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Milwaukee a finalist in Bloomberg challenge
By Mary Louise Schumacher of the Journal Sentinel
Nov. 5, 2012
Milwaukee is one of 20 cities named a finalist in The Mayor’s Challenge, a national competition organized by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to generate innovative, local solutions to national problems.
More than 300 cities entered the competition, which comes with a $5 million grand prize.
“Let me start off by saying, we’re in, we made the cut,” said Mayor Tom Barrett to a group gathered Monday at Walnut Way Conservation Corp., a neighborhood organization and urban garden in a former drug house.
Milwaukee’s proposal, submitted by Barrett and called “Home Gr/Own,” seeks to transform foreclosed properties into links in a new supply chain for nutritious food. Homes and lots will be used for urban farms, community kitchens and distribution centers.
The project will be a combination of old-fashioned homesteading, offering participating entrepreneurs an opportunity to take ownership of properties, and the use of new technologies to link individual projects into a larger food distribution system.
Milwaukee’s Department of City Development is already creating data-rich maps to identify the best properties for the initiative, which Barrett says will go forward in some fashion whether Milwaukee wins the competition or not.
The hope is that databases and technology can be used to identify and track what resources are particularly needed in the food supply chain, the productivity of the soil in various neighborhoods and other important feedback, said Matt Howard, environmental sustainability director for the city. .
“Home Gr/Own” will attempt to build on the success of urban agriculture programs already in existence in Milwaukee while creating economic development in distressed neighborhoods and making nutritious and locally sourced foods more available citywide, Barrett argues.
“As I look around the city and see so much emptiness, it is important that we reclaim the empty spots of the city and literally plant new life,” said Venice Williams, of Alice’s Garden, in the video created by the city and screened for the crowd at Monday’s event.
As much as 69% of Milwaukeeans do not eat enough fruits and vegetables, according to the city’s written application.
“What makes this proposal different than the others and why I think it is so winning is that it connects the dots,” said Magda Peck, dean of School of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who also spoke at Walnut Way. “Its not just about food production, food supply, food access. It is about the ability to be able to eat well, eat long and be healthy from generation to generation.”
The finalist cities have been invited to send teams to New York City for an intensive two-day “ideas camp” next week. Barrett said he’s interested in hearing the ideas from other finalist cities, such as a plan to combat infant mortality in Cincinnati and to decrease domestic violence in High Point, North Carolina.
The team representing Milwaukee will leave for New York Sunday and includes Howard, Sharon Adams, director of program for Walnut Way, Sharon Robinson, director of administration for the city, and Maria Prioletta, redevelopment and special projects manager for the city’s Department of City Development.
The finalists will then submit refined proposals early in 2013. In addition to the $5 million winner, four runners up will get $1 million each. The winners will be announced in the second quarter of 2013. The Mayor’s Challenge is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Bloomberg's family foundation.
“I can tell you in my eight and a half years as mayor we haven’t had a better response to an initiative that we’ve put together,” Barrett said. “And really what happened, I think, was that we hit a nerve, in a positive way, we hit a nerve because this is something people are interested in in our city, dealing with the issue of food security, of urban agriculture, of making this a better place to not only raise food but to have healthier foods.”
Monday’s event ended with a celebratory toast of fresh juices from The Juice Kitchen.
See a full list of the 20 finalists here. Here also is a video that Barrett's team submitted with the Bloomberg application. It was produced by Tim McCollow, directed by Arthur Ircink and with cinematography by Ircink, Chris Thompson, Frankie Latina and Amanda Griffin.
