Author: NNS

Christine Neumann–Ortiz is the founder and executive director of Voces De La Frontera, an organization that serves low-wage and immigrant families in the city through social justice reform, legal and social counseling. Since Voces De La Frontera was started almost 20 years ago, Neumann-Ortiz has helped organize and lead social justice marches across the state. Most notably in 2007, she led a nationally recognized immigrant rights march with more than 80,000 participants on the streets of Milwaukee. | Q&A Q: When were you first exposed to activism as a way of life? A: It was when I was a...

Sarah Dollhausen founded TRUE Skool, a nonprofit organization that focuses on developing Milwaukee teenagers through urban arts, in 2004. Since then, the nonprofit has gone from Dollhausen’s living room to the basement of the Shops of Grand Avenue downtown. Her passion for hip-hop culture inspired her to start the organization, where young people can express themselves through break dancing, DJing, graffiti art and other art forms. | Q&A Q: How did you become a leader of a nonprofit? A: Well, it wasn’t something I sought out to do. I was actually in the IT field and working as a...

Andre Lee Ellis welcomed 500 men and boys in tuxedos at the start of the mentor program at Northcott Neighborhood House. For several hours on Saturday morning, hundreds of African-American boys and men, ranging from preschoolers to 80-somethings, walked into Northcott Neighborhood House and crossed the lobby to a line of registration tables. After checking in, they proceeded to a makeshift cloakroom to collect pre-fitted rental tuxedos and down another hall to a changing room. Emerging transformed from casually dressed to tuxedo-clad, they made their way, one by one and in small groups, into the gym, stopping to receive...

“I feel like what I’m doing is a powerful way to bring people together and a powerful way for people to express themselves and their ideas. I believe the kind of work that I’m doing needs to happen more and more often. There needs to be other avenues for artists that want to do this kind of community building.” – Tia Richardson In the sanctuary at All Peoples Church, 2600 North 2nd St., Tia Richardson stands in front of a painted white wall with a watercolor pencil in her hand. The lower right section of her mural, “The Love...

In the immediate aftermath of a decision by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm to charge former Milwaukee Police Department officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown in the August shooting dеаth of Sylville K. Smith, community members and a family member of Smith’s are renewing calls to release body camera footage of the incident. The charge, first-dеgrее reckless hоmіcіdе, is a Class B Felony in Wisconsin, carrying a maximum sentence of up to 60 years. The criminal complaint against Heaggan-Brown, states that he “did recklessly cause the dеаth of Sylville Kwame Smith, another human being, under circumstances which showed utter disregard for...

Rafael Garcia is executive director of Community First, a nonprofit organization that helps low-income and elderly Milwaukee residents afford the repairs needed to maintain and remain in their homes. It has worked on more than 260 homes since starting in 2015, and last year provided repairs worth an average of $35,000. Garcia said his organization also teams with local contractors to help them grow their business. | Q&A Q: Community First was invited to attend the recent United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in Ecuador. Tell us more about the opportunity. A: It is a conference...