Author: Correspondent

The 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival, presented by Associated Bank, announced this year’s festival jury award winners, who were awarded $87,000 in cash and more than $60,000 in production services. Among the top films selected include Scott Road, a film with local ties shot entirely in China; Rat Film, a documentary exploring the rat infestations and their socioeconomic connections in Baltimore; and Quest, a documentary following a North Philadelphia family over the course of a decade. In addition to the festival awards, recipients of the 2017 Brico Forward Fund were announced. This year awarding $50,000 in cash and over $60,000...

Bublr Bikes, Milwaukee’s nonprofit bike share system, recently launched its first ever community-driven campaign to fund a new Riverwest neighborhood station. The crowdfunding campaign launched on October 9, and will be working toward the goal of $50,000 to completely fund the installation and upkeep of a 9-dock Bublr station. This station will connect the restaurants and businesses of the Riverwest neighborhood with the nearby UW-Milwaukee campus and Downtown Milwaukee. Community members of Riverwest have expressed a great amount of interest in bringing Bublr to this neighborhood of Milwaukee. Bounded by Holton on the west, Capitol on the north, and...

The Northwest Side Community Development Corporation (NWSCDC) organized a “Rally for Safe Streets” at North 31st Street & West Capitol Drive on October 9 to combat an increase in speeding and reckless driving that has been impacting the community. Traffic safety is becoming an issue of huge concern in Milwaukee neighborhoods. Recent crashes and fatalities in many local communities point to the need for solutions that will make streets safer for everyone, including people of all ages who walk, use the transit system, bike, or drive. The growing epidemic of reckless driving in Milwaukee, particularly on arterial streets like...

The Drug-Free Communities Support Program is the Nation’s leading effort to mobilize communities to prevent youth substance use. Richard Baum, Acting Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), announced 719 Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program grants totaling $89 million, the largest-ever number of DFC grantees in a single year since the program’s founding. “We’re losing more than 60,000 people per year to drug overdose, but if we can stop young people from starting to use drugs in the first place, we can save lives,” said Baum. “Our local DFC coalitions are a key part of this effort because they...

A coalition of many local organizations and faith communities have joined forces to reject hate and come together to build a strong community over the October 13 to 15 weekend. Milwaukeeans of all races, religions, ethnicities, genders, and creeds will declare that there is no room for hate in our city. We reject racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and fear of “the other.” And we commit ourselves to building a strong community together. During that weekend, faith communities, organizations, elected officials, and individuals are invited to do something – to share sermons, to start conversations, to take at least one...

Milwaukee Water Commons is hosting their second annual Confluence Gathering, an event promoting stewardship of Milwaukee’s waters on October 12. Last year’s Confluence launched a series of six bold water initiatives for the city of Milwaukee under the banner of the “Water City Agenda,” and this year’s Confluence celebrates the progress made toward these goals while inviting new leadership to join this continued work. “We knew achieving these goals was going to take a different model of leadership, one that helps every Milwaukeean feel a sense of responsibility for our shared waters,” said Ann Brummitt, Co-Executive Director of Milwaukee...