Business Improvement District Board #5 (westown Area) - Regular Meeting

Alderman Marina Dimitrievich, I'll be chairing this committee. Alderman Russell Stamper II is excused. I'm the vice chairperson. I'm joined virtually by Alderman Mark Chambers Jr., also Alderman Sharlyn Moore, who is en route. In person, we have Alderman DeAndre Jackson, and that does provide us a quorum to begin the Community and Economic Development Committee meeting, and that's set for Wednesday, July 22nd at 1.30 p.m. We are starting at 1.33. We'll start with item number one, 260417, Resolution Relating to Acceptance and Funding of a Prescription for Literacy Grant, sponsored by the Chair. Okay, looks like we have somebody here from the public library. If you want to go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chairwoman, committee members. Sarah Lushinsky, business finance manager for the Milwaukee Public Library. And with me today is Kelly Wochinski, who oversees youth and community outreach services for MPL. So we're here to request your approval to accept $133,000 for this grant, a prescription for literacy grant. And we're grateful to the Johnson Controls Foundation for providing the funding and to Reach Out and Read for partnering with MPL to bring this initiative to Northwest Milwaukee. The initiative aims to improve early literacy and relational health outcomes through coordinated efforts between pediatric clinics and libraries and supportive families. So we'd like to thank you for your consideration of our request. And if you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer them.

Thank you. I do have a question. Is this something that we've received previously?

Nope, this is a brand new grant.

Okay, and it's much needed due to the challenging, to the literacy challenges that we have throughout our community. So will this grant be spread and the program spread out through all libraries?

Kelly, if you wouldn't mind.

Yeah, can you hear me? Sorry. Yeah, Kelly, please introduce yourself.

Yeah, Kelly Wyszynski, Public Services Area Manager for Education and Outreach at Milwaukee Public Library. So this is actually a pilot. Right now, the main activities are centered around the Good Hope and Billard Square Libraries, which are in that Johnson Controls neighborhood. But our hope and belief is that this is something we will be expanding throughout our system.

Okay, will it include one-on-one tutoring?

No, so what the activities of the grant are to support what's happening in libraries and in clinics. So reach out Marie clinics actually give out books as part of each visit. Well, child visit between birth and 5 years old. So they're now including a prescription to also visit the library. To get an additional book, so it's more about resources and messaging to parents. in the birth to five audience.

And then what are the metrics being used to gauge success?

Sure. Right now we're looking at how many families are able to actually translate that visit to the clinic to a visit to the library. So it's a lot of just attendance. And then we'll also be doing some focus groups at the clinics and in the libraries. to talk about barriers for families to actually get into the library, although they're able to get to the clinics. And then one citywide activity that we're planning is for a big play date at the Central Library, giving families a place to come with their babies, toddlers, and preschoolers on a Saturday afternoon to see how play serves as early learning. And then how they can take that and so we'll be looking at who attends that getting zip codes to see where we're reaching with that messaging across the city. And then we'll be looking at biller experience, but hope to see if story time attendance or. The circulation of materials does increase. With additional families visiting the libraries.

Okay, I'll move it around for more questions and comments. I think this is exceptional, great innovation, great partnership. City government should be doing more small pilots, testing it and then seeing if it works out and applying larger. I'll probably want to meet with you a little bit because I have some other ideas to add on top of this, but I'm really excited to see how this works out and congratulations for finding a private partner to work with. So Alderman Moore will move adoption. Let me go around to see if any members, since so many people are virtual, you may need to just unmute yourself and let me know if you have any questions on item one. I see no questions and Alderman Moore moves adoption of item one. Any questions on adoption? Any objections to adoption? Hearing none, so ordered. Thank you and look for a meeting request for me probably after the August break. Thank you. Item two, 260420, resolution relating to the use and allocation of the 2026 Community Development Block Grant funds awarded to the City of Milwaukee Youth Council. This is sponsored by Alderman Stamper. And I would ask the wonderful people at the microphone to introduce yourself and then begin.

Good afternoon, Chairwoman, Madam Chair. This is Mario Higgins from the Community Development Grants Administration.

And Madam Chair, Jim Wazarski, City Clerk.

Thank you. Please let us know about this program and this allocation for 2026.

Madam Chair and members, this is now the 20th year that the City of Milwaukee Youth Council has fulfilled its obligation under the Code of the City of Milwaukee. One of its charges is on an annual basis to make an allocation for a percentage of that money. It's a recommendation, I want to be clear, a recommendation to the Common Council for an allocation of a portion of the City of Milwaukee CDBG funds allocated to youth services. You have their recommendations before you. This is the tail end of a long process. They begin with learning about CDBG, learning the ethics of CDBG and the procedures of CDBG, but then eventually they have to come down and I want to particularly commend Mr. Higgins and all the folks, particularly John and Dina and everybody in his office that has been working directly with the Youth Council, informing them about their obligations, teaching them about these different grant groups that are being given this money and getting us to this point. And it was at their last regular meeting that they unanimously recommended these two recommendations to you.

Okay, anything else to add there? Yes, please, Mr. Higgins.

Thank you. I think my staff actually really, really enjoy working with the young people on these allocations and going through the process with them. So I commend the council and city clerk's office for their efforts. Alderman Moore is always present at those meetings. So kudos to her as well. We really just try to make sure we have a really good process and get them to understand it. And they do, and they really already always ready to hold the funded groups accountable as well. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Alderwoman Moore, anything to offer? Otherwise, I was going to have you move adoption. Okay, adoption's moved by Alderwoman Moore. Any discussion of adoption on item two? Any objections? Hearing none, so ordered, thank you. We're on item number, thank you, 260352, resolution relating to the establishment of the year 2027 funding allocation plan. Okay, and I know we have Mr. Higgins available. This is sponsored by Alderman Stamper. I know you have a brief presentation, but this is kind of the next step, Director Higgins, in the public meetings that we just held out in the community. Is that right?

uh... correct manager uh... so i want to do an actual presentation today uh... we had the two to presentations in our committee in the community one of them we did have to reschedule uh... but the funding allocation plan does start our twenty twenty seven funding process uh... so we look to solicit public input on the on the on the on that plan uh... we try to do at least those two public hearings uh... we had uh... the first public hearing july fifteenth at St. Augustine Preparatory Academy. We worked with President Perez's office to secure that location. Beautiful space. I want to thank them for allowing us to use that space. It was very, very, they were very, very accommodating We had another meeting scheduled for July 16th at the DPW Field Operations Building in Alderman Jackson's district. Unfortunately, due to poor air quality that day, we had to cancel that meeting, and so we pivoted really fast to do a virtual meeting on Tuesday. Carmen, the staff assistant, was amazing getting that all set up and done in a matter of a couple days. and we still got really good participation during that virtual meeting so i really appreciate that as well the funding allocation plan itself right now we're still waiting uh we'll be waiting for congress to for our final authorization on on funds that's going to probably be in october so i'm not going to go into a lot of detail about that but obviously the senate hasn't been meeting on budgetary items yet, so we won't know. Right now, what we're proposed to do, if funding stays stable, as it has been for the last few years, as far as the amount, the T-HUD, the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development bill, has been funded, we expect to get, and for community development block grant, $14.8 million, home investment partnership program, the home program at $4.3 million, emergency solutions grant program at $1.3 million, and housing opportunities for persons with AIDS at $1.5 million. So the total of about $2.9 million is what we would be expecting for 2027. Over the years, we have been trending downward as far as how much the city actually receives. And that's mostly probably due to new participating jurisdictions. So as the country is in a bad economic state, as it seems to be, we continuously just lose funding just because there's probably more more pieces of the pie that have to be cut. So from 2022 to now or to about 2027, CDBG is probably down about 1.5, $1.6 million. The home program is down almost $2 million. So we probably will continue to see some small declines in our funding because of that. For right now, what we want to do is get the plan approved and to be able to release our RFPs um as immediately after common council approval we would expect to release those right on august 3rd so common council being on the 31st if there's granting approval and from this committee we want to release those rfps and have about a three-week deadline for return so maybe submissions due back on the 21st of august And so during that time with why the Council is also out there in September, we would be evaluating and scoring those RFPs and applications to bring back to this committee sometime in the early early October. They know I mean early November. So right now we would move approval of the plan as submitted. It is online, it's on our webpage at milwaukee.gov backslash CDGA. We've gotten a lot of input from the community so far and we can still take input on the plan up until July 30th.

Okay, great. Thank you so much for that work and those community meetings that are part of a long process. Just to be clear, because I did receive some questions, you know, none of this is actually adopting the allocation or the funding. It's just beginning kind of creating that framework so people know the framework of how the allocating will work, but no allocating is happening today. Is that right, Director Higgins?

Allocations do happen for city departments because those are all what we prepare with the budget. So that part is included in the plan and allocated, yes. The rest goes back out for the community, stuff goes out for RFP.

The RFP, correct?

Yes.

Okay, great. Wonderful. Anyone have questions on item three? Alderman Jackson would move adoption of item three, which is the resolution to the establishment of the year 2027 funding allocation plan, discussion on the adoption, questions, objections to the adoption of item three. Hearing none so ordered, thank you. We're now on to item four, 260287, resolution relating to the use of public school identification cards as library cards, sponsored by Alderman Mark Chambers, Jr. Alderman Chambers.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this. This is something come out of I saw something that was going on with Chicago with Mayor Brandon Johnson recently made all Chicago public schools identification cards. you know, as library cards within the Chicago Library System, come to find out that we already do this in the partnership with the county, with Library Now, with a partnership with the county, the Libraries Federation, and also the city. So this is just simply highlighting this and just asking for the library and or MPS to give us a report within six months just to see the current operations the scopes and the current participation from what we gather with LRB it's very popular within middle school age children want to make sure that we are you know getting this district-wide and potentially city-wide and you know we're not necessarily just all public schools but all schools within the city of Milwaukee to you know further educate and further promote the wonderful libraries that we have here in the city of Milwaukee so this is just

um expressing support for the expansion of the student awareness and the utilization of the library resources through the library now partnership and i will move uh adoption or approval at the appropriate time okay thank you alderman adoption's been moved um yeah i was under the impression that like i only know mps that their student id can kind of like double as a library card only because sometimes we forgot our library cards um But I think this is great. So any other questions for the sponsor, Alderman Chambers? He moved adoption of item four.

Madam Chair.

Alderman Jackson.

Oh, no, I just think this is a great idea. In the future, hopefully we can expand it to more operations. Let it be almost like a muni ID, so to speak. So I just appreciate Alderman Chambers bringing this up. I'm glad we already did it. But this could be just a start. Do multiple things with that ID. So thank you.

Right, okay, any other discussion? Otherwise, adoption is before us on item four, discussion of adoption. Objections to adoption? Hearing none, so ordered. We're on item 5, 260395, substitute resolution authorizing the expenditure up to $2,500 from the Community and Economic Development Committee Fund for the 2026 Beat Street Fall Festival. If you all recall, we talked about this, I believe last cycle, it's a really diverse, all-inclusive, welcoming event that takes place in Bayview. There's tabling from many community organizations, and this is something that Alderman Stamper, the chair, would like to allocate. We made it a city event because the city also is a co-sponsor and has a table, I want to say one or two cycles ago. So with that, Alderman Jackson would move adoption, and I wanted to see if anybody had questions for the city clerk there.

Madam Chair.

Yes, Oliver and Jackson.

So like actual beets, like the vegetable beets?

They don't have beets necessarily available, but it's like a small part because it's during like September harvest season. But I really invite you guys to come. It's super fun. There's a... Cactus Club led stage which they're known for really high quality music, you know, it's right off of Russell Avenue and like Wentworth Just the amount of community groups that table it really is extremely inclusive artistic a fun thing to do in fall So, thank you alderman Jackson had moved adoption then of item five any other questions on adoption any objections Hearing none, so ordered. Item six, 260498, substitute resolution appropriating up to $2,279.44 from the Community and Economic Development Fund for Bronzeville Week. That's also sponsored by Alderman Stamper. Does anyone wish to speak on this item? Oh, I see.

Yes, please. Thank you, Madam chair and committee. Um, and for having the, um, this file today, as members know, August 1st through the eighth will be the 16th annual Brownsville week celebration. We just released the schedule for the week today. Uh, so people can go online to milwaukee.gov forward slash Brownsville to get bonds. Yeah. Brownsville to get the schedule for the week. But yeah, to put together eight days full of art, culture, and commerce, as you can imagine, we have some wonderful sponsors, but we can always use a little bit more to help execute in excellence and for what the for what he was able to give to the last penny that was left. Alderman Stamper was willing to sponsor this file and we're grateful for that and we will hope that you all can approve it.

Thank you so much. Very much looking forward to that event. Any questions or comments on item six, Alderman Chambers moves adoption of six, discussion of adoption, objections to adoption, Hearing none, so ordered. All items have been handled. And seeing no further witness before the Committee of Community and Economic Development, this meeting is adjourned. Have a great day.