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October 2024 GMC Membership Meeting
01:01:09

October 2024 GMC Membership Meeting

On October 7, the GMC gathered at ThriveOn King in the burgeoning Bronzeville neighborhood. Anchored by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Medical College of Wisconsin, ThriveOn is a modern and innovative solution, addressing core needs and providing opportunity to the residents of Milwaukee, especially those who reside on the near north side. The collaboration is the result of sustained input from area residents and the outcome will enhance economic opportunity and community health for generations to come. In Bronzeville, projects like ThriveOn King, Howard Fuller Academy, Food for Health and the Bronzeville Center for the Arts focus on providing resources from education to healthcare to job training and create spaces for growth and development. While these investments and the projects they have created are significant, how can we continue the momentum in Bronzeville and other Milwaukee neighborhoods? Is the Bronzeville model being successfully replicated elsewhere? What else is needed and what’s missing? We can and should celebrate historic progress but also challenge ourselves to imagine what comes next and what role each of us plays. On October 7, we heard from these leaders who have forged progress and broken new ground and help shape your vision of what else can be done: Kathy Koshgarian, President and CEO- Food For Health Michelle Nettles, Board Chair, Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy & Chief People and Culture Officer, ManpowerGroup Clifton Phelps, VP of Business Development, JCP Construction Dr. John Raymond, President and CEO, Medical College of Wisconsin
May 2024 Membership Meeting
01:13:35

May 2024 Membership Meeting

Affordable Housing in Milwaukee: A Foundation for Infrastructure Milwaukee has long faced challenges addressing the community’s needs in housing, which is a central factor in so many community circumstances, related to areas like education, health, and workforce. With aging housing stock, lack of adequate inventory, home acquisition costs that far outpace income for many Milwaukee families – especially in the African American and Hispanic communities – and predatory landlords, the environment for stable neighborhoods and growth in home ownership has hurt our community for more than a generation. Utilizing research and a community-driven collective action model, the Community Development Alliance (CDA) has been tasked with implementing Milwaukee’s Collective Affordable Housing Strategic Plan to meet affordable home ownership needs and rebuild neighborhoods in Milwaukee. To address these concerns, GMC focused our Monthly Membership Meeting on May 13, 2024, on housing issues. The meeting began with GMC member Steve Radke, president of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, discussing the role that local corporations and foundations have played in strengthening neighborhoods by addressing capacity, safety, and housing through a collective impact lens. Following Steve’s introduction, Teig Whaley-Smith, chief alliance executive of CDA, presented CDA’s housing strategy, featuring the Acquisition Fund, new construction data, and community investment strategies. He was joined by Rae Johnson, a local homeowner, and JoAnna Bautch, executive director of VIA CDC, who outlined the current action steps underway and what it will take as a community to adequately address our challenges through wise investment, advocacy, and sustained commitment. Many stakeholders are already involved in this effort, and we offer this meeting for you to learn more and engage in how we can have an immediate impact in cementing neighborhoods and building wealth for our residents.
April 8 2024 GMC Membership Meeting
01:05:41

April 8 2024 GMC Membership Meeting

Infrastructure in Milwaukee: What road will we choose? Many in Milwaukee have been inspired by Mayor Johnson’s stated goal of increasing our resident population; his ambition to grow to a city of a million residents gives us a target to work toward in the years to come. To make this progress, we must move forward on many fronts, with infrastructure a central need for the existing population and those we want to attract. As our community identifies priority areas where we need to strengthen infrastructure, the GMC will play a role in highlighting these projects and encouraging members to weigh in. Milwaukee is addressing infrastructure as we grapple with the future of I-794. Aspects of the 60-year-old roadway require repair or rebuilding, and a community dialogue is underway to determine how far we can and should go. Decisions will be made in the next year that will affect the current built environment, as well as future development and growth. The voices of residents, businesses, commuters, and visitors must be considered, and you should be an informed participant in the conversation. On April 8, we took a deeper dive into the future of I-794 and heard from parties with different viewpoints and perspectives. We started with a brief overview of the project and the timeline for action by the State Department of Transportation. John Kissinger, CEO of Graef, then moderated a conversation with Taylor Korslin from ReThink 794 and Jim Plaisted from the Historic Third Ward Association. Each party discussed the benefits of their desired solutions, addressing how it could change the trajectory of Milwaukee’s growth.
March 2024 Membership Meeting
01:14:59

March 2024 Membership Meeting

Public Safety in Milwaukee With the recent good news of Enerpac moving downtown, the imminent arrival of Fiserv, the integration of Milwaukee Tool, and the ongoing construction of the North Tower at Northwestern Mutual, signals of a community on the rise abound in Milwaukee. At the same time, both existing and new employers, in addition to residents in every corner of Milwaukee, identify public safety as a top community priority. The GMC Membership and the Community outlined this issue as a driving need for additional action and improved outcomes. We have begun conversations with our members and community leaders on the appropriate areas where the GMC can engage on this critical issue, and we will kick off that conversation with the broader membership on Monday, March 11. Despite the additional investment in certain parts of the community, other neighborhoods are plagued with daily violence. We want to provide a realistic perspective, what goals we can set as a community and the paths we can take together to achieve better results. Our community has short-term resources to direct toward public safety and a long-term obligation to increase law enforcement resources, but we know that community safety challenges have root causes that need to be addressed as well. At the March 11 membership meeting, we discussed how GMC members are already engaged in this effort and how we can collectively create long-term solutions for priority needs. Program Details: Mayor Johnson provided an overview of public safety in our community, what his administration is currently working on, and how their strategy has refocused with efforts including the Office of Community Wellness and Safety and Vision Zero. Dan Bader, GMC member and CEO of Bader Philanthropies, and Earnell Lucas, vice president of security for Fiserv, hosted a candid conversation with the Mayor, followed by an update from Rob Henken on the status of the Wisconsin Policy Forum and GMC's public safety relationship. GMC Members also discussed solutions and opportunities at their table.
February 12, 2024 Membership Meeting
01:08:46

February 12, 2024 Membership Meeting

Hear from higher education leaders who addressed challenges and opportunities in the educational landscape and the crisis they are facing in real-time. HERA Founding Chair and UWM Chancellor Mark Mone and incoming HERA Chair and President of Carroll University Cindy Gnadinger participated in a curated conversation, and other higher educational leaders were seated among GMC members to engage in a frank and direct discussion about the pathway for higher education in the region in the immediate future. Greg Wesley, SVP at the Medical College of Wisconsin and board chair for Teach for America and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee, moderated the discussion. Meeting details: As a follow-up to January’s examination of Early Childhood Education, we focused on the crisis at the opposite end of the educational spectrum, exploring the opportunities and major challenges within the higher education system. Demographics, costs, diversity, equity, ideology, free speech, and more are issues that are intertwined with the challenges in higher education, and we have seen dramatic changes in the local and statewide landscape. The sudden closure of Cardinal Stritch in 2023 is a symptom of these challenges, and the higher education institutions in Southeastern Wisconsin have been working together over the last five years to meet the immediate and long-term challenges that will make them stronger partners in delivering the workforce and problem solvers of the future. In 2018, the leaders of the region’s 17 higher education institutions formed the Higher Education Regional Alliance (HERA), a collaboration of higher education institutions, economic development organizations, and community partners who seek to increase college completion, align and evolve with the economy, and expand talent. While they continue their commitment to these goals, higher education leaders face an existential crisis over many challenges related to their business model, and they actively seek input and insight from local business and community leaders. How does the state of higher education affect the regional economy and our future workforce? How will we continue to innovate in this challenged system? Participate in the table discussions after our keynote speakers to share your thoughts. As a reminder, this is the Annual Meeting. Board Chair Peggy Kelsey conducted the business portion at the beginning of this meeting.
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