November Newsletter: change of season

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Announcement from Groundwork Milwaukee’s board of directors

After intentional discussion and planning, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Damien DeBuhr as the incoming Executive Director of Groundwork Milwaukee, effective immediately. We extend our sincere appreciation to Young Kim for his dedication during his service as Executive Director and are grateful for his continued work with the organization to support a seamless transition. Under Damien's leadership, we anticipate continued progress in advancing the Groundwork Milwaukee mission.

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a letter from young kim

Dear Groundwork Milwaukee Community,

It has been an honor serving as Groundwork Milwaukee's fourth Executive Director. In my 18+ years as a nonprofit CEO I've learned that the best solutions to our city's problems come from residents most affected by them. Milwaukee-born and bred Damien DeBuhr is the right person to amplify these voices to create real change. 

I am proud of the progress that we've made during my time here. We've made significant strides in increasing the diversity of the staff and board, alongside raising staff salaries and benefits packages. Additionally, we have built meaningful relationships with Milwaukee neighborhoods like Metcalfe Park.

The reality remains that those who have contributed the least to climate change will be hit the hardest. I look forward to continuing my service with the organization and supporting during this transitional time in order to change that reality.

I express my heartfelt gratitude to the entire Groundwork Milwaukee community for its support and commitment to our mission.

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A Letter From Damien Debuhr

Dear Groundwork Milwaukee Community,

 I write to you with humility, sincerity, happiness, and drive as I step into the role of the next Executive Director of Groundwork Milwaukee. I express deep gratitude to the Board of Directors for their faith in my vision and for their volunteer service. Special acknowledgment is due to my predecessors: Young Kim, whose operational improvements have strengthened the organization and whose mentorship prepared me for this role, and Deneine Powell, whose focus on neighborhood-based climate adaptation paved the way for our current successes.

 Four years ago, when I joined the team at Groundwork Milwaukee as Deputy Director, I had no idea just how much our mission would change and drive me personally and professionally.  I have witnessed the power of what we do as a community, dedicated to uplifting and championing our voice and our work in the movement for environmental and economic justice. We blur the line between who is served and who is serving, and highlight our power by recognizing we are all in need, but more importantly, we all have something to give.

 In preparation for my new role, I considered the direction of civil and human rights leader Dr. Dorothy Height:

 "We have to improve life, not just for those who have the most skills and those who know how to manipulate the system. But also for and with those who often have so much to give but never get the opportunity."

 As I narrow in on the vision I have for our work at Groundwork Milwaukee during my tenure, I see us investing in our neighbors, our community members, and ourselves to build an environmental and economic future where we can all thrive. I see:

• More young leaders, families, and elders in Milwaukee joining our Climate Action Group, dreaming about converting vacant industrial brownfields into recreational and congregational amenities.

• Neighbors equipped with tools, support, and resources needed to steward the over 100 community gardens in our Milwaukee Grows Garden Network.

• More of our Ground Corps members building environmental leadership and economic stability by earning wages while taking ownership of building and expertly maintaining invaluable community green space.

 In addition to growing the number of people we work with and the capacity we have to do the work, I also see us expanding our influence and authority at tables where local, state, and national decisions are made. I envision our community in action, using its power to make deeper improvements for our environment and our economy, thus improving life for our community. 

I'm excited to embark on this journey as the next Executive Director of Groundwork Milwaukee with you all. And thrilled to be doing it with the community that makes up this organization. Surely, our path will be full of joy, wins, tears, and growth. I invite and urge you to join us. Expect even more invitations and opportunities to contribute. We need it, and hopefully, you do too.

In service,

 Damien DeBuhr

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Give to community in action

This year at Groundwork Milwaukee, we've been able to activate our community in deeper and more meaningful ways. As we wrap up the year, we invite you to join our community and donate funds that will sustain and grow the people, places, and partnerships that make up our community.

 In 2023, our intergenerational Climate Action Group explored environmental and climate issues affecting their neighborhood of Metcalfe Park. In 2024 your contribution will support the Climate Action Group as they advance solutions to these issues, and advocate to local, state, and national officials for developments that put neighborhood health and voices first.

 In 2023, the Milwaukee Grows Garden Network grew to support over 100 gardens and constructed over 70 garden beds. In 2024, your contribution will further activate community gardens by funding more community gatherings, gardening and cooking workshops, and volunteer workdays.

  In 2023, the young men who make up our Ground Corps built 6 Healing Spaces garden sites. These sites were designed through a resident driven process and resulted in gardens with features that reduce heat and flooding, are ADA accessible, and that provide native plant-filled environments for neighbors to come together and heal. In 2024, your contribution will support Ground Corps as they put more effort on stewarding the community gardens so they can be places of joyful community gatherings for decades to come.

 By funding our work, you are a critical part of our community - and a critical part of our journey to build environments and economies where we can all thrive.

End of Year Giving

#Groundworkmke

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Give to support community in Action

This year, at Groundwork Milwaukee, we've been able to activate our community in deeper and more meaningful ways. As we wrap up the year, we invite you to join our community and donate funds that will sustain and grow the people, places, and partnerships that make up our community.

In 2023, our intergenerational Climate Action Group explored environmental and climate issues affecting their neighborhood of Metcalfe Park. In 2024 your contribution will support the Climate Action Group as they advance solutions to these issues, and advocate to local, state, and national officials for developments that put neighborhood health and voices first.

In 2023, the Milwaukee Grows Garden Network grew to support over 100 gardens and constructed over 70 garden beds. In 2024, your contribution will further activate community gardens by funding more community gatherings, gardening and cooking workshops, and volunteer workdays.

In 2023, the young men who make up our Ground Corps built 6 Healing Spaces garden sites. These sites were designed through a resident driven process and resulted in gardens with features that reduce heat and flooding, are ADA accessible, and that provide native plant-filled environments for neighbors to come together and heal. In 2024, your contribution will support Ground Corps as they put more effort on stewarding the community gardens so they can be places of joyful community gatherings for decades to come.

By funding our work, you are a critical part of our community and our journey of activating our community to build environments and economies where we can all thrive.

Please give generously!

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Groundwork Milwaukee Connects the Dots on Flood Risk, Climate Change, and Public Health

Many Wisconsinites are familiar with the fact that Milwaukee ranks as one of the most segregated cities in the United States. This unfortunate status is no accident, but a result of historical government housing policy from the 1930’s. The goal of the policy was to slow down the rate of foreclosures that ran rampant in the years following the Depression. In this interview with the Wisconsin Environmental Health Network,

Young Kim explained how Groundwork Milwaukee crews were setting their sights on the very real and urgent matter of building resilient communities that can stand up to the effects of climate change, flooding in particular at the beginning of the season.

September Newsletter

Postcards from Yellowstone national park

Did you know that Groundwork began as a program of the National Park Service? Ground corps crew members traveled to Yellowstone National Park this summer to restore boardwalks and learn more about conservation in real time. And yes, they visited Old Faithful!

asset based community gardening

More than ever, neighbors are collaborating with one another, and including organizations, businesses, schools in the plans to keep neighborhoods safe this summer. Karma Community Garden is a regular stop on bike tours with Red Bike and Green, a local bicycle club. Karma also collaborates with Art Lot to host family friendly events all summer!

Heart Love Place collaborated with Mt. Zion Garden and Orchard to distribute backpacks, school supplies, and vegetables!

McGovern Community Garden hosts cooking demonstrations for the month of October!

We’re teaching canning and preserves with the neighbors at McGovern Community Garden!

Tomatoes and Chacha, Soups and Salads, Apple butter and preserving pie fillings. We’re ready to selebrate autumn with the neighbors!

Register today at info@groundworkmke.org

Groundwork Milwaukee supports a network of 100 community gardens!

milwaukee grows garden network hits 100 community gardens!

Milwaukee Grows Garden Network , founded and maintained by residents with a desire to activate and beautify vacant lots in their neighborhoods has increased to 100 sites.

Each site is unique and suited for the hyper-local needs of the city block being served. Most function as gardens growing fresh vegetables, others serve as recreational greenspaces, and a few function as full-scale farms.

In addition to bringing nature and beauty into environments typically dominated by asphalt and hard urban landscapes, studies have proven that gardening increases consumption of fresh food and hours spent in physical activity, and reduces chronic disease risk. Urban gardening also facilitates the building of neighborhood bonds that are the hallmarks of socially resilient communities.

Network News: August 2023

Q: Where on Earth has Groundwork been?

A: The National BrownFields Conference!

“The National Brownfields Training Conference is the largest event in the nation focused on environmental revitalization and economic redevelopment. Held every two years, the conference attracts over 2,000 stakeholders in brownfields redevelopment and cleanup to share knowledge about sustainable reuse and celebrate the EPA brownfields program’s success.

The conference features a range of sessions, workshops, and networking events that cover topics such as financing, liability, and community engagement, with the goal of promoting the cleanup and revitalization of contaminated sites across the United States.”

Community Gardening at an all-time high in Milwaukee

100!

Mid-summer inventory is in, and the Milwaukee Grows Garden Network has 100 gardens! That’s one hundred neighbors who’re reaching out to green Milwaukee and make their environment safer, greener, and healthier!

We can’t even cheer loud enough on this one but, HOORAY!

healing spaces grow on

The Healing Spaces Initiative continues to take root as the summer goes on. We’re opening to two more sites on Milwaukee’s South Side. Each is being hand designed to fit the needs of the neighborhood where it’s located, and is pretty cool! Literally.

Heat Islands Dial Up The HEat For Many Milwaukee Neighborhoods

Urban heat islands are created when surfaces like parking lots, sidewalks and streets absorb and hold onto heat. During heat waves, nearly 40% of Milwaukee’s residents are exposed to temperatures that are more than 8 degrees hotter than the temperature forecast, according to new data from Climate Central.

“We can’t air condition our way out of this,” said Young Kim, the executive director at Groundwork Milwaukee

Click the link below to hear Young’s and Danell’s Cross of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges’ conversation discussing climate change and the effect of heat islands in the city of Milwaukee.

Community Garden Spotlight: Florence Lambert

Chef Grian will be in the Lambert Community with Garden Leaders and the neighbors on September 9th, cooking up some snacks for cool weather.

Will we see you there?

Network News: July 2023

Green infrastructure Tour

Groundwork Milwaukee conducted a Green Infrastructure Tour with Reflo and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District last week, visiting Westside Academy, the Historic Walnut Hill garden, Cream City Farms and the Green Tech Station.

They toured with a number of summer program staff and interns who are working on environmental solutions in urban areas. The tour was meant to teach about efforts to protect Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes, and looked at the different ways these organizations have installed storm gardens, rain gardens, bioswales, cisterns, prairies, etc. to store stormwater. 

To learn more about Green Tech Station, or schedule a tour of green infrastructure for your group, please visit: https://www.nwscdc.org/planning-green-tech 

Talking Climate Vulnerability with The Neighbors- We’re out here!

1. Young Kim, The Executive Director of Groundwork Milwaukee, recently addressed 185 high school Sophomore students at Carroll University’s World Affairs Seminar, entitled Climate Change: Youth Take Action. Young shared our results from the Climate Vulnerability Assessment that was released in Fall of ‘22. Milwaukee Flood-Health Vulnerability Assessment — Groundwork Milwaukee (groundworkmke.org)

   “The World Affairs Seminar is truly an international experience. WAS brings together peers from around the world to learn international relations and develop skills in diplomacy, communication and cooperation. Since 1976 WAS has impacted and changed lives, providing highly relevant skills in group problem solving, negotiation and peaceful diplomacy. Featured speakers represent a wide variety of perspectives, opinions and backgrounds.”

2. Two New Healing Spaces are on the books for the South Side of Milwaukee!

   Both Pollonia, and Bumblebee Haven will be undergoing construction to convert vacant land into beautiful in green spaces. “Spending time in nature is linked to both cognitive benefits and improvements in mood, mental health and emotional well-being. Feeling connected to nature can produce similar benefits to well-being, regardless of how much time one spends outdoors.”

3. Thanks go to employees and interns at Clarios Batteries (Clarios.com) for coming out to Kilbourn Gardens for an awesome workday! The beds are growing like wildfire and look wonderful!

Network News - July, 2023

Summertime!

Summer goes by fast in Wisconsin, and Community Gardens are celebrating the season across 100 neighborhoods in Milwaukee!

This season, One hundred people stepped up decided to be responsible for fighting blight on their block by installing and caring for a community gardenby becoming a Garden Leader with Groundwork Milwaukee.

Garden Leaders are hosting gatherings, and growing food and flowers with their neighbors, for the neighborhood. It’s a beautiful thing.

If you’d like to share your garden events this summer, be sure to share your information with Michelle@groundworkmke.org, and we’ll gladly spread the news!

Events like these are free and open to the public on a block near you this summer!

Out and About

we’re celebrating the great outdoors with a photo contest!

Admit it, you take pictures of your garden - the little sprouts poking out, when they get their first true leaves, the fruit, the pests… all of it is pretty great, if you ask us. And right now, it’s pretty Glorious.

We want to see! From Now until September 1st, we’re celebrating the great urban outdoors with a photo contest.

Here’s how to participate:

1. Upload up to six (6) photos 1MB resolution of your Network Garden in all its glory,

2. The name of garden where the photo was taken,

3. A caption describing what makes your outdoors so great.

4. Include your name, and the category you’d like to join.

   1. Garden Life

   2. Climate Safe Neighborhoods

   3. Green (jobs, education, futures)

      One winner per category will be announced on September 23rd, and the garden the entry represents will be eligible for additional garden amenities in Spring of 2024!

      Your entry will be judged on originality, composition, and it’s ability to spark the category title in the mid of the viewer.

Get a Rain Garden/ Barrel for your Great outdoors - Free!

Milwaukee households in the area of the Marquette Interchange to Silver Spring- Highway 43N to 60th Street

Due to the generous support of Clean Wisconsin You’re qualified to have a StormGuarden installed! For FREE! 

What are they, you ask? « the first stormwater management solution that combines a rain garden and rain barrel into one eco-friendly system. It has the capacity to grow beautiful gardens, prevent runoff AND helps protect our waterways from stormwater pollution. »

Sign up here to make your appointment, to learn if you qualify for a free installation! Of course, they’re more than happy to sell you one if you live outside of the target area.

Welcome new teamMate

Groundwork Milwaukee is happy to introduce you to Selena Cruz, our newest addition to the team.

Selena hails from Northern Illinois and is excited to share the knowledge she’s acquired working in community gardens there in Milwaukee. Here, she’ll be working as Community Programs Coordinator, which is important to her because she believes that real time community building is an essential part of having healthy and sustainable places to live.

When she’s not working, she still likes to garden, shop for plants, and hang out with her cat.

Welcome Selena!

If you need help with urban horticulture this summer, connect with her at Selena@groundworkmke.org.

Candidate Search

The Ground Corps Operations Director will be the senior leader for Groundwork Milwaukee’s workforce development and social enterprise program Ground Corps. Ground Corps provides an experiential learning experience for younger adults through landscape and green infrastructure construction and maintenance. A significant part of the Ground Corps Director’s role will be to build on Groundwork Milwaukee’s 2023 internal priority to improve the quality of our team work, project management processes, and resource management. The strategy to improve quality in 2023 is in preparation for the growth in the number of participants, quantity of projects, and project scopes Groundwork is planning for 2024. The Ground Corps Director will be an integral part in planning the direction and ultimately implementing our growth strategy.

Happy Summer! We're Open To Grow

Launch of Healing Space @PeacePark.

City of Milwaukee Officials Highlight Healing Spaces Initiative in Harambee

Award-winning program helps eliminate blighted spaces, create new gathering spaces, and strengthen neighborhoods

MILWAUKEE – Thursday, June 22, at 11:30am (CT), Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs will be joined by community organizations, stakeholders, and residents in the Harambee neighborhood to highlight the City of Milwaukee’s Healing Spaces Initiative (HSI), preview neighborhood improvement projects planned for this summer, and promote a new grant program that will help activate and utilize these gathering places moving forward.

Coordinated through the City of Milwaukee’s Neighborhood Improvement Development Corporation (NIDC), the Healing Spaces Initiative builds relaxing natural environments on available City-owned vacant lots that help eliminate and prevent blight, create new gathering places, and strengthen Milwaukee neighborhoods. Since the program’s inception, 13 ADA-accessible gathering places have been built that feature amenities like pathways, benches, flower gardens, solar lights, Little Free Libraries, and more. Two more HSI spaces are planned for construction this summer.

In 2023, NIDC is launching the HSI Site Activation Grant Program to deploy grants for community partners in providing programming for the neighborhood that will help activate and utilize these gathering places. From healthy eating workshops and yoga classes, to community town halls and youth engagement efforts, the HSI Site Activation Grant Program will provide grants up to $500 to host community events and programming at all HSI locations in Milwaukee.

Learn more about the Healing Spaces Initiative HERE.

Learning series: Building Water equity and climate resilient communities for all

On July 19th, the Urban Waters Learning Network is launching Building Water Equity and Climate Resilient Communities for ALL, a new 6-part learning series that will highlight strategies that community-based organizations can use to help their communities anticipate, prepare for and respond to climate risks such as flooding, coastal storms and drought, with a focus on protecting community members who are most vulnerable to climate threats.

1. 7/19/23 Noon CST

   Building Climate Resilience: The Link Between Historic Policies and Today’s Risk

2. 9/20/23 Noon CST

   Resilience Hubs as Community Superheroes of Climate Preparedness and Disaster Recovery

3. 10/18/23  Noon CST

   Investing in Local Leadership to Advocate for Equitable Climate Resilience

4. 11/15/23 Noon CST

   Centering Those at Risk: The Power of Community-Led Research for Climate Resilience Investments

5. 11/13/23 Noon, CST

   Equitable Resilience Planning Frameworks

6. 1/17/24, Noon CST

   Building Climate Resilience: Transforming Communities through Green Workforce Development 

Learning Series: Building Water Equity and Climate Resilient Communities for ALL - Urban Waters Learning Network

Welcome To New Staff

Ana Pemberton is our newest teammate, who will be serving as Community Programs Coordinator for Groundwork Milwaukee. We’re excited to have this native of Beloit, and recent graduate of two tours of City Year, Milwaukee. Ana is excited to work on climate justice at Groundwork, and looks forward to applying her degree in Ecology, Evolutions and Behavior, and her experieince as a Student Success Coach and a service leader in her work

We’re still growing!

The Ground Corps Operations Director will be the senior leader for Groundwork Milwaukee’s workforce development and social enterprise program Ground Corps. Ground Corps provides an experiential learning experience for younger adults through landscape and green infrastructure construction and maintenance. A significant part of the Ground Corps Director’s role will be to build on Groundwork Milwaukee’s 2023 internal priority to improve the quality of our team work, project management processes, and resource management. The strategy to improve quality in 2023 is in preparation for the growth in the number of participants, quantity of projects, and project scope Groundwork is planning for 2024. The Ground Corps Director will be an integral part in planning the direction and ultimately implementing our growth strategy.

Network News

Thank you, Earth Month!

May is almost over, and almost all of the gardens have opened up for the season!

Keep up with what groundwork Milwaukee is doing is your neighborhood. at groundworkmke.org/getinvolved

New Garden Council serves as connector between gardeners, community and residents

This year Groundworks Milwaukee is adding a new resource for gardeners across the city. The Garden Council is a five-member group of veteran community leaders and gardeners. The council serves to give voice to community gardeners across the network and meets regularly to offer feedback and advice. The council aims to work and listen with community members and respond to concerns.

Dawn Powell
Dawn to Dusk Community Garden

Dawn Powell has been interested in gardening since she was 11 years old, delivering Sunday newspapers and noticing the plants and flowers in neighbor’s yards. She became a dedicated gardener in 2000 and since then has been deeply involved in the gardening network and community building organization. She was on the Milwaukee Food Council and has led numerous events and summits on food, gardening and community building. She specializes in vermiculture and manages four community gardens.

 Q&A

Why gardening as a means to grow community? 

Gardening is a way to get to know the community…your neighbors. We have to put the neighbor back into the neighborhood. If you know your neighbors for two to five blocks it is a more closely knit neighborhood. I have lived in my neighborhood since 1983 and you can learn from someone who is mature in age.

What do you grow in the garden and why?

I specialize in vermiculture and that's the controlled growing of worms in specialty structures. I have themed gardens, fruit and specialize in restoring gardens.  

Trevis Hardman
Hardman’s Horticulturalists Scholar Society

Milwaukee native Trevis Hardman has been a lifelong gardener. He learned from his grandparents and as a kid always had raised beds, mulberry and apple trees. Hardman’s neighbors know him as a hard working man who picks up trash and takes care of his block. He is a cofounder of the well known “We Got This,” nonprofit that has mentored youth on the northside for a decade. Since co-founding the organization, Hardman says the police and crime rate in the neighborhood has dropped every year.  

What do you love about your neighborhood? 

We can unite on just causes, whether that be police brutality or coming together to grow food so the neighbors can eat. I also love the resolve that we have –within ourselves and within the community. I’ve seen situations that could have gone totally left but because of people like me and other leaders in the community those situations can be resolved easily without anyone getting harmed. 

What is special about your garden? 

Our new spot is the Hardman’s Horticulturalists Scholar Society at 4953 North 38th St., where we train young adults about anything having to do with gardens: canning, greenhouse and how to take care of produce properly. For 16 weeks we’ve been working with 8th graders at Frances Starms Discovery Learning Center and we’ve got about 26 plots started. It uses gardening combined with structured learning to really nurture and grow the students. 

Katharine Goray
Solomon Community Temple Belonging Place

“I don’t feel grounded or at home without a garden. They bring hope – you don’t plant a garden unless there is hope.”

For Katharine Goray’s 72 years of life she has almost always had a garden. Whether that was as a young girl in rural Kenosha, a renter in Madison or recent transplant to Milwaukee. She said gardens make her feel at home and grounded, and that gardens spark hope.

Since moving to the city in 2021, Goray has been working with her congregation on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to revitalize the Solomon Community Belonging Place. In less than two years the garden has grown from six beds to 17. It includes a rain garden, pollinator garden, healing spaces, library, paths and benches. And the produce grown in the garden supports dozens of people through the churches food pantry. 

What has impressed you about the northside’s urban spaces? 

One of the things that really impressed me about Milwaukee is going around and seeing the murals and pocket parks. The spaces where people can feel comfortable coming on to the grounds and reading or relaxing.

We named the garden at Solomon’s Community Belonging Place because we want people to feel like they belong on the grounds. We purposely put a path to connect public spaces like apartments or the bus stop to the garden so everyone feels welcome.

What do you grow in the garden and why?

All the food from the garden supports the food pantry. We surveyed people to see what items were most important to them. So now we grow okra, collards and green tomatoes. These are items that don’t come in from the Hunger Task Force or other donations to the food pantry. 

Fidel Verdin
Summer of Peace Community Garden

One of Fidel Verdin’s skills as a leader is lifting up the voices of others. As the co-executive director of TRU Skool, a nonprofit organization that uses arts and Hip Hop Culture to educate and empower families, he says the garden leadership council goes beyond gardening. “Food systems and food security are super important in our environment. But this garden council can be a voice for the collective,” he said. “ Gardening and vacant lot projects – this is something people can visually see the value in. But there is a lot of thought of intention and hard work to make these spaces possible.”

What do you grow in the garden and why?

In our garden we like to say “We grow possibilities.” We are not a garden or a community space that is heavy on turning out produce. We don’t grow to take it to market or sell it. We give most of the stuff we grow away. We experiment in the garden to learn and expose young people to different herbs, plants and vegetables. We may try it and it fails but it is about learning and expanding what we think is possible.

Why gardening as a means to grow community?

For me, it is about place-making or place taking, and being able to do something productive with the vacancies in the community. It is about being able to activate and redesign how we use these spaces. It naturally just builds community because humans want to gather.

Shanice BaqueT

NIA Community Garden

Shanice Baquet says gardening has been her life. As a trained master herbalist she says that before over the counter prescriptions were available her ancestors used herbs as medicine. “For viruses, illnesses and sickness there is a plant that can be used as a cure,” she says. “But we as humans need to learn and understand how the items that are here growing from the ground, are here for us to use.” For Baquet the garden is an extension of support she hopes to offer her neighbors. She also founded Mommy Beautiful Sunrise, which is a resource hub for African American families in Milwaukee for all things child development.

How is Nia Community Garden used to build community? 

Nia in Swahili means purpose. Before it became a garden it was just a vacant lot but we wanted it to have purpose and to show the community is cared about.  We grow produce for our house challenged community, who can come pick out of the garden and eat fresh produce during the summertime. The garden is here to sustain everyone in the community and to bring about economic exchange within the 53206 zip code. 

What does the garden grow?

We have fruit trees, vegetables and herbs. We grow some herbs and add a new herb each year. We work with different farms or gardens in the area that have an abundance of food and bring it in to support the ones that live in the community. We also offer community events like the annual pumpkin patch event. And it is a sensory sensitive garden for children and families with disabilities. 

Thanks to the Garden Council, and every Garden Leader! We’ll see you outside.

One Quick Question:

How do those planters in the road work?

Those are also known as bioswales, and Ground Corps practices land and water management skills in maintaining bioswales all year long.

When it rains or snow melts, water from the street and sidewalks runs along the curb and into these planters and is filtered through plant roots, a special structural soil composed of sand and compost, and a layer of crushed stone. This filtering process removes suspended pollutants from the water and, therefore improves water quality.

After the stormwater is filtered through the layers, it drains into the existing storm sewer system on it’s way to Lincoln Creek. Pollutants from the street are left behind in the bioswale instead of flowing into the creek. This means cleaner water will flow to Lincoln Creek and ultimately into Lake Michigan.

Earth Month and All Things Spring

April Update

Since Earth Day, every aspect of Groundwork MKE have been focused on opening the season, and the community has turned out In April, Groundwork Milwaukee has held eld 35 Garden Events which included 350 volunteers who filled of 258 available volunteer shifts 

 We also:

• Prepped 26 community gardens for planting, activating vacant lands across the city

• Installed 80 new garden beds & 4 water harvesting structures,

• Commissioned and nearly completed a mural inside our offices that represents Milwaukee's natural resources and

• Removed 2.5 tons of trash from the riverways in Havenwoods State Forest and Milwaukee Bioswales  

And to top it all off, Kilbourn Gardens is sold out! Our 80-bed garden rental is booked to capacity this season, but we've begun installations for home gardeners in Metcalfe Park Milwaukee. Forty-one families will have gardens installed this month which include raised beds with ADA access options, soil, seeds, starts, and support for the entire growing season. 

Fare Well Samson!

We bid a fond farewell to an outstanding Horticulturalist and teammate, Samson Srok. He'll be working in Americorps NCCC this summer and will go on to work in South America in the fall.

 Although, plants are no longer your responsibility at Groundwork, we'll keep in touch about all things plants and planting. No one beats his good advice, and we've grown good at virtual meetings soo...talk soon!

If you'd like to be involved in Groundwork Greenspaces, visit us at Groundwork Milwaukee (groundworkmke.org)

Garden Week 2023

Garden Week, which we celebrated from Earth Day until Arbor Day is complete! We’ve installed, maintained and prepared 15 community gardens during this week and they’re ready to grow!

Generous donations from local greenhouses and seed companies have supported Garden Leader’s efforts by providing additional seedlings and starter plugs so that vegetables, flowers and trees are taking root across the city.

Last year’s results are found below and if you’d like to know more, check out our garden maps Milwaukee Grows Garden Network (arcgis.com)

#GardensHeal

Thanks go to the garden leaders, ground crews and neighborhood volunteers at:

• Florence Lambert Community Garden

• Brady Street Community Garden

• Bremen

• Hepatha

• Hilltop Community Garden

• Madison Pocket Park

• Nia Purpose (and the family gardening club!)

• Nigella Commons

• St. Mark AME

• Scooters Garden

• Solomon Community Temple

• Story Garden

• Uptown Community Garden

These are only the beginning- by the end of the year, we’ll have worked with almost 100 community gardens in the area.

Groundwork Milwaukee in the News

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2022/12/28/as-urban-flooding-rises-new-map-pinpoints-vulnerable-milwaukee-spots/69744593007/

The Milwaukee Flood and Health Vulnerability Assessment, led by Groundwork Milwaukee, is an interactive tool that pinpoints the communities within the city where flooding may disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. The assessment looks at two factors: the neighborhoods most likely to flood and the capacity to respond to a flood based on health, socioeconomic factors and housing. “Just four inches of water could send families into a tailspin,” said Young Kim, the executive director of Groundwork ilwaukee. The Milwaukee Flood and Health Vulnerability Assessment, led by Groundwork Milwaukee, is an interactive tool that pinpoints the communities within the city where flooding may disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. The assessment looks at two factors: the neighborhoods most likely to flood and the capacity to respond to a flood based on health, socioeconomic factors and housing. “Just four inches of water could send families into a tailspin,” said Young Kim, the executive director of Groundwork Milwaukee.