Please join us for our next meeting:

Great Schools
Tuesday, September 27th
6:30 – 8:00 PM

First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee (First Church)
1342 N Astor Street, Milwaukee (SE corner of Astor & Ogden)

Meeting is on 2nd floor in Otto Hall.  Enter through the green-glass doors just south of the sanctuary, follow the hallway to the end & take stairs or elevator.

Parking: Lincoln Center School (one block west at Ogden & Marshall) parking lot.  There is no parking lot at the church, some on-street parking may be available.

GreatSchools is the country’s leading source of information on school performance. With listings of 200,000 public and private schools serving students from preschool through high school and more than 800,000 parent ratings and reviews, GreatSchools has become the go-to guide for parents aiming to make a smart school choice.  Check out their website HERE.

RSVP HERE

Child Care is available, please click here to RSVP so we ensure we have a space for your child(ren).  $5 for two kids with an additional $3 for more children.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS IN THIS SERIES:

8/9/11 – Abby Ramirez, co-founder of Schools That Can which identifies high performing schools across the country and share best practices to create more high performing schools in the Milwaukee are which include public, choice and charter.  Their vision is to get 20,000 students in high performing urban schools by 2020.  Click HERE to go to their website.

7/21/11 – Leigh Anne Fraley, Senior Site Advisor for Talent Development spoke about The New Teacher Project, a national non-profit dedicated to closing the achievement gap by ensuring that high-need students get outstanding teachers.

5/31/11 – Alan Borsuk, Longtime Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter and Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy, at Marquette University Law School.

Leader to Contact: Keisha Krumm, Lead Organizer:  Email

Journal/Sentinel front page Local Section, August 11, 2011

Other groups and organizations are picking up on our success.

Read more about it on the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter HERE.

Sue Giaimo, Deutsche Bank CEO Mr. Josef Ackermann, Mark Fraley

Photo taken at the 2011 Annual Shareholders Meeting in Germany.

1)    $2 million in market rate mortgage commitments for qualified owners who will purchase the rehabilitated properties in the target area,

2)    $300,000 contribution to support the rehabilitation subsidy for properties in Sherman Park in the target area, and

3)    $100,000 contribution to Mercy Housing Lakefront to establish the Clean Slate program in Milwaukee.  Clean Slate is a program to hire local workers to clean-up, board-up and maintain vacant, foreclosed properties throughout the City, including Sherman Park.

This neighborhood revitalization initiative will address the blight of foreclosed homes and revitalize the housing market in a 130 square block area in Sherman Park around Wheaton Franciscan – St. Joseph.   Common Ground and the City of Milwaukee will work with civic and private sector partners to make this effort a reality.

The goal of the MKE Rising effort is to rehabilitate 100 homes in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park community over the next four years.  To make this effort happen, the City of Milwaukee will invest Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds of $2 million for the acquisition and rehabilitation of foreclosed properties for homeownership, demolition, assistance for homeowners purchasing foreclosed properties, and for the development of affordable rental properties.  Zilber, Limited has begun as the primary developer for the effort.

Click here for Milwaukee Rising Summary

Common Ground will publicly announce the Milwaukee Rising revitalization. This effort will focus on the rehabilitation of 100 homes over a four-year period in Sherman Park.  At the May 23 action over 250 Common Ground delegates will recognize and thank our partners in this effort. Representatives from our partner organizations, including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Alderman Michael Murphy, will attend.

Join us! Kleiger Auditorium, St. Joseph Hospital 5000 W. Chambers Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The concern is that pantry clients cannot fully access the new location by bus and by foot – there is no bus stop in front of the new location and there is no sidewalk on the side of the street where the pantry is located.

Before we begin to apporach those who are in position of power at the bus company and the city, we need to gather appropriate information on this issue.  If you are interested in helping do some on-the-ground or on-the-computer/phone research, join us on Tuesday, June 8 from 4 to 5 PM at 1301 Sentry Dr. (just off Sunset Dr. in Waukesha).

We received updates on the Faces of Foreclosure Campaign, Health Care Insurance Co-op and elected new Strategy Team members whose biographies follow:

Eileen Asbell - A native of Upstate New York, Eileen has been a member of St. Michael’s Congregation since moving to Milwaukee in 1985.  She has served the parish in a variety of paid and volunteer positions and is currently completing a three plus year commitment on parish council.  Her professional training and work experience is in education.  After spending ten years in MPS, she is now working with the 5/6 unit at Woodlands School.  She has been involved with Common Ground for over two years, serving on the Youth Jobs and Communications teams.  Eileen and her husband Paul live on Milwaukee’s west side and have two adult children.

Frank Finch III – Frank is the financial secretary for Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church .  He spent four years in the marine corp and is a Vietnam Vet where he served two years.  Frank worked fifteen years with the Milwaukee County Transit and two years with MPS as a psych service aide.  Frank is married to Sherry and has three children, Denzil, Joyce and Keith.  Frank has been a Sherman Park homeowner for 28 years.

Susan Giaimo - Sue is a political scientist at Marquette University, where she teaches and researches on comparative public policy and health policy in particular.  She has long wanted to use her knowledge and interests beyond academia to help the community she lives in.  She is a native Milwaukeean, though lived in other cities and countries for over a decade until moving back here in 2003.  She now lives in Wauwatosa with her husband and son.  Since her return, she has seen stark changes in the Milwaukee area – some good, some bad – and wanted to get involved with others interested in the community.  So for the past three years she has been a part of Common Ground through her church, St. Catherine’s Parish of Milwaukee.  Sue serves on the Common Ground core team at St. Catherine’s and the Common Ground health research committee.  But she would like to deepen her commitment to Common Ground to work with others on issues that matter to our members and our neighbors.   The Strategy Team would give her the chance to do this.

Jim Gramentine - Jim has been a member of St. Paul’s Church (Episcopal) on the near east side since 1987, though he lives in Mequon. At church he has served as junior and senior warden and chaired the outreach committee for several years, stepping down in June 2009 to concentrate on coordinating the Common Ground Core Team. Retired from a long career of teaching history and administration in independent schools, including University School of Milwaukee, he has in recent years been active in and chaired the board of the national Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.

Dorota Pruski - Dorota has been active in Common Ground since graduating from Marquette in 2006, when she began a year-long internship working for the organization.  Not only has her involvement enabled her to pursue her passion for social justice, but it also led Dorota to St. James’ Episcopal Church, where she is an active member and current leader of the core team.  She has also participated in the IAF National Training, Common Ground U, and was co-leader of the initial housing issue campaign.  Dorota lives and works in a freshman dorm on Marquette’s campus, serving as a Residence Hall Minister.