MetcalfE Park Unveils Third Home in Reclaim and Restore Project
On Saturday amidst a week of packed out anti-ICE protests in downtown Milwaukee, a smaller gathering was taking place in the Metcalfe Park* neighborhood. A diverse crowd of about 50 people attended the Reclaim and Restore Open-House and Fundraiser (catered by Anomaly Catering - sooooo good!) to tour the third complete house in the project, and meet the home’s new owners Shirley and Tyrone Dunn.
The event was split in two halves, the first half being a press conference emcee’d by Alderman Stamper, with speeches from Metcalfe Park Director and local politicians. The event kicked off a little after noon (Cavalier Johnson, who was a guest speaker, was late,) in a heated tent in the backyard of the recently restored home. A congenial warmth that pervaded the press conference. As an outsider there was a sense that everyone involved was so proud of the work being done. The joy of this community event was no more apparent than every opportunity new homeowner Shirley Dunn addressed the crowd singing Diana Ross’ classic It’s My House.
After the speeches, the home was opened up for all of the guests to tour the new double story space, grab a plate, and preferably donate to keep this project going. I had a chance to interact with the organizers of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, members of the community, and those from other organizations that share their vision. I had to leave early to catch the bus downtown to join those ICE-Out protests, but left the event feeling uplifted.
Reclaim and Restore
If you have lived in Milwaukee for a while it is easy to take for granted how unique the homes populating our neighborhoods truly are. One needs to go no further than some of the stucco suburbs and compare the homes to appreciate the artistry. Perhaps it is so easy to not give these houses a second thought because of the general state of disrepair in many of our neighborhoods. After decades of state sponsored redlining, and the ignoring of black neighborhoods by politicians, this decay is all but invited.
Organizers in Metcalfe Park's neighborhood see the potential of the structures that still stand, and have inspired others to hop on board with their vision. The project of Reclaim and Restore is a community-driven effort to buy up abandoned homes, and renovate them. When the restoration is complete they are given to resident families who have paid rent in the neighborhood for years through an affordable lease-to-own program. The home given to the Dunn’s is the third home through this community’s project so far, with the work on the 4th starting this week!
I only discovered this initiative while researching for a different article on the neighborhood’s food desert. While learning about all of the exciting plans for the neighborhood (much of which is already receiving funding) I started wondering how they would handle so much growth. How does a neighborhood restore without the gentrification, and pricing out of homeowners who live there? The National Low Income Housing Coalition recommends using a positive development model:
“(a positive development model) builds a new vision of community health and sustainability that benefits all residents. Community organizing that brings different groups to the same table to identify a shared interest and common struggle is key to ensuring development that empowers entire communities. The development process should enable community members to identify the types of housing, services and infrastructure that should exist in their neighborhood. The process should value longtime residents’ visions of neighborhood change and give the power of decision-making to community residents. A healthy community is one that acknowledges and supports the importance of racial equity, community and culture.”
And so it is with the Metcalfe Park project, one that is being led by the people that live in the area for the people who live there. It fits with their greater vision of creating generational wealth, closing the home ownership gap, and stabilizing the community that they love. It just so happens that the goal of Metcalfe Park aligns with Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s Year of Housing agenda, and that companies who fund the project like Northwestern Mutual generate good PR by helping this neighborhood.
Ugh, Cavalier Johnson is in This?
Yes, Mr. Cops-In-Schools himself made an appearance to cosign this effort. He has certainly failed us all on housing in the past so it is hard to not be skeptical of the project as a whole for all of the involvement of politicians like him. Recognizing that the majority of our readership is on the anticapitalist spectrum in some fashion I want to appreciate that concern. What I believe will cause this project to succeed where other efforts have failed is that the community organizers are very much in the driver’s seat.
They continue to allow the politicians in their midst to show up for the photo-ops when that time comes, but they are only welcome as long as they are aligned with the vision of the community. Deputy Director Melody McCurtis spoke truth to power during her speech at the press conference, telling a room of wealthy business people who have signed onto the project that landlords have been extracting wealth from the people of Metcalfe Park for too long, and that this effort is to return the power to the people who live here.
Outro
Later that day hundreds of people showed up to Cathedral Square for a somewhat last minute ICE out protest. It was a part of a national effort that saw thousands of school children walking out of school, objecting to ICE and its militarized police force that is terrorizing immigrants and the city of Minneapolis. What many at the march seemed to understand is that we are not only protesting ICE because of Donald Trump, but also the Democrats who are complicit with the organization.
Some of those politicians were at the Reclaim and Restore event earlier in the day. Yet despite one event’s collaboration with politicians the two events should be understood as two sides of the same coin. Metcalfe Park Community Bridges is holding politicians accountable and getting what they need from them. They are a beloved community, and we need to take time and remember that it is important to call for the abolition of the powers of the state that harm us while building the structures that protect and provide for the people. When Audre Lorde says “without community there is no liberation,” this is what she is talking about. The community at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges serves as a reminder to all of us fighting for a better world to keep our politics centered in love, even when we are also very angry.
But who cares about that? Honestly Shirley Dunn had it right when she was singing Diana Ross:
“There's a candle to light the stairs
Where my dreams await someone to share
Ooh, there's music on the radio
And good vibrations won't let me go
I put my name on the ceilin' above
'Cause it was built for love
It’s my house and I live here.”
*This article originally listed the organization as Metcalf Parks. We apologize for this error
