Foreclosure Campaign

For information concerning our Foreclosure Campaign please go to our Faces of Foreclosure website. Faces of Foreclosure

Health Care

Plans are still underway for the roll out of the Common Ground sponsored Health Insurance cooperative for small businesses, non-profits, the self-employed and unions.  The timetable is to begin enrollment in April with the insurance effective in June.  Stay tuned for an announcement of the timetable for action.  If you have questions contact Bob Connolly at 414 272-0101 or Email

Sherman Park

The Sherman Park Common Ground Team will be holding a meeting with area neighborhood leaders, St. Joseph Hospital representatives and the Faith-based community at Wheaton-Fransiscan St. Joseph Campus on Monday, March 15th.  We will be setting the focus of the 2010 Spring/Summer Campaign in the Sherman Park area in regards to foreclosed and abandoned homes and general safety issues. Plan to join us from 6:30-8:00pm on Monday, March 15th.

Waukesha County

There has been a growing interest to build a Common Ground presence in Waukesha County and a team has been diligently working on this over the last few months.  They have conducted numerous listening sessions and several more are scheduled for this spring.  Through these listening sessions potential members, leaders and local issues are emerging.  As a way to continue to build on these efforts, and to report on what has transpired to date, Common Ground is holding a gathering for Waukesha County on Tuesday, March 16 from 7:00 to 8:30pm at St. Anthony on the Lake Parish (W280 N2101 Hwy. SS, Pewaukee) Directions 

For more information on what Common Ground is doing in Waukesha County, contact Heather Dummer Combs,  Email or 414-559-6608.

Friends of Common Ground

To date our Friends campaign has raised $163,000 from 57 donors.  Our goal is to get to $300,000. Some 30 potential donors are now being approached.  if you woudl like to contribute and join the campaign contact Bob Connolly at 414 272-0101 or Email

Sixty Common Ground leaders packed onto a bus and into cars for a trip to Madison, where we met with over 30 Assembly and Senate representatives and aides to:

1. Enlist support for Representative Richards’ bill that prohibits the State of Wisconsin from conducting business with a financial institution holding more than 100 foreclosed homes across the state
2. Ask the same legislators to send letters to the three banks in question requesting that bank officials meet with Common Ground
3. Develop relationships with these state legislators

We will continue to follow the status of the bill and build relationships with these state legislators in order to gain their support in this and future campaigns.

Once again this month,  Common Ground received news coverage regarding the Faces of Foreclosure campaign. This time from WISN ABC 12 and WITI FOX 6.  Articles were also in the Marquette Tribune, Biz Times , Daily Reporter and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1/27/2010.

On January 25, 2010 0ver 300 Common Ground leaders and members gathered to launch the Faces of Foreclosure Campaign at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

The goal is to work with 3 banks – Deutsche Bank, US Bank and Wells Fargo – and for them to clean up their part of the foreclosure crisis in South East Wisconsin.

Common Ground also launched a Web site specifically dedicated to this campaign.  www.FacesOfForeclosureWI.org

Common Ground is receiving a significant amount of media coverage from newspapers, radio and television with the release of it’s Foreclosure Research and Action Report.

Read the January 20th Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Georgia Pabst here

Listen to the January 20th radio broadcast on Milwaukee Public Radio’s WUWM here.

Watch the WITI Fox 6 story from January 19th here

Watch the WTMJ NBC Channel 4 story from January 19th here.

On January 19, 2010 Common Ground released it’s Foreclosure Research and Action Report. The report identifies the need for three banks – Deutsche Bank, US Bank, Wells Fargo – to take responsibility for their part in the foreclosure crisis and meet three demands:

Sell Responsibly:  Stop selling to speculators and work with us to develop a plan to sell to responsible owners.

Tear Down the Bad Ones: Pay for the demolition of the properties beyond rehabilitation and donate the land to a community trust for future residential construction.

Fix the Salvageable Ones: Each bank contributes $25 Million towards a $75 Million fund, which will be used to rehabilitate and sell these properties.

The report can be downloaded here:  CG_FOF_ResearchReport_web

Georgia Pabst of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel brings exposure to the foreclosure battle in an article published November 24, 2009. Click the photo to link to the article.

On the evening of Thursday, November 19 2009, Common Ground conducted a hearing to learn about the foreclosure crisis and the impact of bank-owned foreclosed homes. Over 240 Common Ground members listened to testimony from a broad variety of sources. These included:

Alderman Michael Murphy, District 10, City of Milwaukee, Chair of the Council Finance Committee

Mr. Lew Ameel, Housing Counselor, HBC Services

Ms. Suzanne Dennik, Project Manager, Milwaukee Foreclosure Project Inititive

Ms. Catherine M. Doyle, Attorney, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee

Ms. Margaret Henningsen, Founder and Vice President, Legacy Bank

In addition, a number of community members shared their experiences living near and trying to purchase these bank owned foreclosed homes.

Our Next Steps:

Common Ground will issue a ‘white paper’ with our research findings and recommendations on what we will do to address this problem by January.

on January 21, 2010 Common Ground will begin a campaign focused on outlining what we want the large national banks that own most of these properties to do.

If you would like more information or have questions please contact us here. Email

On Saturday, September 26, 2009, 100 Common Ground members spread out across the city as part of a photographic survey of bank owned foreclosed houses in Milwaukee.  The nearly 500 photographs gathered speak graphically to the blighting effect on our community of economic challenge and unscrupulous, predatory lending.  De-briefing conversations of the photo survey revealed that while some houses have already been resold and rehabilitation has started, many others still sit boarded up – and unphotographed.  Common Ground is now looking to organize a follow-up shoot focusing on areas of heavier foreclosure saturation.  Saturday’s action is a first step in addressing the banks responsibility regarding their property and its impact on neighborhoods.