Child Care Counts funding before payments were cut in 2023 said the funding cuts changed their ability to offer competitive compensation, and 81% said the payment cuts contributed to changes in their ability to hire new staff, according to the 2024 study.

Balderas said he can keep his business afloat once the state’s child care stabilization payments end this month, but it will cut into his bottom line and he will have to absorb the losses.

“I can’t tell a teacher that deserves a raise that ‘well, we don’t got the funding anymore, I can’t give you the raise I promised,’” Balderas said.

Subsidy payments may not adjust for tuition increases

With 39% of Milwaukee County child care providers reporting they will have to raise tuition after child care stabilization payments end, one of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association’s biggest concerns for Milwaukee is how the tuition increases will impact families on subsidy. 

The Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy Program subsidizes a portion of monthly child care costs for low-income families, at or above the price of 75% of child care slots.

Ruth Schmidt, executive director at the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, said child care tuition in Milwaukee is already one of the highest in the state, and Wisconsin does not have the ongoing funding to support increased subsidy payments for growing tuition. 

Schmidt said she’s concerned that the state subsidy payments will not keep up with rising tuition. 

“It will be underfunded as it exists right now,” Schmidt said.

Almost all of Balderas’ families at his two child care centers receive child care subsidies.

The state is also paying more toward child care subsidies than it ever has in the last 24 months. As of March 2026, the state paid $28.4 million in Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy payments to Milwaukee County families, supporting almost 25,000 children in the county.

Wisconsin did invest in education for 4-year-olds in last year’s budget, Drew said. She anticipates that more providers will turn to serve these ages due to the expenses of providing care for infants and toddlers.

State lags behind with solutions

State Sen. LaTonya Johnson, who represents District 6 on Milwaukee’s North Side, can relate to the challenges of Milwaukee child care providers. 

A former early childhood educator, Johnson transitioned her daycare, open 24 hours, seven days a week, to entirely serve families on subsidies. 

“For my kids, that was one of the best things that ever happened to them,” Johnson said. “But for me, by the time I ran for the seat, my house was in foreclosure. I almost lost my house.” 

Since the state bridge payments were temporary, Johnson and her colleagues introduced a bill last year to allocate $220 million in child care stabilization payments for 2025-26 and 2026-27 using federal Child Care Development Funds and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants. 

The bill also would have provided additional subsidies for child care providers to cover the costs to care that family subsidies don’t cover.

Johnson said those bills died because Republican colleagues did not give the bills public hearings before the legislative sessions ended.

The Wisconsin Early Childcare Association is watching states like New Mexico, Louisiana and Alaska that are finding new ways to fund child care on a long-term scale, but the state is falling behind. 

“Wisconsin is one of the very few states that does not put state revenue directly into child care, or didn’t until last year,” Schmidt said. “They now do through the 4-year-old program.”

Balderas said there isn’t much other funding for child care owners like him who take care of toddlers and infants. He said there’s a food program, but “it’s super tedious,” requiring providers to serve certain food with specific portions.  

“I try to apply for grants for improving our flooring, painting on the outside, stuff like that,” he said. “There’s really no help.”

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Alex Klaus is the education solutions 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.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

One in five Milwaukee County child care providers expect to close without stabilization aid 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.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Strawberries are one of the most sacred symbols in Oneida beadwork, according to the Oneida Indian Nation’s website. Known as the “heart berry,” they represent creation, healing and resilience.

It’s also one of the motifs Mariah Tyakohelahthè Diaz is most drawn to in her beadwork.

Through her business, Ostalókwa by Mariah, Diaz creates traditional and contemporary beadwork, from custom medallions to jewelry to graduation caps, for clients across Wisconsin and beyond.

“I like to do a lot of strawberries,” Diaz said. “The medallions that I make are more custom, and then the hats, more modern.”

But for Diaz, beadwork is about more than creating art. It’s a way of preserving her culture, honoring her ancestors and sharing her Native American identity with future generations.

Learning from traditions

Raised by her grandparents, Diaz grew up between Milwaukee and Green Bay.

“My grandma used to take me to powwows all the time, and I would love to see all the beadwork,” Diaz said.

Although she was introduced to beading when she was younger, Diaz didn’t begin practicing beadwork professionally until 2020. 

She learned from her aunts, Sharon and Carmen, who taught her traditional beading techniques.

“She was always interested in carrying on traditions,” Sharon Diaz said. “I started her out doing daisy chains, because that’s how I learned, and then from there we went on to earrings, and then medallions.”

For Mariah, learning and practicing beadwork was more than a craft; it was a way to reconnect with traditions that previous generations were not always able to pass down.

“My grandma and my grandpa were raised in Catholic schools, and they really weren’t able to direct us into that stuff,” Diaz said. “That really impacted me wanting to learn how to do it.”

Sharing culture through beadwork

As Diaz’s skills grew, so did the impact of her work.

Among her most meaningful commissions are graduation caps, which have become a way for Native American students to celebrate both their academic achievements and their cultural identity.

Carrying traditions forward

Diaz’s audience and confidence grew after creating pieces for former Milwaukee Bucks player MarJon Beauchamp, who is Native American, and current Bucks star Bobby Portis.

“I made a Bobby Portis medallion a while ago. I actually got to give that to him,” Diaz said. “That really improved my beadwork, and me wanting to do more things for others.”

As Ostalókwa by Mariah continues to grow, her focus remains on preserving Oneida traditions.

“Our beadwork and our way of life is still sacred,” Diaz said. “Taking care of the earth, the water, the community, everything.”

The knowledge and traditions passed from Native American community programs to her aunt Sharon Diaz, then to her, are something she hopes won’t stop with her.

“I’d like to teach the youth, so they learn how to bead, and have something to put their minds to,” Diaz said.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Mariah Tyakohelahthè Diaz is helping carry Oneida beading traditions into the next generation 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.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

For two decades, one Milwaukee father has been pouring into other fathers on the North Side through his nonprofit, which provides free courses meant to teach them about parenting, manhood and becoming role models. 

Terron Edwards is founder of Fathers Making Progress, which supports Milwaukee fathers with parenting skills, case management, mentorship and more. He launched the organization after previously doing work at New Hope Project focused on advocating for working poor non-custodial parents as well as fatherhood-related work at Northcott Neighborhood House. 

“The work I was doing at Northcott became a passion for me,” Edwards said. “Being a dad saved my life.”

Edwards, a father of five, said growing up was challenging because his father was killed. The pain he felt made him make poor decisions until he became a teen father.

“I decided that I wasn’t going to leave my son the way my father left me,” he said.

Understanding what the program has to offer

After receiving training in various fatherhood curricula, Edwards launched his first 12-week class in 2005, which was later called “Fathers Building Fathers.” 

Participants learned three modules that focus on manhood, navigating different relationships and traditional parenting lessons like discipline, stages of child development and more. 

“We have an alumni network that is made of longtime guys and support groups that focus on different topics, and sometimes there’s no topic,” Edwards said. “Sometimes it’s the opportunity for folks to have a safe space to talk through stuff.”

The organization began as an independently funded movement but was incorporated as a nonprofit during the pandemic in 2020.

Building brotherhood through vulnerability

Demetrius Simmons, 27 and a father of seven children, participated in 2019 before the program became the nonprofit Fathers Making Progress.

“I made a promise to all my kids that I wasn’t going to miss out on any days, I was going to be there and take my role as a father seriously,” he said.

Simmons said he loved how the initiative showed him what brotherhood was and created a safe space. 

“That’s a space to be vulnerable without judgment,” Simmons said. “I found that unique because a lot of times the world doesn’t show us the other side of places you can go and there will be people who will understand you.” 

Simmons had his first child at 18 in 2016, which resulted in him choosing to work and gain experience and provide over school. 

“By the time I had my second child, I had a system down packed,” Simmons said. “Then I got married and had a third child and was able to correct some of my mistakes I made from my first two.”

Chris Harris, 39 and a father of four, participated in the organization in 2011 after being invited by Edwards to attend a session. 

During Harris’ first visit he saw men sitting in a circle and venting about their personal situations. 

“That was very interesting to me because I had never seen that before,” he said. “I’ve been a member ever since.”

Harris describes his fatherhood as great even though it comes with its challenges. 

“Life is full of challenges so you can’t escape those with being a parent,” he said.

Building stronger generational cycles

Edwards’ other focus with Fathers Making Progress is ensuring that fathers develop strong generational cycles, which help them pass down patterns, behaviors and beliefs to the next generation. This can help them maintain a steady relationship with their child. 

One way to build strong generational cycles is through having a good coparenting system. 

“We have to be serious about coparenting, especially with the fact that marriage is already on a decline and divorce is on the rise,” Edwards said. “Dads can have all the tools in the world, but if they don’t have the access because of bitterness and other things then our work doesn’t mean anything if relationships aren’t strengthened.”

Harris said one of the challenges the organization helped him overcome was raising his children in different homes.

“They helped me to understand what it takes to be a better co-parent and how to do it effectively without leaving the other parent out,” he said.

Fathers Making Progress also builds stronger generational cycles through an initiative called “Boys to Leaders,” where men from his organization visit local schools to offer intergenerational workshops, mentorship and other free services.

“We help young men quantify what positive manhood is and what healthy relationships look like,” Edwards said.

Taking in all the lessons and sharing advice

Simmons said his greatest lesson is knowing that being a present father is everything.

Simmons remembers the emotions he felt after missing the birth of his middle son due to incarceration.

“That’s what really made me open my eyes up to a lot of stuff about fatherhood,” he said. “For the other two, I was actually there to cut the umbilical cord, but I wasn’t there for my other child and it made me feel some type of way.”

Simmons said he’s raising two bonus children who are from broken homes, but with support from the organization, he’s confident in not making the same mistakes again. 

Edwards also said that being present is his top lesson. 

“We don’t have all the answers and we don’t have to be the richest, but to show up intentionally for our children will mean the world to them,” Edwards said. 

He advises fathers to develop an understanding of what their beliefs and values are so they can pass it to their children.

“It’s essential that you are living by those as closely as possible,” he said. 

For co-parents, Harris advises them to learn how to work together before the baby is born to avoid confusion and disorganization.

“That’s going over child care, work schedules and things of that nature,” he said. 

Simmons, now a facilitator for Fathers Making Progress, wants young fathers to know that they shouldn’t let their situation define who they are. 

“You can always make your situation better,” he said. “What you put out in the world is what the world is going to give, so try your best to put as much good stuff in the world so you can receive just as much.”

Interested in participating or learning more?

If you are a father interested in taking free courses through Fathers Making Progress, click here to submit a request. 

The course will include meals, activities, gifts and more. 

Click here to view and sign up for other initiatives through the organization that spark your interest. 

‘Being a dad saved my life’: How a Milwaukee fatherhood program is changing the narrative 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.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

As a daughter of Milwaukee, Koren Dennison has always been passionate about her community. 

Looking out for others is the way she was raised. 

But it wasn’t until she lost her job last November that she sat and started to think about what her role in the city was. That’s when she formed My Kousin’s House. 

My Kousin’s House is an intergenerational community space, out of her Metcalfe Park home, focused on family literacy building. The community space is activated through a series of events meant to be fun, community-building and thought-provoking. 

“I want people to leave My Kousin’s House having had a good time, their thoughts provoked and having some new community,” she said. 

‘Made of Milwaukee’

Long before Dennison, 28, was hosting community spelling bees and movie discussions in her living room, she was learning what it meant to be surrounded by people who poured into her.

“Koren is a witty, bubbly, very enthusiastic, down-to-earth kind of girl,” said Domani Wose, a friend of Dennison’s. “She’s for the people.” 

A storyteller, dancer, educator, evaluator, landlord and self-described “weirdo nerd,” Dennison traces the roots of her newest venture, My Kousin’s House, back to the people and neighborhoods that shaped her.

“I am made of Milwaukee,” she said.

Raised by a single mother in Hillside Terrace, Dennison said she grew up immersed in Black community, Black excellence and a belief that success was not something to hoard but something to share.

She attended Young Leaders Academy, later graduating from Milwaukee High School of the Arts, where dance became both a creative outlet and a lesson in defiance.

“Koren is defiant,” Dennison said. “Not in a cause of harm kind of way, but the kind that refuses to accept limitations placed on Black girls from working-class neighborhoods.” 

That determination carried her to Marquette University, where she earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in corporate communication. And as college expanded her opportunities, it also deepened her understanding of herself.

“My baseline is Black,” Dennison said. “Going to a predominantly white institution challenged me in ways I didn’t expect.”

The experience sharpened her sense of identity and reinforced her commitment to community. 

After graduation, she worked in youth programming at Highland Community School before moving into research and evaluation work, spending more than three years helping organizations measure impact and communicate results.

By many standards she had achieved what she once envisioned: the professional career, the office, the stability.

Before eventually leaving her job, Dennison began to build a different kind of foundation. She purchased her first duplex in 2021 and another in 2023, creating a measure of financial stability through real estate. Those investments would later give her the freedom to take a risk on herself.

When her position was eliminated in late 2025, Dennison spent months grieving, recalibrating and considering her next move. She applied for jobs and was rejected multiple times. 

Eventually, she stopped seeing those rejections as setbacks and started viewing them as redirection.

“I’ve never felt so free,” she said. “I’ve never felt so autonomous. I’ve never felt so grounded.”

My Kousin’s House

Out of uncertainty came My Kousin’s House.

Part community gathering space, part learning hub and part social experiment. Dennison describes it as an “intergenerational third space focused on full-family literacy.”

The concept grew from observations she had made throughout her life.

She said she noticed how children often miss opportunities to learn from elders. She also noticed how adults frequently stop learning altogether and how conversations in modern life often stay on the surface.

Most importantly, she recognized her own role as a bridge.

At 28, childless, but deeply connected to both younger and older generations, Dennison often found herself translating between worlds.

“There is a bridge that is absolutely needed between young people and elders,” she said.

She wants My Kousin’s House to become that bridge.

“It’s an intergenerational space where there’s gonna be joy, fun and some type of education,” said Melody McCurtis, who attended an event. “So, whether that’s learning about animals, urban farming or like hydroponics or political education, we learn from these events about how we show up, not only as individuals, but how we interact with each other.” 

McCurtis is the deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, a group that serves Metcalfe Park residents through a series of events, services and campaigns. 

Events blend entertainment with meaningful conversation. So far, participants have gathered for a “Grey’s Anatomy”-themed trivia night, a community spelling bee and a discussion and dance party inspired by “Black Is King,” a film by Beyonce. 

Future events will explore topics ranging from natural hair care and gardening to Black history and food justice, she said.

“I don’t want to talk about the weather,” Dennison said. “I want to talk about how you carry grief.”

Wose has attended every event. He said each one was a fun learning experience that helped him meet new people. 

He said the spelling bee had good vibes and a lot of laughter. 

“I can’t spell that well, I add or miss a letter here and there, but it helped me see that everybody’s still learning because I wasn’t the only person who was messing up. But all adults, right?” Wose said.  

Dennison’s vision extends beyond children. She believes that literacy and lifelong learning must include entire families, especially in a city where educational disparities have persisted for generations.

“If the babies can’t read, there are already adults outside the scope of the solutions,” she said. “How do we invite parents into those conversations without shame?”

The answer, she believes, is community.

“In a neighborhood like Metcalfe Park where we are seeing so many changes, it’s a great space to have,” said McCurtis.

Rejecting narratives about Milwaukee

While Dennison acknowledges many of the city’s challenges, she said she rejects narratives that paint Milwaukee solely through the lens of struggle. Instead, she sees a city filled with people who invested in her success and taught her the importance of returning the favor.

“I was raised on lift as we climb,” she said. “Each one teach one.”

It is not simply a series of events. It is an attempt to create the kind of community Dennison believes many people are searching for: a place where learning feels joyful, where generations learn from one another and where meaningful conversation becomes a form of care.

“It’s an inviting space with good vibes and great banana bread,” Wose said. 

The project remains young. Attendance varies. Funding is pieced together through donations, side jobs, tutoring, dance coaching, evaluation contracts and even homemade banana bread sales.

Still, Dennison keeps going.

Every event, every conversation, every gathering feels like proof that people are hungry for connection.

“When I think about isolation or loneliness or individualism and safeguardness, those are all the things that intergenerational third spaces are combating,” McCurtis said. “It allows us to communicate and allow things to land in a way that feels safe and like home.” 

Despite the positive feedback Dennison’s gotten about her efforts, fear remains, she admits. So does the uncertainty.

But so does the conviction.

“I just decided,” Dennison said. “Nobody gave me permission. Nobody handed me anything. I just decided.”

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To learn more about My Kousin’s House, you can follow Dennison’s personal account or My Kousin’s House on Instagram.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

How Koren Dennison is building an intergenerational third space in Milwaukee 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.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

As school lets out for students across Wisconsin, more time will be spent at home, and many families will look to prepare quick and affordable meals.

“During the summer, many families experience disruptions to their normal routines, which can make healthy eating more difficult,” said Carmen Baldwin, community nutrition manager for the Hunger Task Force. 

Disruptions in healthy food habits during the summer include increased grocery costs and less structured meal times, which lead to unhealthy snacking, limited access to healthy foods and more.

Here are some tips and recipes to try with your family over the summer.

Simple at-home recipes

According to Children’s Wisconsin, children should eat three meals and approximately one to three snacks a day. 

In case you’re looking for healthy meal ideas, Baldwin and community nutrition educator Leah Kostos manage a collection of recipes with the Hunger Task Force, which includes foods like vegetable lo mein, parmesan chicken burgers, chili pasta and more. 

When making healthy food choices, Baldwin suggests paying attention to serving size, added sugars, sodium and fiber on the nutrition labels as a guide.

“A simple tip is to compare similar products and choose the option that has more fiber and less added sugar and sodium,” she said.

Baldwin also encourages families to ensure children stay hydrated since weather will be warmer and activity is increased. 

“Water, milk and fruits with high water content help prevent dehydration,” Baldwin said. 

Foods with calcium, electrolytes, vitamin D and iron serve as an additional support for growth and staying full and active during the day.

For more balanced meals with fruits, vegetables, grains and protein, click here to view the Hunger Task Force’s full collection of recipes.

Making mindful food choices

Bridgett Wilder, founder of Perseverance Health & Wellness Coaching and nutritionist contracted with the Milwaukee County for nutrition and behavioral health programs, wants adults and children to understand why they eat the way they do. 

“A lot of the time when we have a cultural preference, that’s sometimes associated with highly salted foods, soul food and other recipes,” Wilder said. “I’m more about sustaining a healthy lifestyle.”

To help create positive experiences around food, Wilder takes existing recipes and transforms them into something healthier. 

“If we’re making greens, we can stop putting pork in it and add smoked turkey instead,” she said. “It’s like tweaking it to keep people engaged in healthy eating and also having people still enjoy food that’s culturally relevant.”

Click here to watch Wilder make healthy recipes like sweet heat potatoes, watermelon cucumber salad and banana pudding parfait. 

For nutrition education, collaborative menu planning, emotional eating support and other nutrition and behavioral services, Wilder can be emailed at perseverancewellness@gmail.com.

Wisconsin experts share meal ideas and tips for families during summer break 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.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Inside a classroom at Milwaukee Marshall High School, the sound of Lego bricks clicking together filled the room as children leaned over tables covered with colorful pieces and half-finished builds.

As they pieced together their creations, Nealita Nelson, the instructor behind the popular Milwaukee Recreation Lego classes, moved from desk to desk encouraging students to keep building. 

Nelson, a Milwaukee native known online as “Builds by Nene,” began teaching Lego-building classes through MKE Rec after appearing on Season 4 of Fox’s “LEGO Masters” in 2023 alongside her brother, Paul Wellington.

Jeff McAvoy, whose 7-year-old son has been attending Nelson’s classes since they began two years ago, expressed his admiration for her teaching style. 

“It comes down to a simple shared interest in Lego and building, but she approaches it with such care and interest in what each of the kids are doing,” McAvoy said.

Nelson’s classes are typically divided by age groups, welcoming everyone from young children to adult builders:

• LEGO Open Build (Designed for ages 3+): Focuses on beginner basics, open building zones and simple challenges.
• LEGO Adventures: Encourages participants to step outside their comfort zones with complex, guided builds.
• Learning LEGO (Designed for ages 13 to adults): Covers the history of Lego, advanced building techniques and creative design.

For Nelson, Lego-building classes are about much more than play or building toys.

“I see the need for help, and I see the need to get these kids out from in front of screens,” Nelson said. “I feel like it was my duty to give back to my community that helped me when I was younger.”

Raised on Milwaukee’s North Side, Nelson and Wellington spent a lot of their childhood building together, before their almost 10-year age gap inevitably drew them apart.

Their close relationship became an advantage on “LEGO Masters,” where the siblings advanced in the competition, becoming third-place finalists.

“We’re both very different people. It helps bring out our best qualities and we’re able to work together well,” said Wellington, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee alum. “I’m very timid. She pushed me to believe in myself and that led us to succeed.”

The siblings competed again, this time internationally, on “LEGO Masters: Grand Masters of the Galaxy” in Australia in 2025. They also were the first all-Black team in the U.S. version of “LEGO Masters” to win a challenge.

Nelson said they intentionally incorporated a few references to the city and state into their builds throughout the competitions.

“When we were doing the TV shows, we tried to incorporate something from Milwaukee or something that symbolizes Wisconsin as a whole,” Nelson said. “In the first episode, we did the dairy boat.”

While Nelson currently works in health care, she continues to build her public identity through her social media presence and Lego-building classes with MKE Rec.

“I felt like this was my calling, this is my passion. I love Lego,” Nelson said.

Registration for Nelson’s summer Lego-building sessions are open now until the first week of classes on June 22. You can register here.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Nealita Nelson is building community one Lego brick at a time 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.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

One Milwaukee organization is working to remove barriers that keep Black children and adults, especially beginners, from experiencing golf. 

We Black We Golf was created after one of its founders was stared down by a white guy and responded with, “Yes, we Black and we golf!”

“Golf is not just a game of exclusivity,” said Richard Badger, director and golf mentor of We Black We Golf, a social organization that introduces Black individuals to golfing through clinics, community outings and mentorship without competition.

“We are open to everyone, but we’re intentional about serving our primary demographic.”

Experiencing a typical session

During its clinics, We Black We Golf invites individuals to a golf course and provides them with equipment to learn the basics, like how to hold and swing a golf club before introducing the ball.

After people determine if it’s a sport they would enjoy and like to continue with, We Black We Golf helps them find their first set of affordable golf clubs. 

“Most clubs aren’t made the same, and most beginners buy the wrong ones from the wrong places,” Badger said.

Changing the perception of golf

According to Badger, the organization consists mainly of individuals who are 45 and up, but for the past two years, the organization has tried to attract younger people to the game. 

“We need to tap into the 20 to 35 age range, and Black women are the fastest-growing demographic coming into the game of recreational golf,” he said. 

Badger said fewer young people golf because of common misconceptions like it being a slow sport or too expensive and made for wealthy white men. 

He said he notices more celebrities participating in golf and is concerned about that misleading young people by making the sport look more expensive and inaccessible than it really is. 

“Many of the celebrities are being endorsed by companies,” he said. “DJ Khaled has a golf bag over $30k, which is not realistic for somebody in your demographic and does a disservice to the game.”

However, Badger is glad to see that younger people in Milwaukee are being drawn to local places like Luxe Golf Bays and Topgolf Swing Suite. 

Another thing that hinders new golfers and keeps them from travel opportunities, he said, is that they feel they’re not competent enough for the game. 

Badger wants individuals to know that golf is all about celebrating your victories.

“In other sports, like basketball, you talk about the errors and shots you missed, but in golf you talk about your makes,” he said.

Creating exposure for younger generations

Among the participants of We Black We Golf is Ti-mara Minefee-Tribble, a 53208 resident who got involved by attending a clinic with her husband in 2021.

“I’m not very athletically inclined and I didn’t want something where I had to run or join a league,” she said. “When golfing, we got to sit, play music, enjoy drinks and have a dope experience.” 

Eventually, Minefee-Tribble got her son Chandler Tribble, 21, involved with the organization. 

“He took to the game like a fish to water,” Badger said.

Minefee-Tribble said her son enjoyed golf so much he bought his own clubs with allowance money.

“He was so interested in the sport that he joined the golf team at his school, too,” she said. 

Chandler Tribble did additional things like take golf trips with his friends, assist Badger with mentoring and was a caddy driver. 

“My son has done the traditional things like football, basketball and playing the cello in orchestra, but to see him encounter something new and be comfortable with it touches my heart,” Minefee-Tribble said. 

She said parents should take more time and opportunities to expose their children to other things, including golf. 

Badger said he would love to see more Black children play golf, particularly Black girls because of opportunities for scholarships.

“About $50 million in scholarships are returned in the golf space because they don’t have enough minority girls to reward those scholarships to,” he said. 

Badger believes many Black children don’t play golf because they’re not exposed to it enough. 

“Many of their parents and grandparents don’t watch or play golf, so the child isn’t introduced to it,” he said. 

Others might try but not continue if they struggle at first.  He wants them to keep trying.

More than just a sport

Badger emphasizes that golfing is a good networking space to build relationships and gain opportunities that would be harder to achieve in traditional settings like offices. 

“Golfing is not just a leisure activity, it can be a professional skill and become your extended office,” he said. “People get country club memberships to host staff meetings there, too.”

A year ago, We Black We Golf partnered with Kwabena Antoine Nixon, an author and community activist, to host a business networking event called “The Build Up.”

Residents gathered for the event at Garfield’s 502, a restaurant and tavern in the Halyard Park neighborhood, to enjoy golf games, live music, food and more. 

Nixon said although he isn’t an avid golfer, the conversations held around him during the event stood out the most. 

“In a golf setting you can make deals with people and talk about things that elevate you as a person within that group,” he said. 

Nixon said he appreciated how We Black We Golf created a safe space for the Black community in the sport while preserving Black culture. 

“I love when Black folks get into something and we turn it into something,” he said. “That event became a gathering congregation spot where people were golfing but building, too.”

With over 20 years of golf experience, Badger has always kept his confidence and hopes that other generations will do the same. 

“I own every room I walk in when it comes to golf,” Badger said. 

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For more information

We Black We Golf hosts various clinics throughout the year.

The children’s golf clinic is free and consists of learning basic techniques.

It’s generally held at Noyes Park Golf Course, 8235 Good Hope Road, in late July, and equipment is provided.  

Sunday Fundays are free monthly golf clinics held at 9 a.m. at Lincoln Park Golf Course, 1000 W. Hampton Ave., for all skill levels. 

The next clinic is scheduled for June 14. Click here to view dates for other upcoming clinics. 

During winter, We Black We Golf hosts an eight-week clinic that includes 16 hours of instruction and three virtual classes.

The cost for this clinic is $450 but can be paid in installments. 

If you are interested in becoming a part of We Black We Golf, click here to fill out an application.

Milwaukee’s We Black We Golf is changing who feels welcome on the course 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.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Marshall Jones is a good test case for your opinion about the state’s revived commutation process. 

In April, Gov. Tony Evers announced he was restarting the commutation process – a form of clemency that allows governors to change prison sentences for incarcerated people. 

In a statement, Evers said he was trying to move Wisconsin’s “justice system into the 21st Century by reforming our criminal justice and corrections systems to improve public safety, reduce the likelihood that individuals will reoffend when they enter our communities and save taxpayer dollars in the long run.”

Some supporters of Evers’ decision say people can change after decades in prison and that remaining there no longer serves any beneficial purpose. 

However, critics question whether people convicted of serious violent crimes should ever be released early.

Jones sits at the center of these views.

He was sentenced in 2004 to two consecutive terms of life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide. 

He said he fully acknowledges his crimes, which occurred during an armed tavern robbery in Racine, and continues to have remorse over them. 

“No amount of right I have done would ever erase the wrong I have done to my victims and their families, and I understand that perfectly,” Jones said. “I also know that I am a transformed man, and I am rehabilitated.”

Applying for commutation

Jones said he decided to apply for a commutation the moment his wife, Jessica Jones, told him about Evers’ announcement.

There are two commutation tracks: a general commutation process for people convicted as adults and a separate process for some sentenced as juveniles.

Jones, who was 22 when he was sentenced to life and is now 44, qualifies for the first track. 

Applicants qualify for this track if they are: incarcerated on a Wisconsin conviction, have more than one year left on their sentence, have served at least half their incarceration term or at least 20 years of a life sentence. 

They also cannot be serving sentences for sex offenses, have unresolved criminal charges or warrants, or have committed violent misconduct in prison within the past five years.

Individuals who apply must provide information about the crimes for which they are seeking commutation, prior interactions with law enforcement, prison disciplinary history, rehabilitation efforts, and reentry plans. 

Applications also require certified court records as well as letters of support. 

“Emotionally, a person has to remain calm,” Jones said. “There is a sense of urgency that will be overwhelming at times.”

He said coming up with a clear plan has been vital to overcoming his panic.

 “One box at a time. One task at a time,” he said.

For and against

Nationally, many politicians associated with “tough-on-crime” policies have opposed sentence reductions for people convicted of violent crimes, arguing rehabilitation cannot outweigh the harm caused.

In Wisconsin, it has become a hotbed issue in the race for governor. 

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany’s gubernatorial campaign told NNS that he would rescind the executive orders that allow murderers, including those serving life sentences, to be released back into the community after 20 years. 

“He is making a commitment as governor that he will not release violent criminals early and will ensure victims and their families receive the full measure of justice,” said the Tiffany campaign.

Diego Rodriguez, coalition coordinator for Justice Forward Wisconsin, an advocacy coalition focused on criminal justice reform, said he understands the concerns people have but believes they are based on misunderstandings of the process. 

Commutation is far from automatic, he said. The approval process includes multiple reviews, eligibility restrictions and detailed reentry planning requirements. 

“These are pretty thorough applications,” Rodriguez said. “If somebody still poses a threat to the community, they’re not going to let them out.”

Shannon Ross, a criminal justice advocate who works with Justice Forward to support the commutation application process, said people in prison who have genuinely transformed often have clear ways of showing that to be the case.

“If you’ve been doing the work, if you’ve been spending your time constructively, this is your moment,” Ross said.

Impact of victims

The impact of a commutation on victims and survivors will be part of how applications are evaluated, according to Executive Order #287.  Also evaluated will be the potential impact on public safety, applicants’ prison conduct and their personal growth and development since conviction. 

“What commutations allow is for the governor to come in and to step in and to identify people who have made changes,” Rodriguez said.

If someone is truly remorseful, has accepted responsibility and demonstrated long-term change, prison no longer serves any meaningful rehabilitative purpose, he said.

Rodriguez also said that commutations could improve public safety by helping reduce overcrowding inside Wisconsin prisons.

Wisconsin prisons have long faced overcrowding and staffing shortages.

“Far more people are incarcerated than we even have space for,” Rodriguez said. 

Under these conditions, Rodriguez said, prisons become less safe and less effective at rehabilitation.

“It makes our community less safe when we have overcrowded prisons because they’re not getting the same quality of treatment,” Rodriguez said.

Accountability

During a commutation application webinar organized by Justice Forward Wisconsin, former Wisconsin Parole Commission Chair John Tate II said accountability is central to the process.

“The thing that I would emphasize the most when we’re talking about a discretionary mechanism within the criminal legal system is accountability, accountability, accountability,” Tate said. 

“Any minimization of what their role in that (crime) was is often seen as a lack of accountability,” he added.

Jones said his accountability starts with fully acknowledging the harm he caused and what kind of person he once was.

“I was a horrible person, and I took lives without mercy,” Jones said.

But Jones said decades in prison changed him.

His wife, Jessica, who met him while working at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution in Juneau County, said her views on rehabilitation have changed by getting to know people who are incarcerated. 

“Most of the general public believes that all people in prison are horrible people, incorrigible and worthless,” she said. “I used to be one of those people. I believed everyone in prison could be nothing more than their worst day. Then, I worked in the prison and learned how wrong I was.”  

She said she met many men in prison who shouldn’t be there anymore. She believes her husband is one of them. 

“He does more good than many free people I know,” she said. “He does not let his sentence or crime define him even though it’s a daily reality.”

Open questions

Major questions about the process still remain, including how quickly applications will be processed and how many people could ultimately receive commutations. 

There is also uncertainty surrounding the future of the process itself. NNS reached out to the governor’s office to ask whether the commutation process could change under new leadership but did not receive a response. 

“This is a governor’s last term,” Rodriguez said. “When it comes to executive orders, those can be changed in an instant.”

Gov. Tony Evers’ commutation process draws support, criticism as applicants seek release 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.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

After 35 years renting her home, a leaky and unkept roof forced Farina Brooks and her husband to move into a hotel.  

It wasn’t a rash decision. For three years, Brooks said, she pleaded with the property management company to fix the roof as water damage spread and conditions inside the home worsened. 

City inspectors eventually came, issuing citations and fines. Still, she said, little changed.

“We kept getting the runaround,” Brooks said.

Eventually, she and her husband entered Milwaukee’s rent abatement program. Even that failed to improve conditions, she said.

Now, she said, the couple is burning through their savings to pay for a hotel room while searching for stable housing in an increasingly expensive rental market.

Brooks said the situation was not always this way. 

“For the 30 years or so (the landlord) was good, you know, she handled things,” she said. 

But in recent years, she said she learned the woman had developed dementia and was placed under a conservatorship, a change Brooks believes coincided with the property’s decline.

Her story reflects a growing frustration shared by many Milwaukee tenants confronting deteriorating housing conditions and asking a question that local officials hear constantly: Why can’t the city force landlords to fix problems with their properties?

City response is limited

According to Milwaukee City Attorney Evan Goyke, the answer lies in a complicated mix of state law, property rights and limited local authority that has steadily narrowed the city’s oversight powers on rental housing during the past decade.

The city has powers to do certain things, but not others, Goyke said. 

“The federal government can limit what states can do, and the states can limit what municipal governments can do.”

State Sen. Dora Drake said Wisconsin law requires landlords to maintain rental properties, including making necessary structural and plumbing repairs and complying with local housing codes. But, she said, tenants often face barriers when conditions deteriorate.

“Under most circumstances, a tenant may not refuse to pay rent entirely unless the conditions are so poor as to force a tenant to move out,” Drake said. “If the conditions in the rental premises are poor where the tenant’s health or safety is affected, or the tenant is unable to use part of the premises, the tenant is entitled to reduce the amount of rent proportionately.”

Much of Milwaukee’s housing enforcement is controlled by Wisconsin state law, particularly by legislation passed between 2013 and 2017 that limited how municipalities regulate rental housing.

One major change, specifically state statute 66.0104, pushed cities into complaint-driven inspection systems – meaning inspectors cannot proactively inspect properties for violations unless someone files a complaint.

“The Department of Neighborhood Services can’t just walk up and down the street and say, ‘That house, that house, that house,’ ” Goyke said.

Instead, the city relies heavily on tenants and neighbors to report unsafe conditions to the Department of Neighborhood Services.

Drake said the current system leaves too many renters vulnerable before problems are addressed.

“We need more accountability measures and preventative measures and standards to prevent those situations from getting so bad with tenants,” she said.

Complaint-based enforcement

When tenants report unsafe conditions, Department of Neighborhood Services inspectors investigate and may issue written orders that require repairs within a specified time frame.

If the violations are not addressed, the city can issue citations and pursue penalties in municipal court. Unpaid judgments can eventually become liens on the property.

But that process can take a long time, especially for a city balancing thousands of complaints with limited staff and funding, according to Goyke.

He said many residents get frustrated because they expect immediate intervention.

The city can escalate serious or repeated violations into lawsuits in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. In extreme cases, courts can appoint a receiver to take over management of a property.

Under receivership, a court-appointed manager can collect rent and use it to make repairs if a landlord has failed to maintain safe conditions.

“It’s a very heavy hammer for the landlord,” Goyke said. “Somebody else is going to step in and fix (the properties) for you.”

Tenant fears and limited options

Housing advocates have long argued that complaint-driven enforcement creates another problem: potential retaliation or displacement of tenants. 

Many tenants won’t report poor conditions out of fear.

Goyke said those fears are real, particularly for tenants living in severely deteriorated buildings who worry they could lose housing if the property is condemned.

“I feel terrible that people are placed in a position where they feel they need to live in unsafe conditions because it does beat living outside,” he said.

He encouraged tenants to report violations to DNS and to explore programs such as rent withholding and rent abatement.

Under Milwaukee’s rent withholding program, tenants continue paying rent, but the money is held by the Department of Neighborhood Services until repairs are completed. Rent abatement, meanwhile, allows tenants to reduce rent payments when serious conditions affect habitability.

Legal and service organizations, including the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, Legal Action of Wisconsin and Community Advocates, can help tenants understand their rights and options.

Property rights and bad landlords

Residents also frequently question why landlords with poor track records are still able to purchase additional properties, Goyke said.

Goyke said cities generally cannot interfere in private property transactions unless the city has a legal interest in the property, such as unpaid taxes or code enforcement judgments.

“If we do not have an interest in the property, we can’t stop it,” he said.

That limitation stems from long-standing American property rights protections, he added.

“It is not a shortcoming of some ordinance that could be tweaked,” Goyke said. “That question goes to core property rights in America.”

Drake said she has co-authored proposals aimed at expanding rent abatement protections and shielding renters from landlord retaliation.

 “We know it happens,” Drake said. “Whether it’s Berrada or other properties that are known to have these stories, those are things that we can do.”

Berrada Properties owns more than 8,000 units and has been named in lawsuits by both tenants and the city attorney. 

Drake also said the state should expand access to legal representation for tenants facing eviction or living in unsafe housing.

“We can create an office of civil legal aid to provide a right to appointment of counsel at the state’s expense for tenants in eviction actions,” she said.

Community action

Brooks said she was pushed to leave her home by her daughter and several local community leaders. 

“They told me you cannot live here,” she said. “The final straw for me was when water started coming in through the light fixtures.” 

Brooks said community leader Ajamou Butler shared a post about her situation that garnered support from the community and helped pay for her first several days in the hotel. 

She said local leaders including Butler, Vaun Mayes and state Rep. Sequanna Taylor have supported her through the move. Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and Community Advocates have supported her search for accountability and a new home. 

“It was hard accepting help, but it reminded me of how the community shows up,” Brooks said. “This made me worry for the people that don’t know who to call or have people to show up.” 

Goyke encouraged residents to vote and stay engaged politically and also emphasized on-the-ground organizing and collective action to address housing issues.

He pointed to local organizations like Common Ground, the Community Development Alliance and the RON Coalition as examples of groups working to improve housing conditions.

“There’s a lot more that people can do individually that make an impact,” he said.

Goyke described a boarded-up house on his own block that has sat vacant for years, saying neighbors could potentially organize fundraising efforts to help support redevelopment.

“Don’t wait for somebody else to solve your problems,” he said. “There’s a ton of energy in trying to figure out how to do this, and it’s a great time for people to get involved.” 

Drake said stronger tenant protections are part of the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus agenda this year.

“We know that at the state level, we need to do more to ensure that we’re protecting tenants’ rights,” she said.

Policies make it harder for Milwaukee tenants to demand repairs 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.