Ken Morgan is a theatrical producer. Andrew Goebel is an archeology student at Carthage College. Matt Sama is a recent graduate and wardrobe consultant at Men’s Wearhouse. They say they all have a common goal: to be free.

On the last Wednesday of every month, the Libertarian Party of Milwaukee County meets at Los Mariachis in Greenfield.

At the pre-election September meeting, they aren’t in their usual spot up by the bar.

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Margaritas and Coronas are all around the table. Later, enchiladas. Right away, the conversation goes to the status of Gary Johnson’s campaign, and the opinion is varied. Most express support for him, some only because he is the chosen nominee for the party. But there are more elections to worry about.

They run through updates on the other campaigns. Seven candidates from the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin are running for office. Andy Craig is running for U.S Congress in the 4th District, covering all of the city of Milwaukee. Across the table sits Matthew Bughman, running for Congress in the 7th district– Miller Park, Greenfield, and West Milwaukee. Phil Anderson is running for U.S. Senate.

Anderson speaks to the group with optimism for libertarianism, and a firm belief in the message.

“We are telling the truth,” he says.

The meeting wraps up after a couple hours. Before leaving, the candidates distribute campaign yard signs and door hangers to the group. They urge everyone to take extra signs for friends. After all, it is better for them to be out in yards than in a garage, says Anderson. Libertarians need all the exposure they can get.

2016 has been called “the Libertarian Moment,” and there are more self-identifying libertarians than ever before, with membership of the Libertarian Party increasing by 500 percent from April 2015 to 2016. This was undoubtedly an important election year for the liberty movement. One in four Americans had an unfavorable opinion of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, more than double number who disliked both candidates in 2012. Quadruple the rate in 2008. This opened the door for third parties, especially the Libertarian Party, to appeal to dissatisfied voters. But there was widespread doubt that the right candidate for the “moment” was nominated.

For the second presidential election in a row, the Libertarian Party nominated Gary Johnson, an entrepreneur and former Republican governor of New Mexico. He won just over 4 million votes in the election, a jump from only 1.2 million votes in 2012. This year he earned just over 3 percent of the vote. Five percent would have made the Libertarian Party eligible for matching funds, and the federal government would then match whatever money they raised– a huge missed opportunity to grow. But libertarianism as an ideology is still growing despite political roadblocks. During the primaries, Johnson failed to reach 15 percent in the polls and was left out of the debates, yet after each debate the Google searches for “Libertarian” and “Gary Johnson” and other related terms skyrocketed.

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Phil Anderson is the general manager of Green Cab company in Madison, and a real estate broker. He’s been a member of the Libertarian Party for a little over two years and ran for State Assembly in 2014. Like many Libertarians, he saw how Ron Paul was treated in 2012 and was disgusted by how the election played out. He thinks the Republican Party has drifted from conservative small government principles. They are driven by money. There is no money in Libertarian politics because they are a bad investment– against big money and pro individual rights. Because of this, Anderson became a Libertarian.

He finds there are different points of emphasis in each state Libertarian Party: Wisconsin has economic issues and social issues like legalizing marijuana. People usually are open to voting Libertarian, after an initial reaction of wasting their vote. When he talks about core beliefs like the non-aggression principle and government transparency, everyone agrees with it. They are receptive to the principles and issues, but it’s a question of getting the critical mass of people to the polls so people don’t feel like they’re wasting their vote.

Libertarianism is not just a set of principles. Anderson believes the future of the Libertarian Party will be bright if they continue to run candidates. Local politics like zoning and school boards can be good for communities and neighborhoods. Local, state and national candidates can expose people to what Libertarians do once elected. But getting elected is hard in a divided movement.

There is tension between principle and pragmatism among libertarians. There are three caucuses of libertarianism: radical, pragmatic and paleo. The radical caucus is the Libertarian Party wing and the pragmatic caucus is focused on real world solutions.

“That tension is healthy,” said Anderson. “Libertarians can ask, are we holding to our principles and are we viable?”

Gary Johnson is exciting to Anderson, though he isn’t suited to 10 second soundbites. He likes that about Johnson, and thinks it makes him more sincere and viable.

He thinks the mainstream media latches on to things Johnson says to take him down. Asking “What’s Aleppo?” may not have been as big of deal as they made it out to be.

Going forward, Anderson believes they just need to keep identifying people and keep them connected. Libertarian politics are not always welcome, but a group of like-minded people makes a safe place to express political beliefs.

“We’re building a culture of liberty.”

A 22-year old could do a lot of things with $1,300.

Jordan Hansen decided to invest it in a campaign for State Assembly. A recent graduate from UW- Oshkosh, Hansen is a Libertarian running against a Democrat with no Republican in the race.

His target demographics are college students and young people, and Republicans who don’t have a candidate in the race. Voters have been very open to voting for a 22-year old, the opposite of what he expected. Surprisingly, younger voters are brushing him off as inexperienced, but older people are liking him.

At first, he thought he had a shot at winning, but how he is sure he will lose badly. Despite his expectations, no more money has come in after his own investment. During the summer, he would spend around 50 hours a week knocking on doors.

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If he wins, he will carry out his duties, but then will be done working in government.

“Campaigning has shown me the ugly side of politics,” said Hansen. “It’s hurt my hope for reversing the growth of government.”

He thinks the future of libertarianism is in philosophy and activism versus the Libertarian Party. The value of the party is to promote the message, but breaking the two party system is hard.

He supported Gary Johnson’s nomination, though he thinks he is not the best libertarian but has credentials and can bring positive attention to the party.

Like Anderson, he said the media has dragged Johnson’s gaffes out of proportion for the sake of their parties.

When Hansen first joined the liberty movement, he thought the Republican Party could be taken over by libertarians. But when Rand Paul lost in the primaries, he lost hope for it.

He doesn’t know if there is a future for Libertarian Parties anywhere. States like Utah, Nevada, Alaska, and New Hampshire have a future for Libertarian Party because of libertarian and 3rd party voting tendencies.

Wisconsin should have built a strong Libertarian Party in 1972, when the memory of the Progressive Party was still alive– when people had voted for parties that weren’t Republican or Democrat. Now, he’s afraid the third party spirit may be dead.

“I’m not optimistic that the Libertarian Party has a big future in Wisconsin,” he said. “I hope I’m wrong.”

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Andrew Goebel first got involved with libertarianism through Ron Paul his freshman year at Carthage College. Then, he joined his campus’ Young Americans for Liberty chapter.

Young Americans for Liberty is non-profit organization that seeks to “identify, educate, train and mobilize youth activists committed to winning on principle.” They have over 800 chapters nationwide and growing. Because of their nonprofit tax status, they can’t endorse candidates. In order to work more closely with the party, Goebel changed his group’s name to Carthage College Libertarians.

Goebel is also a Campus Coordinator for Students for Liberty (SFL), another non-partisan organization in the liberty movement. These groups, popular on campuses across the country, are spreading the message of liberty, but not advancing the party or working with candidates.

He got involved with the Libertarian Party “through his own volition” when he volunteered for the Johnson campaign. It wasn’t due to any outreach by the party to college students.

Student activism is a major part of the liberty movement. It has its place, but the activism is often confined to college campuses.

Goebel thinks Libertarians need to tap into the Democrats. They’ve already tapped into Republicans heavily.

In the primaries, like many “conservatarian” millennials, Goebel voted for Rand Paul. During this time, he was also part of the #NeverTrump movement. Now he sees a libertarian case for Trump, as pragmatically he would be better than Clinton.

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Election night finally arrives. In the shadow of the Wisconsin State Capitol, the Libertarians meet at Brocach Irish Pub to watch the returns. The party has a relaxed vibe, lacking the tension that might have been down the street at Republican or Democrat get togethers.

It was a record-breaking night across the board. Andy Craig earned 11.3 percent in his Congressional race, the highest percentage that a Libertarian has ever had for Congress in Wisconsin.

Phil Anderson won 3 percent of the vote in the senate race with 87,291 votes. Jordan Hansen reeled in 30 percent of the vote in his assembly race.

Anderson’s returns were in the expected range, between 2 and 10 percent. What was more exciting for him was the Presidential race.

More people voted Libertarian for president in 2016 than have voted for every other Libertarian presidential nominee not named “Johnson” combined. All of the candidates from 1972 to 2008 added together had fewer votes than Gary Johnson got this year.

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Jordan Hansen was disappointed in his race.

He was disappointed that they couldn’t do more. If he had volunteers knocking on doors, distributing literature and if he had enough money to get something in the hands of every voter, even just one thing, he thinks they could have done a lot better.

However, $1,300 dollars to 30 percent is a good vote to dollar ratio.

As a LPWI record breaker, Hansen isn’t sure about what the next election will hold for the state party. It depends on a lot of variables if they will break the records– the recipe of hating Trump and Clinton won’t be there next time.

Trump will drive liberals to libertarians. Conservatives will be driven to the alt-right.

“A lot of liberals are realizing their own brand of liberalism isn’t working anymore,” said Hansen. “They’re looking for a new ideological home.”

He’s pulling for Trump, but the worse he does the better it will be for libertarianism.

As for 2020, he thinks things should be done a little differently.

“Pragmatism didn’t work. It was Libertarian-light, and people saw through it.”

His pick for president is Austin Petersen, founder of The Libertarian Republic and a favorite early competitor with Johnson. Also running is Adam Kokesh, an abolitionist running on the platform of dismantling the federal government within four years.

Because of the nature of libertarians generally disapproving of government, being a politician is hard for some of them.

“For anyone considering running for office, don’t do it,” said Hansen.

But it wasn’t an entirely bad experience.

“I was able to look people in the eye and see them to see somebody else, a different option. Somebody that actually represented them,” he said.

“I can’t tell you how many times I heard people say to me, ‘You’re the first politician that I’ve ever felt actually represents my views.’ Those moments made my day. Knowing the next door I knock on, I’m gonna get a door slammed in my face. I’m gonna get yelled and have people harassing me. You gotta be really thick skinned to get through it all. And I was doing everything alone. I was the only person motivating me to get out and knock on doors in 90-degree heat in a shirt and tie.”

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Back by the Los Mariachis bar in their usual spot, a couple tables of new and familiar libertarians come together for an unusual Thursday night meeting.

It’s December 1st, and the Milwaukee Libertarians haven’t met officially since the election. Because of the last-minute date change, seven members surround the table.

They already have their eyes on the midterm election, with seats up for State Assembly, U.S Senate, U.S Congress and governor.

“We are committed to being more organized this time around as a party,” said Anderson. “County fairs, all the places we need to be to connect with the voters.”

Anderson believes the records set in the state this year will be beat in next election.

“The demographics are in our favor,” he said. “The secondary goal of my campaign was to find libertarians and bring them into the party, and we’ve done that.”

He is hoping for some positive things in foreign and economic policy from Trump. He predicted that with a Hillary win, Republicans would have gone back to being a little more libertarian and capture Gary Johnson and Bernie Sanders voters on foreign and social policy. But now, a lot is unknown.

“We have to wait and see what Trump does,” he said.

Trump might go in a libertarian direction, but if he doesn’t, Anderson thinks the nation may see a more of an exodus of people to the Libertarian Party.

“People really believe and feel, regardless of how they identify themselves now, that they should live their lives as they choose,” he said. “If we just stick to our message, the government will do the bad things that it does and it will continue to make our case. The message is powerful, and it’s timeless.”

The post The Libertarian Moment appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

A few blocks away, another urban farmer, Nick DeMarsh, tends to a row of yellow, crimson and orange nasturtiums. Honeybees whizz from one edible flower to the next, taking up pollen and drinking nectar from deep inside the horns.

Farther south by 6^th and Howard, the Farm Manager at Sugar Bee Farm, Carolyn Mello, checks over her variety of gourmet mushrooms. A building that once made pipe organ instruments is now a venue for urban agriculture. Within a few dank rooms, bright pink and ghostly grey mushrooms bloom like corals out of bags of straw. Atop the roof is an apiary surrounded by an ecologically friendly green roof.

All of these farmers have different approaches, but they’re each trying to bring fresh and good produce to the consumers who want and need them. A recurring challenge for many of them is that urban farming does not bring in much money. Many of these urban farmers are dependent on land from the city, grant money, volunteer work and fundraising to get off the ground. Although there is potential for economic gains, these farmers are not motivated by fortune but an inner richness instead.

If you’re looking for the next Bill Gates of urban farming, you’re not going to find one. Traditionally, farming has been a low paying job. So why should we expect any different from an urban farmer? If your goal as an urban farmer is to make money, start small, stand out and be creative. Urban farmers must find their own ways of adapting to a market saturated by the products of large scale California farmers.

One of those businesses is Sugar Bee Farm. By offering rare and unique edible mushrooms, they have found a niche in the Milwaukee’s food scene. In a small building located appropriately in the city’s Garden District, the farm is able to turn out a harvest every five weeks. At this rate they are able to provide their mushrooms to area restaurants, farmers markets and grocery stores. In addition to the mushrooms, Sugar Bee’s apiary produces honey when the hives allow it. The farm also functions as a compost and worm-casting producer.

Photos: Geoff Marshall

While the mushrooms are awe-inspiring, being a farmer here is a full-time gig. Farm Manager, Carolyn Mello, spends an upwards of forty hours a week working at the farm. She also manages their website, social media and networks with the farm’s customers. Networking is a crucial part of being an urban farmer if you wish to sell your goods. Forming relationships with restaurateurs and farmer’s markets develops a fan base and reputation for your product. In order to work with restaurants, a farmer must provide a consistent quality product on a consistent punctual basis. Like any business, public interest is crucial in being successful.

“Urban Farming depends upon an interest by the public in your product. And why it’s different than going to the grocery store,” says Mello.

Public participation is necessary in any movement. The urban agriculture sphere is no stranger to that. Presence is gaining traction in Milwaukee area. There are over 20 farmer’s markets in Milwaukee County alone. Not to mention the winter farmer’s market at the Mitchel Park Domes, where Sugar Bee and other vendors sell their products.

There’s also room to grow in this city. The City of Milwaukee’s website reports that it owns and maintains more than 3,000 vacant lots. That’s roughly one lot for every 200 people in this city. There’s also need to produce and distribute more food locally. In 2012, the Wisconsin Food Security Project reported that between 12-18% percent of Milwaukee citizens are food insecure. That’s close to the national average of 16%. Farmers around Milwaukee are trying to shrink those numbers while raising some numbers of their own.

The city of Milwaukee recognizes the potential of urban agriculture as both a social and economic resource. Often the social impacts of urban farming are the most recognizable effects.

Erick Shambarger, Director of Environmental Sustainability for the City of Milwaukee says, “part of it is basically getting people outdoors and into the community, tending the earth and growing things. I think there is an inherent value to that, to reconnect people to the land.”

The Environmental Collaboration Office and its HOME GR/OWN initiative are working towards making the practice of urban farming more accessible to average citizens. Through Groundwork Milwaukee, a non-for-profit, citizens can rent vacant lots from the city on a 3-year lease. On these lots they can now build tool sheds, which can double as a rain collection structure. Gardeners and farmers working on these converted lots can now tap into fire hydrants to access water thanks to permits from the city. It is also legal to sell your crops on site, as long as they are produced on site.

From a business perspective, Shambarger and Tim McCollow, HOME GR/OWN’s Project Manager, agree that the money to be made as an urban farmer is often found in the niche products.

“I don’t know that urban ag is different from any other kind of venture. When people open restaurants, some people do really well and some people don’t. I think it is parcel to small business development, frankly,” says Shambarger. “Our role is to remove artificial barriers to that. It is up to the individual entrepreneurs to figure it out, to do their part to make it work.”

Back in Riverwest, at Farm a Sea of Green,” Nick DeMarsh is doing his part to make urban agriculture profitable. Within walking distance of Kilbourn park, DeMarsh’s pseudo-secret farm hosts rows of edible flowers along with parsley, mint, and other herbs. He sells these herbs to a few restaurants around the city.

Photos: Geoff Marshall

Through trial and error, DeMarsh is making each season more successful. In 2015 he made just over $250 selling his herbs and flowers and he hopes that the has doubled that this year. He has learned that cilantro is the least profitable crop per pound. He has also learned that the slightly sweet and peppery Nasturtium flower is a strong contender for his farm. Nasturtiums lend themselves well to urban agriculture. They are a hardy plant, but the flowers are delicate and require close proximity to their buyer. At 10 cents a flower, profits come gradually.

DeMarsh is honest about the economic prospects of urban farming.

“It’s not like this is some sort of lucrative business. Urban farming is a piece of an income,” says DeMarsh. “It’s a saving account in the form of plants.”

Apart from his small farm, DeMarsh is a graduate student of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Urban Studies program. In addition to furthering his education, DeMarsh is a fellow through the Milwaukee Idea for Economic Development, where he is placed at Groundwork Milwaukee. At Groundwork he helps lead the Young Farmer’s program.

His current approach to farming is well suited for someone in school. It’s ideal for a student as he can be a farmer most of the summer and a student during the school year. The goal for his farm, aside from the personal enjoyment of farming, is to create a little more stability for himself. It’s not a fortune, but it helps pay the bills. He hasn’t rounded this numbers yet, but he thinks he’s doubled his profits this year. For DeMarsh and others, farming is a labor of love. The act of farming and gardening is certainly laborious, but meditative as well.

As a student of urban planning and as a farmer, DeMarsh feels that his actions help to couple theory with substance. DeMarsh is interested in studying and facilitating community based food systems. It is important to create your own definition of success. DeMarsh thinks that people tend to view urban agriculture through an economic lens. He suggests that if people wish to get involved, they should start small and grow things for themselves.

Executive Director of Groundwork Milwaukee Deneine Powell says the community acceptance of urban agriculture as a big challenge. Often when gardening plots are installed, people new to it get excited but lose interest as it requires a lot more effort than they expected. Powell agrees that urban agriculture is an important opportunity for economic and social growth, but it is also limited.

“Community supported agriculture is about the only way to make money as an urban farmer. But you cannot support a family,” said Powell.

That is true for Janice Christensen and her partner, Dr. David Schemberger of the Riverwest Community Garden School. Except their goal was not to make money so much as affect their neighbors. The garden school functions as a Community Supported Agriculture farm (CSA) where people can purchase a share at the beginning of the season and receive weekly deliveries of produce. They also allow free gardening education to anyone who would like to become a student and volunteer. The school is a fully functioning farm, but also functions as a shared community space for people to enjoy as natural environment.

Photos: Geoff Marshall

This year they were able to distribute over 750 pounds of produce to eight families who purchased shares. She is still crunching the numbers after the 20-week CSA season, but believes they will break even.

“I could have sold to fancy restaurants, but didn’t want to do that. I wanted to feed people,” says Christensen.

In a sense, their farm has been subsidized in a non-traditional way. Christensen estimates the start up costs for the farm at around $10,000.The farm was truly community supported as much of that money was raised through crowdsourcing through a gofundme. The crowd-sourced donations helped pay for supplies like soil, building materials for their greenhouse and water shed, seeds, the cost of hiring designers for the farm’s layout and green house, and carpenters to assemble it all. They also received lumber donations from Blifffart Hardware and Lumber, another Riverwest institution. The land they operate on was leased to them through Groundwork and the city. In addition there was a good deal of friends, and neighbors who volunteered to help and make the farm a reality.

Christensen believes that farming is a young person’s game. The students/volunteers have been a large part of the school’s success. For her this is not a business venture but a research project. She does however treat this as business, being as professional an

“The garden is not a cure all by any means, but it’s a positive setting,” says Christensen.

The school is as much a cultural space as it is an agricultural space. On the corner of Bremen and Clarke, it functions as default space for neighborly interactions. By offering free produce in bins and also dollar bundle of produce or flowers, passersby immediate become engaged in urban agriculture.

A goal of Christensen’s for the school was to promote more conversations about food and to encourage people to think more critically about it.

The flagship of urban agriculture in Milwaukee, Growing Power, began with a similar mantra. Will Allen started a roadside produce stand on Milwaukee’s northwest side. Allen’s pursuit of providing good food soon became the pursuit of producing it too.

Photos: Geoff Marshall

“I never wanted to create the world’s largest urban farm,” says Allen. “My goal was to train more urban farmers.”

This goal of Allen’s does hold true in Milwaukee. Farmers like Nick DeMarsh and Janice Christensen have worked at growing power and been inspired by Allen’s work.

At a recent conference held at their warehouse, Allen and Growing Power stressed the importance of scaling up urban agriculture.

“I think part of the success would be to turn this into an industry, to create jobs.,” says Allen. “Traditionally this work has been done on a small scale by non-profits. But non-profits aren’t going to be the ones to scale this up, it’s going to be entrepreneurs.”

Allen believes California’s agriculture is somewhat on the decline, due to lack of water and effects of climate change. Also, with urban expansion and the potential destruction of our agriculture lands, urban agriculture may no longer be an opportunity, but a necessity.

“We’re going to have to have a local food system to survive in the future,” he said. “We can’t depend on shipping food from all over the world into our cities.”

Not only could urban agriculture be an opportunity to help resolve some of our current issues, but it could help us prepare for larger issues in our near future.

Allen says, “A lot of the growing will have to be done in hoop houses and green houses to be able to have a controlled environment to grow in. Those are jobs, and to me that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about creating the next generation of people that are going to make sure our food is there for us.”

At the end of the day Allen and other urban farmers believe urban agriculture seeks to change the perspective people have of their food. If our food system were not flawed to begin with, the need for urban agriculture would be non-existent.

Overall it will take the general public participation as consumers to make a change. For urban agriculture to become a profitable business, more people will need to choose to purchase and consume the products produced by urban farmers. While the goal of making healthy and organic food more accessible is becoming more of a reality, business is another challenge.

“I would love to be put out of business by people growing their own food,” says Carolyn Mello, of Sugar Bee Farm.

The post Milwaukee’s Urban Farms: Defining Success appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

Voices of all tones mesh in an environment of productivity. Some of the same faces from the photographs walk in and out of the office. Two girls with mahogany complexions and bright colored hijabs adorning their round faces come in with backpacks in one hand and signed permission slips in the other. Three Asian boys exchanging laughter and Laotian words walk through to check for their names on a list of students eligible for the next fieldtrip. Most of the students report to the program’s academic advisors, Pakayphet Pakeovilay and Natalia Ornelas.

On this day, Deshawn Brown is working his part-time shift as an office assistant, sitting behind a desk greeting and guiding visitors and students who are going through the same motions he did seven years prior, when he joined UW-Milwaukee’s Upward Bound program during his sophomore year in high school. After graduating from Messmer High School and becoming an alum of the program, Brown is now a full-time student majoring in Photography and Journalism at UW-Milwaukee, on the same campus he spent his high school years coming to.

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“Now I’m in my senior year about to graduate which I didn’t think I would make it,” Brown says, “A lot of my friends didn’t even make it to their sophomore year.”

The main requirements to join Upward Bound are to come from a low-income family and/or be a first generation student (a high school student from a family in which neither parent holds a bachelor’s degree). These criteria are also two of the main obstacles students face in to achieving degrees.

Unlike many other pre-college programs across the nation, for example, Brown University’s precollege program that costs $5,500 to join, Upward Bound is free of cost for its students.

In a 2011 U.S Department of Education Compendium Report following the ‘Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 1972–2009’, dropout rates of 16 to 24-years-old students who come from low income families are seven times higher than those from families with higher incomes.

According to the statistics on TRiO’s (the federal program that Upward Bound is a part of) website, the growing achievement gap in the U.S. is detrimental to the country’s success. There is a widening gap in educational attainment between America’s highest and lowest income students – despite similar talents and potential. While there are numerous talented and worthy low-income students, relatively few are represented in higher education, particularly at America’s more selective four-year colleges and universities. While nearly 67% of high-income, highly-qualified students enroll in four-year colleges, only 47% of low-income, highly-qualified students enroll.

Upward Bound’s main objective is to enable its students to counteract those statistics by providing them with educational and, occasionally, personal guidance. The goal of the program is to help students succeed in high school and to have them go on to college to graduate with a post-secondary degree. Director of UWM’s Upward Bound Donald Singleton says the progress made by the program since it originated 30 years ago has been impressive.

“Since our first graduating class in 1988, 91% of our students have gone to college and 47% of them have received a post-secondary degree,” Singleton says, “Students who are low-income, first generation graduate from college at a 9% rate, so we are doing five times the national rate.”

Growing up in Chicago and moving to Milwaukee when he was 14 years old, Singleton sees himself in the students in the program. He was a first generation student who was a foster child during high-school, seeing education as his ticket out of poverty.

He applied to one college.

“I was taking the number 20 bus down 16^th street during my junior year and I remembering seeing the big Marquette University sign,” Singleton says, “That’s all it was really.”

His fear of failing is what drove him. He didn’t want to be one of those people who dropped out before receiving his post-secondary degree.  Now, he is responsible for the guiding the 80 students currently in the program toward achieving their high school and college diplomas. Singleton has also recently finished his grant-writing in hopes of another five years of funding for the program from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant he wrote five years ago received $2.2 million to fund the last years of students

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One of those students is Riverside University High School junior Tyler Lee. He works a part-time job at Hong Kong Express. His favorite part of Upward Bound is the fieldtrips.

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“We went on a spring break trip to New York and went to Rutgers University, it really caught my attention,” Lee says, “It really made me feel like there is more out there than just Milwaukee.”

To go on trips, students have to acquire points by attending the program’s tutoring sessions, parent meetings, achieving high grade point averages in school, participating in the Practice ACT test sessions, and other program events. The fieldtrips, ranging from college tours, hotel, and other chaperoned sight-seeing trips across the country, can only be attended by a top number of students who earn enough points.

Lee, and his friends he met through the program, make it a priority to manage getting enough points to go to all of the trips.

“Having a job, attending the program, and going to school gets overwhelming at times,” Lee says, “But I feel like it will all be worth it in the long run.”

He is currently applying to multiple colleges including UWM, and plans to major in Business/marketing in hopes of opening his own chain of grocery stores.

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Brown, after graduating in UWM’s Spring class of 2017, plans to find a career where he can travel, capturing photos and sharing stories.

“I know it sounds cliché, but I want to expose what things are happening around our world,” Brown says, “Mostly just something where I can be creative and not sit at a desk.”

Singleton, smiling until his cheeks make his glasses rise from his face, leans back in his office chair. He stacks the 70-page grant proposal he’s worked on since last May on his wooden desk. On the wall spaces throughout the Upward Bound office are hundreds of photos of alumni, of varying ethnicities, wearing caps and gowns, most wearing wide smiles.

“This is why we do it,” Singleton says, “We spend the amount of time you have to write grants and you see the end results and the students enjoying it, that’s what makes it worth it.

The post Against the Academic Odds appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

“I got so drunk I missed my flight,” she admits.

Cindy is a sugar baby. When she broke up with her long-term boyfriend, leaving her with little money, she stopped dating guys for love or fun, and started dating wealthy men for compensation. She goes on coffee, dinner, or party dates with men, and in return they give her cash or a monthly allowance.

Millennials like Cindy are known for their “no strings attached” relationships. These relationships are seen in the college hook-up and friends-with-benefits culture where two people get together with the simple goal of having sex. Sugar baby/sugar daddy relationships are more complicated. Although the idea is that women go on dates for money, many of the sugar daddies expect sex. Sugar babies are sometimes seen as gold diggers or even prostitutes, but their relationships fall into a moral gray area. Being a sugar baby isn’t illegal, but lies somewhere between hook-ups and prostitution. Although many simply want to earn some extra cash, some women in these relationships have experienced neglect in their lives which could affect their future relationships.

Cindy began “sugaring” because she needed a security deposit for a new apartment after breaking up with her boyfriend. On the first date with one of her long-term sugar daddies, he gave her 600 dollars for going out to dinner. Although Cindy continues to work as a waitress, she relies on spending money from her sugar daddies so all the money she makes waitressing is hers to keep.

“If I need help, he just sends me a check,” Cindy said.

She used to attend Milwaukee Area Technical College but dropped out when she couldn’t pay the tuition. College students aren’t strangers to the sugar baby lifestyle. Rising tuition and interest rates make paying on student loans difficult or impossible for people just graduating. It has created what SeekingArrangements.com calls a sugar baby university, where sugar babies find sugar daddies with the sole purpose of paying for college. Brandon Wade, creator of one of the most popular sugar daddy dating sites, said that in 2011 college students made up nearly 40 percent of the sugar baby population on his site SeekingArrangements.com.

Elisa Thomas began her time as a sugar baby after customers at the gentlemen’s club where she worked offered to pay her for dates. She initially began working as a hostess in the club.

“I graduated to stripper after working there for maybe like six months,” Thomas said.

Thomas began studying American Sign Language at UW-Milwaukee and later transferred to MATC.

“You don’t have to sell your whole soul to go to MATC like you do UW-Milwaukee,” Thomas said. “You only have to sell half your soul.”

Thomas said that she began dancing as her main source of income. She soon began escorting and sugaring after the men who came to watch her dance, offered to take her to social events. Many of the men were married, but that’s not why she stopped.

“It just kind of got to a point where it was more work than the reward I was receiving, and I got sober,” Thomas said. “It’s really hard to pretend you’re having a good time with no alcohol or drugs in your system at all.”

Despite the sugar baby population growing so much in the last couple years, there seems to be a lack of knowledge and support in the community. Out of five community organizations related to sexual abuse or sex trafficking and prostitution, only three knew what sugar babies were. The lack of knowledge within community organizations leaves these girls with few resources when they need help.

“There’s not really anything for people who chose that life, or chose to be a sugar baby,” Thomas said.

Because of this lack of knowledge, many sugar babies like Cindy turn to their sugar baby friends to provide support and advice. She could name about eight of her friends who were also sugar babies, some of whom liked the situation and some who didn’t.

“We don’t like that we do it, but we do it anyway,” Cindy said. “We get really grossed out by it and half the time you just can’t believe what these guys say to you.”

Elisa had a very different experience that showed her how beneficial a support group can be. It was a March day in Milwaukee, and she was walking toward an auto yard. Murphy felt safe walking on her own, since it was the middle of the day. Suddenly two men jumped her and smashed her head against the wall before they tackled her to the ground. They took her phone and purse filled with the cash meant to repossess her car. As Thomas lay shaken on the ground, a woman who had seen the assault drove up offering help. The woman gave her a ride to the police station where Thomas thought she would get help. But after she told the police what she did for a living, she says the focus switched from the muggers to herself.

“They took me into an interrogation room and asked me what I was doing on that side of town. It was like March so it was cold, and they were like ‘what are you wearing under your coat?’” Thomas said. “And so, it was kind of like they were discrediting my experience because of my job. I bet if I said I was a teacher they wouldn’t have asked what I had on under my coat.”

The college hook-up and friend with benefits culture works on a completely voluntary basis. For the women and men in those relationships, there are college resources available for any psychological, emotional, or physical help. For sugar babies, there are few places to go for help.

Susan McCarthy was the director of University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee’s Women’s Resource Center for nearly 15 years, and only met one student in such a relationship.

“Her situation was one wherein she didn’t realize what was happening at first, once she did, she came to us to figure out how to get out,” McCarthy said.

Many of the community resources for women in Milwaukee are focused on sex trafficking or prostitution. Since sugaring, as it’s called, isn’t considered illegal, the women who are sugar babies often don’t seek help, sometimes because they don’t feel they need it. Joan Barkley, associate professor of social Work, focuses on trauma involving prostitution and she has seen many women suffer from these relationships. Some of the women involved in prostitution were some of the most traumatized women she had ever met and she worked to understand more about how trauma exists in these women’s lives. Much like sugar babies, she believes women involved with prostitution can choose that profession, but believes other factors play a role in their decisions.

“If she has a history of trauma or sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, is it really a choice?” Barkley said.

Women who are prostitutes almost always have a history of neglect or abuse, according to Barkley. Cindy and Elisa both had issues with their families while growing up. Elisa defined herself as the “typical rebel child” and had just strengthened her relationship with her parents in recent years. This connects to the sort of neglect some of these women experience that can lead them to these relationships.

“I can’t even think of any women I have met, thus far, that don’t have a background of some kind, not all of them sexual abuse, but I have found a lot of them have neglect,” Barkley said.

Sometimes people believe women who sleep around, whether it be for money or just a college hook-up, are trying to fill a void in their lives. Possibly looking for the emotional connection that’s been missing. Hook-ups, sugaring and prostitution all form a connection with the devaluing of sex. Barkley believes there are a lot of women who use sex as a substitution of desirability and to seal-the-deal with men.

“They believe, if I rock his world, if I perform well or whatever, that this guy will be mine,” Barkley said. “It’s a fallacy.”

Sugar babies are likely no different. Both Cindy and Thomas stopped being sugar babies once they got into committed relationships. Once that new, more secure connection came along, they had no room for sugar daddies.

The post Sugar Babies: A Not-So-Sweet Life appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

But what about ministries that go beyond the occasional casserole?

One example of such ministries is Marie, a Wisconsin resident who collects wedding dresses that are donated to her for free. She stores them in her makeshift bridal shop basement, and then gives them away to engaged, Christian women, free of charge. She serves the Christian community first and foremost. The wedding dress story began when a woman at Marie’s church commented on the need among Christian women for more modest wedding gown options.

So Marie began praying, and then making calls. She contacted a bridal shop owner, asking if she would be willing to donate some of her new or used wedding gowns to the wedding dress closet idea. The owner of the bridal shop directed Marie to some $10 clearance dresses she was trying to get rid of. Marie went to take a look at the selection and came back with twenty dresses, sold for just $10 a piece! That’s where the dress collection began. Today, Marie has provided wedding gowns for almost 400 brides since the ministry started in 2010. Brides hear about her by word of mouth, whether it be through friends in church, family members, or past brides who have received a free dress. Three bulging racks of dresses currently reside in Marie’s basement. It’s like walking into an actual bridal shop, minus about 1,000 square feet.

To the surprise of many, a subculture of loving, supportive Christians exists, and even thrives, amidst a society straying from religion. The world today is not the world of ten years ago as the Pew Research Center discovered. The Center conducted a study on “America’s Changing Religious Landscape” that showed a drop in Christianity from 2007 to 2014 by 7.8 percent. Within the same seven years, individuals unaffiliated with a religion have increased by 6.7 percent.

Despite America’s changing religious landscape, this subculture of Christians that serve through ministry do so primarily to “encourage one another,” says Kirk Leach, the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Green Bay, Wis. During his sermon on Sunday, October 23^rd, he said,

“Let’s be a people that are serving for the glory of God.”

Individuals who serve the Christian community give their talents, time and money, believing God has blessed them in a particular way, be it with hospitality, wisdom, or teaching. They then take their skills and give them back to the Christian community. These actions correlate directly with the Bible verse Galatians 5:13, which says “serve one another humbly in love.” Bible-believing followers of God understand that this call to serve starts directly within the Christian community itself.

For the Christians on the receiving end of these services, it is often considered a “reward” for their persevering faith in God. As a member of the Christian community herself, Elle Baldwin recalls all the help she received when planning her wedding.

“As soon as I got engaged, Marlene said she would make a cake for us.”

Much like Marie, Marlene Leach, wife of Bethel Baptist Church’s Pastor Kirk Leach, encourages the Christian community through a wedding-related ministry as well. Years ago, Leach’s twin sister began taking cake decorating lessons. As Leach admired her sister’s decorating skills, she thought to herself “I could do that.” So, she became a self-taught wedding cake decorator. Within her own kitchen in Mile City, Mont., Leach started her own cake decorating business. She both baked and hand decorated cakes for individuals upon request, as well as for larger companies like banks and hospitals.

What used to be a money-making business for Leach is now a free “opportunity to serve God’s people.” Leach’s ministry is geared specifically toward her church family at Bethel Baptist Church. With each new engagement, Leach contacts the couple to offer up her cake decorating talents in the form a free wedding cake.

“I’ll do whatever they ask,” says Leach.

Past wedding cakes baked and decorated by Marlene Leach.

Elle Baldwin, a recipient of a wedding cake made by Leach, says most of the brides who receive wedding cakes from Leach know her fairly well. The relationship the brides already have with Leach is a huge comfort amid stressful wedding planning.

“It’s good for the brides who know Marlene because they know it’s made with love,” says Elle. “And she’s very humble about it.”

Another aspect of Leach’s ministry that Baldwin appreciated was the financial burden lifted with a free wedding cake. Weddings are expensive events. In Green Bay, the average bride spends no less than $20,000 on her big day. One of Baldwin’s biggest helps in getting her own wedding bill down to $9,000 was a free wedding cake donation from Leach.

Similarly, the thought of spending hundreds of dollars on a bridal gown left bride, Lindsey Miller, feeling anything but excited. Green Bay resident Miller got engaged in October 2015. She and her now husband, Tom, planned to tie the knot one year later in October 2016. After the engagement, Miller began to think about all the expenses that would come along with organizing a wedding.

“The dress is usually the first thing brides think about having to get,” says Miller.

When Miller heard of Marie, she gave her a call. After affirming that she was both a born-again Christian and actively living her life for the Lord, Miller was invited to Marie’s makeshift bridal shop.

“I was shocked,” says Miller. She recalls being “blown away” as she viewed the variety of gown options Marie was willing to offer her.

Another bride who found a free wedding dress through Marie is Alana Arco. As a laid-back-bride, Arco desired an easygoing experience when it came to looking for the dress she would walk down the aisle in. She describes her experience in the basement bridal shop as, “relaxed, organized, enjoyable – definitely more my style.” Just like Miller, Arco recalls her first thoughts as she met with Marie.

“It blew my mind to see something special like that happening.”

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Caption: “Alana Arco on her wedding day, wearing the dress Marie donated to her.”

Miller values Marie’s ministry because of the support it gives to the Christian community. In a world where Christian values are given little attention, Miller is encouraged through the wedding dress ministry,
“There are people cheering you on. There are still people supporting you,” she says.

Ministries beyond just help for wedding finances do exist as well. Aside from cake decorating, Leach makes hand-made cards and fills them with encouraging words. Then, when an individual she knows need encouragement, she send the cards wherever needed.

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When compared with the giving away of wedding dresses and wedding cakes, hand-made cards by Leach seem small and insignificant. But to Christians facing all sorts of trials, these cards can provide strength. Leach explains how she often reads through the prayer list at church in order to find individuals in need of a card filled with encouragement. She even teaches the young women in her church with how-to classes in card making.

Another ministry that seeks to serve Christian individuals outside of just wedding planning is Elaine Pratt’s biblical counseling service. As a wife, mother and part-time employee at Eden Baptist Church in Burnsville, Minn., Elaine Pratt is a busy woman.

During her early years of marriage, Pratt’s husband Jon took a job at Maranatha Bible College. There, Pratt got a job as well, teaching Freshman English. Throughout her life, she’s always found much joy in relationships. After her family relocated to Burnsville, Minn., Pratt decided to pursue her love for relationships by learning how to Biblically counsel others. She began taking classes at Central Theological Seminary to later graduate with Master of Arts Biblical Counseling degree in 2014.

Pratt says that while there is no formula to counseling, those who practice the profession possess the ability to listen and hear. Biblical counseling primarily uses the Bible to solve issues in life. The Word of God is seen as a tool that applies to every area of living. While Pratt agrees with this idea, she also knows the importance of showing love to the women she meets with before anything else.

“People long to be heard, to be loved,” she says.

Like Marie, women hear of Pratt primarily by word of mouth. They call her up or send her an email; sometimes Pastors even email her requesting that counsel a certain individual. Counseling is a free service Pratt provides to about three women at a time. The idea is that Biblical Counseling from Pratt would be a flow out of her home church.

Not only would a paid job in counseling defeat the point of Pratt’s ministry, but she would also have to consider the legal ramifications. With a free-of-charge approach, Pratt is able to freely, yet biblically advise, listen and pray for the women she counsels. Pratt is not alone in her biblical counseling practices. Juli Fulks, a fellow attender of Eden Baptist Church, holds a counseling degree as well.

Fulks, her husband and two young boys spent some time overseas as missionaries in Spain. Eventually, Fulk’s family moved back to the states. The transition home was a big adjustment, so upon returning to America, Fulks was able to go to Pratt to process through many different thoughts and emotions.

Fulks describes the way Pratt lives as “purposeful living.” She explains how every person wants to feel accepted, loved and known. Pratt helps women feel this very way by coming alongside them with open ears. The unique side of Pratt’s counseling ministry is her ability to provide an outlet for women who give their lives to ministry.

Pratt and Fulks recently hosted a women’s event at their church, Eden Baptist Church. The morning started with breakfast and light conversations amongst small groups of women. Then, Pratt and Fulks led a discussion in an attempt to “talk transparently on the topic of trusting God.” The talk focused primarily on experiencing God’s love, goodness and wisdom in everyday life.

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The event served as an outreach for many of the Christian women at Eden Baptist Church who may not have the opportunity to be counseled on a regular basis.

These are just a few ministry examples of the encouragement the Christian community strives to provide amidst a secularizing world.

After the wedding was complete and the honeymoon had passed, Elle Baldwin wrote a thank you note to Marlene Leach for her generous wedding cake donation. Baldwin enclosed a gift card in the thank you note to emphasize her appreciation. At church the following Sunday, Leach found Baldwin and thanked her for the note. She appreciated the gift cards as well, but then said,

“You just took away my crowns in heaven!”

Baldwin chuckles as she recalls Leach’s comment.

“She just wants to use her talents to glorify God,” says Baldwin.

The post Beyond the Casserole appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

“I’m going to buy some food in the Mobile Market. This is my first time,” Melson said.

A huge trunk parked outside. On the side, it said “Pick n Save Fresh Pick Mobile Market. Bringing Fresh Food to Communities throughout Milwaukee.” Two staff members got off the truck and put out two boards saying “25 percent off on Ham and Turkey.” Melson waited in the line with other seniors to enter the market.

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Next to the mobile market truck was another huge truck with several loads of boxes. The “Stock box” labels were put on the boxes. Some seniors in wheelchairs were waiting to get a box.

Across Riverside Park, the Clinton Rose Senior Center is located on Martin Luther King Drive in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood. Most of the seniors there are African-American, and are living in low-income communities. Melson is one of them. She is 62 years old and lives with her daughter on the North Side, which is known as low-income community and a food desert.

Seniors in poverty

Seniors living in low-income communities or in neighborhoods that don’t have much access to fresh grocery stores are facing a tough situation when it comes to their food. In a map of Milwaukee from United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, 45 percent of households in the central city don’t have vehicles and live more than half a mile from a supermarket.

Statistics from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services in 2014 show there are 111,948 people in Milwaukee over 65 years old. Among them, 11,430 people are living in poverty; 39,991 people are living alone. For low-income seniors, transportation is also a big issue for them.

The Stockbox program

To help change the situation, the Hunger Task Force, Pick ‘n Save and Milwaukee County opened the Mobile Market. The truck travels throughout the neighborhoods and communities that have limited access to fresh and healthy foods.

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“The price in the Mobile Market is lower than what you will find in stores. The federal grant is a big help,” said Geoff Smeja, a driver and the coordinator of the Mobile Market truck.

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This year in June, the Hunger Task Force received a $100,000 federal Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Stockbox is a program called the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which is administered by the Hunger Task Force. Each month, nearly 9,000 boxes of supplementary food are delivered to low-income seniors who are older than 65.

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“The Stockbox is a local program, it’s free to low-income seniors. We offer different types of food in the boxes,” said Rick Lewandowski, program director of Hunger Task Force.

“We have a dining program here which provides seniors with healthy and fresh lunches every day,” Henrietta Allen said while she was helping seniors to sign up for the Stockbox. Allen is the director of the Clinton Rose Senior Center.

Market on a truck

Stepping up to the truck, the mobile market was filled by seniors holding shopping baskets. Vegetables were put on the right-side shelves; fruits were put on the left. Two large coolers were on the ground with hams and turkeys inside. There were also freezers with yogurt, juice, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and meat. The price was cheaper than in the store; the greens were less than one dollar, and a dozen eggs only cost $0.74.

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“I like greens and fruits,” Melson said when she was busy picking some mustard greens, “I would go to the grocery store twice a month, but that’s not enough for to get everything I need.”

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When heading to the cashier, a sign on the wall saying “NO CASH. Debit, Credit, or EBT only.” Some seniors were using a green card to pay the bill.

“It’s the EBT card, the government will put money in it,” Smeja said.

The EBT card is known for Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, which is issued by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The EBT card is used for making purchases and groceries in stores like Pick ‘n Save.

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After checking out, Melson looked satisfied.

“I bought some greens and fruits, and I got cheese and bacon.” Melson said while opening the plastic bag.

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Nutrition for seniors

It was noon, and the dining room was busy. A menu board at the entrance of the dining room announced today’s lunch: Italian Meatballs/Sauce w/ Parmesan Cheese, Spaghetti Noodles, Italian Vegetable Blend, Mixed Greens, Italian Dressing, Vienna Bread, and Fresh Pear.

“I eat lunch here every day,” Anthony Cistrunk said from his wheelchair. “They have something better than I have at home.”

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Cistrunk is 75 years old, and he lives three blocks away from the Clinton Rose Senior Center.

“I come here to have some social time, and to get some fresh food,” Cistrunk said.

Seniors who are living in low-income communities are also facing nutrition problems. According to the report from the U.S. Census Bureau, 4.2 million seniors who were 65 years and older lived below the poverty line in 2015.  Nearly 3 million seniors experienced food insecurity.

“The seniors definitely need three meals a day to get enough nutrition,” said Judy Mayer, a licensed nutritionist. “Some of the seniors I had helped didn’t eat breakfast, which is the important meal of the day.”

From food desert to food access

The situation in food deserts is changing. Several food markets have been built for residents living in food desert area. The Fondy Farmers Market is known for benefitting the low-income people on the north side, as well.

“We work with family farms to make sure the food is fresh and is from local farms,” said Meg Kilkenny, who is program coalition coordinator for the Fondy Farmers Market.

Kilkenny said the use of the term “food desert” should be reduced.

“The situation is improving. We have the Fondy Farmers Market on the north side, and we have a farm in Port Washington. At least the north side is not a food desert,” Kilkenny said.

The Hunger Task Force’s Sherrie Tussler on the evolution of food deserts:

“It’s hard to say which area in Milwaukee is a food desert, but there are still places people don’t have access to grocery stores; and this is what we want to help,” said Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force.

Photos: Qixin Xu

The post Bringing Fresh Food and Low-Income Seniors Together appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

1970s: Jesus Salas

The fall semester of 1970 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee seemed normal to the 25,000 students who had begun the semester. However, for the 14 Latino students enrolled in the university, most of whom were from Central and South America, it would become a life-changing semester. Soon the Latino students began to talk among one another, and they began to realize the discrimination that the Latino community of over 30,000 in Milwaukee was facing in the educational system.

“Large community meetings began to take place in the near South side regarding the lack of participation of the Latino students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,” said UWM alum and former UW-System regent Jesus Salas.

Today, there are 2,224 Hispanic students enrolled at UW-Milwaukee, making up 9 percent of the student body.

Chancellor Mark Mone has noted this spike of Hispanic enrollment, so during October of 2016, now known as the National Hispanic Heritage Month, he revealed his plan to make UW-Milwaukee the first Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the state of Wisconsin, within a period of 10 years. And although this objective seems achievable, there are multiple challenges to Hispanic enrollment such as high tuition and financial aid, lack of outreach and recruitment, as well as ramifications of the 2016 election.

Still, one of UWM’s most prominent Hispanic leaders finds hope, as he looks to the past as a source of inspiration.

“The truth is that this is a movement that began 40 years ago,” said Roberto Hernandez Center interim director Alberto Maldonado, “when a group of students decided to sit-in in the office of Chancellor Johannes Martin Klotsche, demanding better resources and help for the Hispanic students of UWM.”

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Students begin to organize

Late in the 20^th century, the Latino students of UW-Milwaukee were facing many barriers which were blocking their path to higher education. Not only did they face segregation due to the color of their skin, cultural differences and language gaps; the students back in 1970 had a very limited number of professional and educational role models.

Students at UWM such as Jesus Salas, Ernesto Chacon, and Roberto Hernandez decided that enough was enough, as they began to organize a movement to demand better educational resources for Latinos.

“We had presented a proposal in the summer to Richard Davis, the dean of the school of education,” said Salas. “Although he was very sympathetic towards our demands, he felt that the school of education could not meet all of the demands that were being made by the community. So, he referred us to the chancellor.”

After an extensive period of protests, sit-ins and negotiations, the Council for Education of Latin Americans (CELA) managed to create an agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. October 23, 1970, would be the date that would change the campus of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. On this date, an office was opened on campus, and an outreach center was placed in the Southside of town, called the Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute (SSOI). Both were established in order to serve the Hispanic student community of Milwaukee. After the creation of the SSOI in 1970, there was a 300% increase of enrollment from 1970-1973. By 1975 there were a total of 351 Hispanic students enrolled in the university.

These resources are still available today, now known as the Roberto Hernandez Center (RHC), which has become the prime resource facility for Hispanic and Latinx students on campus.

“My first contact was not necessarily admissions but the RHC,” said 24-year-old UWM student Cinthia Tellez. “I first met with an advisor at the RHC, and that’s how I came to know the services and opportunities are offered here for me. So, I think that without the RHC, I wouldn’t have made that connection with the university, that would embody what I was hoping to get out of my education.”

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Modern challenges faced by Hispanic students: financial aid

Cinthia was brought into the United States by her Mother and younger brother who, like many undocumented immigrants in the U.S., were in search for a better life for their families. They come in the hopes of finding better education and employment, a better roof over their heads, as well as escaping from the crime and corruption which can be seen in multiple communities of their native towns and cities.

According to a study by UWM’s Center of Economic Development, Latino Milwaukee currently contains a higher proportion of native-born citizens, with almost 73%. However, 55.4% of Milwaukee County’s foreign-born Latino population is estimated to be unauthorized immigrants.

“Transferring to this university was something really instrumental for me to be able to graduate,” said Tellez. “However, I didn’t know my education was going to cost me so much, especially because I don’t qualify for financial assistance. Knowing how to go about my finances to pay for school was something I had to learn throughout the years, sometimes I would make enough for 1 or two classes, sometimes I had to be out of school for full semesters to attend full time next semester.”

Unfortunately for Cinthia, and for most of the undocumented immigrant student populations in the U.S., there are very limited financial resources available for them.

This is an experience that is chillingly similar to that of Amaerani Torres, who is another example of a UWM undocumented student who has to face the challenges that lack of financial aid brings to their educational, as well as personal lives.

“It’s like I’m carrying a huge financial burden on my back,” said UWM student, Amaerani Torres, who is also an undocumented student immigrant.

“At one point, I’ve had to work at least three jobs,” Torres added. “Throughout college I’ve only been a part time student, because I can’t afford the whole tuition.”

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In Wisconsin, children who are born outside of the U.S. and are not citizens or legal residents, are at least guaranteed public education through high school. However, it is when they begin to pursue a college education, that they face strong legal and financial barriers.

At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, undocumented immigrants who wish to study on campus may do so by paying out of state tuition which is a total of $8, 909 per semester. Thus, for a four-year bachelor’s degree at the UW-Milwaukee, a student like Amaerani would have to pay a total of $71,278.

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Currently, only 18 states including California, Texas, Oregon, and Maryland allow teens without legal status to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities, provided they meet certain requirements.

“I don’t think there are enough resources for undocumented students available on campus,” said Torres. “If they would create some type of resource, such as a scholarship fund for undocumented students, it would be awesome, because then more people could come.”

This is something that Alberto Maldonado and the committee acknowledge, and say they are working with departments on campus such as the office of development and the department of financial aid, to continue the development of scholarships for all Latinx students.

“There are multiple possibilities that we’re looking into,” said Maldonado. “We’re working closely with different organizations, such as the Mexican consulate of Milwaukee in order to create scholarship opportunities for all Latino students, both documented and undocumented.”

Additionally, Maldonado cited a plan to continue Dr. Figueroa’s initiative for PALM, which was established as a Latino Student Fund, and a unique source of emergency funding for currently enrolled Latino students that are facing unexpected expenses, which can affect their pursuit of an undergraduate degree.

HSI designation and its benefits

If UW-Milwaukee earns the HSI designation, it would be eligible for special federal funding grants to support student recruitment and retention, faculty development, community outreach and more.

In order for UW-Milwaukee to obtain this designation, which is held by over 435 universities nationwide, UWM would need to increase its Hispanic student enrollment by 16%. To be considered an HIS university, the Hispanic population must make up 25% of the total undergraduate enrollment in the institution.

“Our top priority is student success,” said UWM chancellor Mark Mone in a news release. “Our efforts will benefit all students through a learning environment that prepares them for today’s world.”

On November 16, 2016, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the award of more than “$104 million to Minority Serving Institutions,” of which $92 million in new grants we made available in STEM Grants solely for the Hispanic Serving-Institutions of the country.

University of Illinois-Chicago is UWM’s closest HSI neighbor, with a total Hispanic enrollment of 26.5% out of their 15,967 undergraduate students enrolled, and they were awarded a total of $280,114 for the 2016 year.

Although Chancellor Mone says the main objective is to “address the upcoming demographic changes” in our community, one must acknowledge that $280,000 represents progress, taking into account the $41 million that the university plans to cut out of the budget by 2019, due to a $38 million deficit that the campus faces.

These large budget cuts force the institution to cut corners in every sector, leaving them with various challenges, and only a few weapons that they can use to combat them with. Recruitment and enrollment, have become essential in keeping UW-Milwaukee working as best as possible.

“Enrollment has become the centerpiece of this movement,” said Maldonado. “Since we currently only receive about 20% from state funding, we need enrollment money in order to keep functioning as an institution.”

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Leading the Project

To reach the objective within the time frame proposed by Chancellor Mone, UWM has created the “Chancellor’s Committee for Hispanic Serving Initiatives (CCHSI).” Chancellor Mone assigned the interim director of the Roberto Hernandez Center, Alberto Maldonado, to lead this committee and project.

The committee is made up by various branches of the university, including the chancellor, provost, and the two vice chancellors which are the core of the administration on campus, and according to Maldonado they are also “the main architects that are leading the project.” Right beneath them there is the working team, which is comprised of three students, academic staff, University staff, faculty and administrators.

Amongst the faculty co-advisors is professor, Michelle Lopez Rios, a UWM professor and head of acting in the Peck School of the Arts.

Rios said that the chancellor had contacted them a couple months ago, in order to discuss the numbers of Latinx students in UWM and Wisconsin.

“With all the budget cuts that have been taking place, it’s hard to have a lot of time for something that’s so important,” said Rios. “We decided that perhaps co-faculty advisors would allow us to, appropriately commit time to this, but also take care of our duties such as teaching and research.”

Prior to becoming the interim director of the RHC, Alberto Maldonado was serving as the Assistant Director for Undergraduate & Transfer Recruitment and Community Relations, with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

“Alberto was perfect for the job,” said Rios as she described his experience with recruitment.

Although Maldonado may the overseer of the HSI project, the committee structure is much more elaborate than it appears. It includes a number of staff and students, it will allow room for better representation throughout the entire campus.

“It was also done like this because this isn’t Alberto Maldonado’s project, this is a campus lead project,” said Maldonado.

He then added that in the near future the CCHSI plans to create a “Community advisory board,” in order to involve key members of the community, and allow them to participate, in order to develop a plan of how they can achieve the HSI goal. With addition to be able to develop plans of how the community will support the students with scholarships, internships, jobs, and all of the things that would make this endeavor successful from beginning to end.

“I’m happy that the structure is how it is, and that the chancellor has made a commitment to be an active participant in the process,” Maldonado added.

For the most part, most the community members are very enthusiastic about this initiative. They have faith, that if placed in the proper hands, this project will be successful. Only a hand full of the Latino community members feel a bit pessimistic about the endeavor. Most of which expressed the same worries, primarily with financial aid, which was the main concern of them all.

UW-Milwaukee Latino Future

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This all sounds great on paper, and in speeches, however, is this idea truly conceivable?

According to the 2014 U.S. Census, approximately 598,000 people live in the city of Milwaukee that are Hispanic or Latino. It was in the last decade, between 1990 – 2014, where we saw an explosion of population take place in the Latino community of Milwaukee.

During these two decades, the Latino population of Milwaukee increased by 213%, which is the “highest growth rate among the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas,” this according to the study by UWM’s Center for Economic Development (CED).

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Over 90 percent of the net population growth in metro Milwaukee are due to the Latino populations expansion. They also account for the entire net population growth in the city of Milwaukee since 2000. In fact, if it wasn’t for the surge of Latinos on Milwaukee over the time period stated, the city’s population would have declined by over 16 percent between 1990 and 2014.

“Achieving HSI status is critically important to addressing the upcoming demographic changes of an increasingly diverse student population,” said Chancellor Mone in his news release.

According to the study by the CED, Latinos in Milwaukee currently still “lag significantly, behind white non-Hispanic population.” This is due to the fact that compared to the 95% of the white community, and the 80% of the African American community; less than two thirds of Latinos in Milwaukee over the age of 25 have a college degree.

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Nonetheless, it is with the younger generations where Latinos show growing numbers.

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The same study shows that, in less than a decade, the “total non-Hispanic enrollment in metro Milwaukee schools declined by 32,000, while Latino enrollment grew by almost 22,000.”

Additionally, “the Latino share of total K-12 enrollments in the city of Milwaukee grew from 8.0 to 25.3 percent; in the Milwaukee County suburbs, the Latino percentage grew from 1.8 to 13.6 percent; and in the WOW counties, the Latino share grew from 1.4 to 7.3 percent.”

Therefore, a vision of UW-Milwaukee as a Hispanic Serving Institution, is not impossible.

“There isn’t really a reason why not to do this,” said Maldonado. “There isn’t really anything at stake here. Everything that we’ll do, whether it’s at a small scale or large scale it’s all going to be beneficial in increasing the Hispanic enrollment. In reality, any way you look at it it’s a good thing, so even if we grow to a 14%, 16% or 30% and higher, it’s all a plus for the Latino community of our city.”

The post Latino Students at UWM Build on Legacy of Growth appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

When Manriquez arrived at the clinic, she braced herself for tears and cries from her sons; icy stethoscopes, sharp needles and bright lights can add up to a painful experience for children. Manriquez prepared her sons for the trip to the doctor’s office, but she was not prepared for the follow-up letter that arrived about a week after the appointment. She felt panic as she opened the letter, marked “urgent,” and discovered that her children’s lead levels had tested dangerously high. The letter stated that they needed to return to the clinic as soon as possible for more testing.

“I was thrown off,” Manriquez said.

Manriquez frantically tried to determine where the lead could have come from; before her children were born, the paint in her house was fresh and the windows were new. Manriquez considered what the lead could do to children: behavior issues, learning disabilities and low test scores—all troubles that could start in school but last much longer.

Photos: Jaimie Anderson

Especially after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan that dominated national news, many people felt concern for their children’s health. Despite the media attention, however, Milwaukee actually topped Flint in 2015 with 11.5 percent of children under age six testing for five micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood over 6.4 percent of children from the same age range in Flint according to each city’s respective health department. Lead poisoning is not limited to the rust belt, though—it’s a national problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated five hundred thousand children aged five and under have high levels of lead in their blood in the United States.

A rainbow of gray

It helps to view lead poisoning as a spectrum rather than a binary illness; the CDC deems five micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood unsafe for children under the age of six, which is the most vulnerable age group for lead poisoning. Long-term effects of lead poisoning include impulsive and sometimes violent behavior, as well as slowed learning and low IQs, which can lead to problems both in and out of school. Extremely high levels of lead in young children can cause seizures and death. However, Dr. Geoffrey Swain, medical director and chief medical officer of Milwaukee’s health department said that no level of lead is a safe level for young children.

“The reason that it’s such a big deal for kids, compared to adults, is that their brains are still in this important developmental stage,” Swain said. “Also, their bodies are small, so relatively speaking, it doesn’t take much lead to cause a significantly increased level of lead in the blood and then cause these problems.”

Because of the seriousness of lead poisoning, the city has pumped $50 million into childhood lead poisoning prevention over the past decade, with an added $11 million in the 2017 budget to target the sources of lead. Funding and services by the city have helped bring down the number of cases of lead poisoning in Milwaukee, resulting in a 90 percent decrease in children testing above five micrograms since according to the Milwaukee Health Department. However, advocates still wish to see the number of cases decrease to zero.

Swain attributed the toll of lead poisoning to “the sheer loss of productivity in human potential” in society, since the illness does not allow children to grow and learn normally. Many of the nation’s lead-poisoned children live in one of the CDC’s estimated four million homes with lead hazards in the nation. Lead hazards lurk in a few different parts of the home, but one facet starts at the faucet: lead water pipes and fixtures can erode, causing particles of lead to get into the water. Old lead water service lines in several big cities across the country deliver water into people’s homes; lead service lines deliver water to more than seventy thousand homes in Milwaukee. Some groups and individuals in the city wanted to step up to combat this invisible phenomenon to help more kids reach their potential and enrich the community at large by starting with the lead pipes.

Something in the water…

Milwaukee’s roughly 70 thousand service lines contain lead; service lines connect water from the main to individual households and buildings. One half of each service line is publically owned, running from the water main to the curb stop, which is underneath the sidewalk, and the other half is privately owned, picking up at the curb stop and delivering water to the house. It is important to note that the source water from Lake Michigan goes not contain lead, nor do the water mains, but the service lines and lead fixtures in homes may be at risk. The city treats the water with orthophosphates and other chemicals to prevent corrosion of the lead pipes, but this treatment isn’t one hundred percent effective. Lead particles can still make it through the faucet, especially in areas under road construction or where there are partial water pipe repairs, like when a pipe has a leak. While this nuance may seem insignificant, temporary spikes in lead in the water can alter the lives of young children who drink it. So Spanish Journal editor and UW-Milwaukee alum Robert Miranda joined forces with Laura Manriquez and other citizens to co-found the Freshwater for Life Action Coalition, or FLAC, to fight to get the city to replace lead pipes and pay for it too.

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“What struck me is a comment [Bevan Baker, commissioner of the Department of Health in Milwaukee] made, which I found very odd and disturbing, when he said that there is no lead coming through our tap water,” Miranda said, “and when he made that comment, I said whoa, there’s something not right here.”

Miranda observed the Rules and Steering Committee meeting in January 2016, where they learned that the City was doing “end-of-line” testing to calculate the tap water’s lead levels. According to Miranda, this technique does not yield accurate results for how much lead is in the water. So Miranda made it FLAC’s mission to push the City to acknowledge the presence of lead in the pipes, and possible lead in the water, to further push the City to replace the pipes and pay the bill. According to Miranda’s research, the City mandated that residents purchase and install lead service lines, on both the public and the private sides, in 1872.

“If government back then told you to lay the pipes, government today should fix the problem and remove these things, and that’s the root of our issue here,” Miranda said.

The Milwaukee Common Council tabled the last city budget meeting in late November in order to take more time to consider the issue of who is responsible for paying for lead pipe replacement. The city proposed paying for two thirds of the total replacement on both the public and private side of the service lines, but FLAC argued that the city should pay for replacing all of it (not including lead fixtures within homes, however; Miranda believes that responsibly falls on property owners). Miranda, Manriquez and FLAC continued their battle against the City with more research, identifying where the City’s funding comes from to bring options to the table at the next meeting.

“We basically tell them, hey, we know where the money’s at,” Manriquez said. “We know where it comes from.”

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The organization hopes that offering concrete suggestions on how to finance replacing the pipes will make it harder for city officials to say no. FLAC believes Milwaukee owes it to its residents to cover the cost of the replacement. Miranda said that many people living in the affected homes live below the poverty level, and cannot afford to pay for even a third of the service line replacement in smaller monthly installments added to their property tax.

“If folks add more money to their property tax, then what happens when they can’t pay their property tax with that extra money?” Miranda asked. “Then the city winds up with their house!”

As the City takes time to debate over the funding, however, many residents hope for some help in the meantime.

Filter the water, stall for time

As organizations and citizens started to raise awareness of lead water pipes in the city and push to get them replaced, more people got involved. The United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County wanted to do something to help in the meantime as the city sorted out a plan to replace the pipes, so they started with their own donation of $15,000, which led to Aurora, Ascension, Froedtert and Children’s healthcare systems matching that donation. Then the United Way partnered with the Health Department to identify households affected and in need to begin the distribution process.

Hundreds of residents and children wrapped around a cold cement building on the South Side of Milwaukee in November’s early twilight. In the middle of the growing line stood a woman in a puffy black parka, arms crossed, making small talk with two other women beside her. The doors of the building they stood by had only been open for half an hour when the woman, Lynn Jones, turned around to see the line of people stretched beyond the parking lot and way down the street. Jones, along with everyone else around her, was waiting in line to receive a free water filter, donated by the United Way and the city’s various healthcare systems, at the Sixteenth Street WIC-Clinic on Cesar Chavez Drive.

The free filter distribution took place months after Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s call to action at a Marquette University symposium on lead pipes, telling city residents to purchase water filters certified to remove lead. While lead pipes have existed in Milwaukee for decades, along with lead poisoning, many citizens felt a sense of urgency. An initial distribution gave priority to individuals and households at higher risks, like families with children under age six and pregnant women, but the event in December was open to anyone living at a home connected to lead water service lines. The United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, along with the other organizations in the area raised over $90,000 so far to provide filters to and filter replacements, but they did not have enough filters for all of the more than 500 people at the event.

Families with children six and under and families with pregnant women took priority in an initial distribution. The vice president of the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, Nicole Angresano, said she knows that water filters are not a permanent solution.

“United Way’s priorities are making sure that we have a thriving community, and a community can’t thrive in the absence of basic needs being met,” Angresano said. “And there’s perhaps no more critical need than clean drinking water.”

Photos: Jaimie Anderson

While organizations may plan to raise more money to provide a filter and some replacements to every home in Milwaukee, the cost of filter replacements add up over time and some families cannot afford them while waiting on free filters and pipe replacements. However, people can reduce the risk of lead leaching into their water by running water from the tap until it gets really cold to flush out particles of lead that could be present. Swain and the health department recommend doing this for all drinking and cooking water to minimize the threat. While this technique may also not be an ideal fix, Swain said other lead hazards in the home pose a trickier threat: paint.

…but there’s also lead in the walls?

Although lead pipes and lead-contaminated water do pose a threat to young children in Milwaukee, Dr. Swain said the majority of cases of childhood lead poisoning diagnosed in Milwaukee can be traced to lead paint hazards. According to Swain, the health department assesses homes where children test for high levels of lead to determine the source, and he said without exhaustive searching, they can usually spot lead paint chips and dust quickly. About 130 thousand homes in Milwaukee contain lead paint, which is the leading cause of lead poisoning in children in not only Milwaukee, but around the country, according to the Health Department.

Lead paint poses a threat to children when it starts to deteriorate on the walls; lead chips and dust can get in the air and on the floor, where young children crawl around and get it on their hands, which they often end up sticking in their mouths. Lead dust and lead paint chips exist outside too, when exterior lead paint begins to crack and flake and end up in the soil where children roll around and can pick the particles up too.

Swain said lead paint poses a more imminent threat than lead in the water because it has no simple solutions. While water filters may not be a permanent solution, they do prevent most of the lead from getting through in the water. Lead paint, on the other hand, has no temporary fix. When a home has been identified for poisoning a child with lead via paint, a certified contractor must strip the home of all the original woodwork. This process requires training and equipment to prevent the contractor from getting lead poisoning when working on the house and creating lead dust.

“The thing is, it’s basically invisible,” Rocky Everly, president of the Milwaukee Lead and Asbestos Abatement Information Center said. “It’s not like you spill gasoline or something, you can smell it and see discoloration or whatever or oil or something like that. It’s so subtle, you just think it’s a little dusty in here.”

Ingesting lead paint dust is the most common cause of lead poisoning among children, but inhaling lead dust is the most common cause of lead poisoning in adults according to Everly. Most adults are not at risk of lead poisoning, but certain occupations can put an adult at higher risk, especially those that work in construction.

Even though mostly young children and developing fetuses have the highest risk of lead poisoning, lead alters the DNA, which means the effects and damage of lead poisoning can get passed down from generation to generation, which creates a greater problem for society.

“There’s a correlation [between lead poisoning and crime] also, a societal cost, of not addressing this issue because we end up with more people in prison,” Everly said.

It’s worth noting that there is a lot of overlap between the 130 thousand homes with lead paint and the 70 thousand homes with lead pipes; lead builds up in bloodstream, so ingesting it by water and by dust can increase levels of lead in the blood. Whatever the source of lead, however, everyone everywhere should understand the impact of lead poisoning on society.

Lead is everywhere, really

Nearly two decades after Laura Manriquez got that call from Israel’s teacher, she answered the phone again. This time it was Israel, calling from jail. Israel told his mother that he got into a car accident. The police discovered that Israel was driving a car that he purchased with a loan—a violation of his probation from a previous run-in with the law. Although Israel wasn’t supposed to buy his own car under his probation restrictions, he needed a car to get to his job at Culver’s, and while he could have legally driven his mother’s car (and she allowed him to do so), Israel wanted independence.

“He’s had lifelong struggles as a result of [lead],” Manriquez said. “Being very impulsive, he always would end up somewhere he’s not supposed to be.”

Israel was on probation after being convicted of robbery with a gun. According to Manriquez, Israel stole marijuana from an elderly woman in the community, and when he refused to give it back, she called the police and told them that he robbed her of one thousand dollars.

“When the police stopped Israel, he had no gun on him, he had no money on him…but he was high as a doorknob,” Manriquez said. “And that’s a part of that ADHD self-medicating.”

Israel served 10 years in prison, where he sat locked in a small, concrete cell for 23 hours each day. Manriquez felt happy when he was released, but her heart dropped when his probation violation landed him back. During Israel’s years in prison, he didn’t get to attend his brother’s funeral after he got hit in an accident. Manriquez reflected on her son’s lost time.

“He could have had his PhD by then,” Manriquez said.

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Impulsive behavior can lead to trouble in the criminal justice system. Various studies show a link between childhood lead poisoning and crime. One study from the University of Michigan found that many of the prisoners they studied reported having lead poisoning as children. While correlation does not always equal causation, Dr. Swain said that there seems to be enough collective evidence to suggest a real link between the two.

“Childhood lead exposure is not a small thing that’s just making a few more kids have attention deficit disorder, or a few more kids maybe score more poorly on their third grade reading scores,” Swain said.

Research has found that lead poisoning in young children, which causes poor academic performance, can lead to suspensions in school, which can serve as a precursor to trouble the with criminal justice system. Still, Swain emphasized that not all children with lead poisoning grow up to be criminals, but simply that the more children in a community with elevated levels of lead, the more crime that community will likely experience as these children grow up. Lead alone is not the cause of crime, but simply another factor that contributes to it.

“I don’t believe that a child just woke up overnight and said hey, I think I’m going to hang out with these guys, and let’s go start stealing cars!” Manriquez said. “When you talk about a population of individuals that are living below poverty, and there’s no types of grants or waivers, that means young people are left up to their own devices to run the streets and make the rules themselves as they go along.”

With crime on the rise in the past two years in Milwaukee, and lead remaining in the water and walls despite the decrease in cases of lead poisoning, many citizens want some things to change.

“How is it that my kids are struggling when they’ve been given so many tools?” Manriquez asked. “They were being poisoned.”

The post Lead Poisoning: Milwaukee’s Invisible Threat appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

Amy Gelfman is a private contractor who was hired to sing with the residents there. While she leads a music group with the residents on the second floor, an elderly man’s vocals soars over the room. Ilya Vernik, 98, shines like a star as he sings into the microphone that Amy brought to the music session. Vernik is a resident at the nursing home, who resides in the second floor. Others around him either sit in silence, or deep in thought, lightly tapping their feet to the beat of the music or bowing their heads down and closing their eyes as music pierces through the stereo that Geflman brought, along with a woven basket of maracas.  But when Gelfman sings a song that they know, they light up and sing along such as the song “Chiribim Chiribom,” an upbeat song mixed with jazz elements and a catchy melody.

“Music is always a place where you can reach them,” said Gelfman.

During her one-on-one session with Vernik, the music she plays definitely resonates with him. From upbeat songs to melancholy ones, Vernik sings along and shakes a red maraca. While singing “My Yiddishe Mama,” a song about the loss of one’s mother. Vernik begins to tear up.

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Music has always been able to do more than just for enjoyment for the ears. Research studies on music is plentiful. Research has shown that music reduces stress and anxiety. There’s also studies that have shown how music can regulate the mood whereas listening to upbeat and sad music can lift your mood.

In 2008, Dan Cohen launched the Music and Memory organization where a personalized music playlist is used for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s to help with memory loss. As of October 2016, 3,000 nursing facilities have been certified as music and memory nursing home. In Wisconsin, the Department of Health Services decided to launch an initiative to improve the quality of life to those in 100 nursing facilities to participate in Music and memory program.  Of one of those 100 was the Jewish Home and Care Center.

For one resident at the Jewish Home and Care Center, music drives a reaction and every one can see it when he listens to his personalized music playlist in his ipod. Steven, takes part in the Music and Memory program at the Jewish Home and Care Center and when he listens to his playlist filled with his favorite songs and artists such as The Beatles, Joni Mitchell to Mozart and Jewish music, his response always seems to touch everyone there including the staffs. His wife, Shari Weingrod, has seen his reactions too when she played him The Beatles, tears were running down her husband’s eyes.

“It makes me think that there’s some part of the brain no matter how it deteriorates,” said Shari. “And that you can’t grasp on to a lot of it, language and things that are so important that, that is the language that seemingly for him that he is not losing.”

Music has always been a part of Steven’s life. He played guitar. He was in a band. He loved going to symphonies and music concerts. During his diagnosis of dementia, he was able to function enough to be active in the community by raising money for non-profit organizations especially the ones that specializes in art. Even Shari, herself, has a deep passion for music as she is a pianist. Their love for music was what connected them from the start.

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Music in healthcare has continue to be used whether it includes hiring music therapists or using music volunteers. Andrew Neary from the Milwaukee Center for Independence says the music used in the therapy sessions are not so much about singing a beautiful opera.

“Music therapy is the use of music to address a non-music therapeutic goal,” says Neary, a music therapist at the non-profit that serves individuals with special needs.  For example, integrating music in a session where a client has respiratory include singing activities to work on breathing exercises. Or at times, music can be used simply for reducing stress and anxiety or alleviate pain.

Neary has been working for MCFI for at least 5 years. He started out as a self-taught musician after giving up on music lessons though his ability to learn on his own led him to take music into a professional career. He plays numerous instruments such as the piano, bass, guitar, cello, and anything percussion.

“The music that I used for music therapy is functional music,” says Neary. Rather than making sure the music sounds beautiful, Neary said his goal is to use music to drive a response as he specializes in neurological music.

Neary says the music used in a music therapy session depends on the condition of the patients, however; some do get to request their favorite music. Some even request pop music such as Katy Perry and Justin Bieber. However, the goal of using music as an intervention is to improve a client’s emotional, physical, and cognitive needs besides the enjoyment.

Whether music intervention involves different types of music, the music activities plays an important role to the patients of the healthcare. And music activities definitely soars over at the Jewish Home and Care Center. Kimberly Rosenau, the activity leader, says there are more than one music activity that goes on at the nursing home such as Dinner Music where music is played in the background as residents enjoy their meal and Singing to Be Well.

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“Music happens on a daily basis here,” says Rosenau.“ it can be taken into a lot of different forms.”

During a music group session, Gelfman plays Cat Stevens “Wild World” to Steven. He moves his body a little bit and stares at the staffs as they sang along with the lyrics. He opens his mouth slightly, trying to mimic.

Shari says, “I think it is profoundly influences something in his brain and in his heart for sure.”

The post A Musical Intervention: Tuning Into the Heart, the Soul, and the Brain appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.

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The salon is located in the Layton Boulevard West Neighborhood, which covers the area bordered by Layton Boulevard, Miller Parkway, Pierce Street and Lincoln Avenue.  It sits on a section of the National Avenue corridor that consists of mostly older, historic commercial buildings.  Some buildings are empty, and some that house businesses are a little run down.  The LBWN Association, founded by the School Sisters of St. Francis, has been involved in revitalizing the area since 1995.

The diverse neighborhood, home to many homes and businesses, is typical of many Milwaukee neighborhoods. According to Rodriguez, the area is a work in progress, but has potential.

“When it comes to the community, it’s a diverse crowd,” Rodriguez said.  “You get from Hispanic to white to Asian to black, doctors and lawyers, a big range.  The community is trying to rejuvenate.  Visually, it’s not the best, but there’s an effort.”

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Rodriguez took the shop over in August from the previous owner and paid for the business out of his own pocket. “It wasn’t as expensive as you might think it was,” he said.  He worked with Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, who sent consultants to go over the books and offer financial advice before the transaction took place.

Rodriguez is one of a too small number of aspiring entrepreneurs in Milwaukee who have bucked the trend of a decline in the number of business startups and found a way, with the help of various agencies, to go into business for themselves.

The number of startup businesses in Milwaukee has been declining since the early 2000’s.  According to The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Index of Entrepreneurship, which tracks entrepreneurship across the United States, Milwaukee came in second to last out of 40 major metropolitan areas in the rate of business startups in 2015 and 2016.  There were 131 startup firms per 1000 firm population in 1978, trending downward to 59 in 2013.

Though Rodriguez did not get financial help from WWBIC, he credits the agency with helping him through the process of getting started.  “They made sure this was a good deal for me and they’re helping me write my business plan,” he said.

According to Mike Hetzel, Director of Lending for WWBIC, in addition to offering loans up to $250,000, WWBIC offers classes on how to write a business plan, repair credit and run a business.  Things like down payment, recent income and payment history are taken into consideration.  The non-profit organization has helped 60,000 people start businesses with about $60 million in loans since 1987.

Hetzel thinks there are more people interested in starting their own business lately.  “Based on the requests that we get, there are a lot of startups because people have lost their jobs or been misplaced and they want to try it on their own,” he said.  He also said that many millennials are especially interested in starting their own businesses.

Scott Lucey is a millennial who had to get creative to open his own business. In 2015 he opened Kickapoo Coffee Café with Viroqua-based Kickapoo Coffee Roasters T.J. Semanchin and Caleb Nicholes in Milwaukee’s Third Ward, another Milwaukee neighborhood in transition.  The Third Ward is an upscale area that has made a resurgence from a historic warehouse district to an upscale, mixed use area.

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“The reason it took me so long to open,” Lucey said, “was because I had the feeling that new businesses in Milwaukee had a challenging time.”  He knows people who worked for another coffee shop when it first opened seven years ago who can attest that getting that business off the ground was challenging and slow.  “I waited as long as I did because I felt strongly that if I wanted my business to succeed, I was going to need to partner with a company that had a reputation already, some established credibility and a small customer base,” he said.

Lucey felt that working with the city to obtain the permits and the health inspection for the café wasn’t exactly easy, but doesn’t feel that regulations were excessive.

Finding financing was challenging, though.  Lucey initially took a startup business class through WWBIC and applied for financing through the agency, but was denied based on the competition in the neighborhood.  In the Third Ward neighborhood he’d be competing with Collectivo, Anodyne and Stone Creek coffee companies.  In the end financing was tied to the Viroqua-based roasting company and partnering with Semanchin and Nicholes allowed the café to start out with a bigger budget.

While average Americans have traditionally relied on personal savings, home equity and small loans to open businesses, the cost of opening and running a business may seem out of reach to some.  High rent, wages, cost of product, advertising, insurance premiums, taxes and cost of regulations combine to make it seem like an overwhelming burden to many aspiring entrepreneurs.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price index for all urban consumers in Midwest cities with populations between 50,000 and 1,500,000 rose from 121.6 in 2006 to 142.5 in 2015.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau website, Milwaukee had a population of 599,164 in 2013.

WWBIC is not the only place in Milwaukee that offers assistance to potential business owners.  According to Shirah Apple, Public Affairs Specialist with the U.S. Small Business Administration Office for Wisconsin, the SBA has helped coach and finance many startup businesses throughout Wisconsin.  In 2009, the SBA made 191 loans in Milwaukee county totaling $36 million, 186 loans totaling $66 million in 2010 and 230 loans totaling $98 million in 2011.  Last year SBA lenders made over 211 loans totaling over $100 million.  The loans ranged from $2,000 to over $5 million.  “The Jobs Act in 2010 made loans more attractive,” she said.  “It raised the SBA loan ceiling from $2 million to $5 million.”

Although Apple did not have access to earlier data, she thought that lending for small businesses was good before 2008. “Lending was pretty well before the recession,” she said.

According to the SBA website, the amount of capital needed to start a business varies.  The average startup capital is approximately $30,000, although many businesses have been able to start with less than $3,000.

In addition to the burden of higher costs to the aspiring entrepreneur, opening a business for many may have been seen as riskier because of decreased consumer spending.  According to a U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis study, consumer retail sales fell sharply between 2008 and 2010, but have been rising over the past four years.

The drop in consumer sales coincided closely with a rise in unemployment rates in Milwaukee from 2008 to 2014, which could be another factor that may have hindered the rate at which potential entrepreneurs have been opening businesses.  According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study, unemployment in Milwaukee started to rise from 5.3% in November 2008 to 10.1% in February 2010 and declined steadily until it finally dropped back down to 5.3% in September 2014.

Why fewer startups could be a problem

According to a study by J. Bradford Jensen, an international economics professor at Georgetown university, businesses either have the potential to import new money into a region or circulate money within a region. Fewer businesses that attract new money into an area result in diminishing money and jobs, until eventually, there is no growth and the economy becomes stagnant.  Businesses with highly skilled occupations such as in technology and engineering have the capability of attracting more money into a region, while businesses with lower skilled occupations such as in retail and service merely circulate existing money within the region.  The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute website reported that the Milwaukee region attracted and kept only 20% of University of Wisconsin system graduates who could help fill those highly skilled positions.

According to Hetzel of WWBIC, manufacturing and technology have been among the most numerous types of startups.  Even so, while Milwaukee has historically been home to manufacturing businesses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau website, Milwaukee had 1,340 manufacturing establishments in 2000 and only 991 in 2012.

While Milwaukee would certainly benefit from the type of businesses that attract more money into the area, an increase in all new businesses could enable more graduates to remain in the area.  While costs are still high, the decreased consumer spending and higher unemployment rates that contributed to the dwindling number of startup businesses seem to be improving.

Rodriguez relied on his own resources and Lucey had to get creative to get started.  Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from their examples as well as take advantage of the variety of resources available to help them “try it on their own” while helping Milwaukee become more like the business market place it used to be.

Help for aspiring entrepreneurs

Financing for entrepreneurs is available through a variety of local, state and federal programs such as The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, The Wisconsin Small Business Development Center and the U.S. Small Business Association.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has a comprehensive new business planning guide. http://www.mmac.org/new-business-planning-guide.html.

Pros and cons about opening a business in today’s environment as well as tips and links to other websites, such as WWBIC. https://www.wwbic.com

The Wisconsin Small Business Development Center answers questions and gives start up advice related to business planning, permits and licenses and obtaining financing.

https://www.wisconsinsbdc.org/

The Small Business Administration has provided business financing, education and advocacy for small businesses since 1953. https://www.sba.gov/.

The post Tough Town for Startups appeared first on Longform Multimedia Journalism 2016.