🎉 We're excited to share that former Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service intern Brittany Carloni recently joined Wisconsin Watch as a reporter covering state government and politics! If you have suggestions for Brittany, her email is in the article 👇

The program will pay to send approximately 11,500 low-income students per year to driver’s education classes on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested students and/or their families ages 14 to 19 can go to the WisDot website and fill out an application.

The property at 310 E. Knapp St. is owned by the Milwaukee School of Engineering but will remain in use by the federal government through at least April 2026, with options to extend through 2028, said JoEllen Burdue, the college’s senior communications director.

The Pathfinders Employee Collective held a rally earlier this month, sharing their respect for the agency’s mission, their care for the youths they serve and their need for stronger and healthier working conditions ... “Our working conditions are our young people’s living conditions."

The Milwaukee Police Department is still undecided about whether to expand its use of facial recognition technology. Since the passage of Wisconsin Act 12, the only official way to amend or reject MPD policy is by a vote of at least two-thirds of the Common Council, or 10 members.

Have you heard about the Milwaukee Baseball Club Community Center? The facility is home to the Milwaukee Baseball Club and the Milwaukee Brewers’ Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, or RBI program, run by founder and CEO Julian Haliga.

“I think Black men aren’t trusting the system due to economics and the feeling of not being in control of the situation." -- Michael Adams, heart attack survivor and president of JobsWork MKE

"Despite Milwaukee’s designation as a Water Centric City, our Black and brown communities have experienced decades of disinvestment in neighborhood pools, resulting in improper maintenance, a lack of qualified lifeguards, and closures of aquatic facilities."

Residents of Metcalfe Park maintain hope that officials will change their minds about plans to close the Pick 'n Save in their neighborhood or at least keep it open longer. Residents are planning to march and rally outside the store from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Friday, July 18.

“I understand people want to light fireworks, but, I mean, you have to understand fire safety. My whole thing is – what goes up must come down. When those fireworks come down, they’re going to be hot.” - Homer Blow, who witnessed a fireworks-related fire near his Milwaukee home on July 4th

Responding to Kroger's recent announcement of plans to close five Milwaukee grocery stores, Melody McCurtis, deputy director and lead organizer of Metcalfe Parks Community Bridges, a resident-led organization, says there’s more than a food desert in the city: There’s food apartheid.

MKE Roots is a professional development program for Milwaukee-area teachers that includes a weeklong summer training in which they visit local landmarks and meet with historians and community leaders. Now, it's losing its federal funding and will have cut staff and scale back programming.

“As you go through becoming a parent, no one educates the non-birthing people or men on how to navigate changes within yourself." - Joshua Liston-Zawad, founder of Dad Doula University

"Act 12 was not only anti-Black, it was outdated and misanthropic. Wisconsinites who are united in seeing a better quality of life for themselves need to work on repealing Act 12, and to create legislation that is life affirming." Opinion: milwaukeenns.org/2025/06/25/o...

“Having someone who can help us build stronger networks, have an informed leader in these different rooms – it expands our ability to educate others who don’t understand this and to empower people who are impacted but unsure of what to do." - Emilio De Torre, executive director of Milwaukee Turners

ICYMI earlier this month, the Milwaukee Police Department released its 2025 Violent Crime Reduction Plan. The new plan provides data on violent crime trends in Milwaukee and current MPD strategies to reduce violent crime. Here's an overview of what that means for Black and Brown neighborhoods.

Milwaukee's anti-poverty agency, the Social Development Commission (SDC) raised two concerns about the state's recent decision to remove their status as a community action agency. Reporter Meredith Melland, who has been covering the SDC saga from the beginning, summarizes the latest.

😎 School is out, and summer break is in full swing. That means our kids need safe and fun things to do. We’ve got you covered. Here are more resources for Milwaukeeans to keep kids safe and engaged this summer.

From cooking classes to legal services clinics. Here are five things to know and do (in addition to staying cool and hydrated!) this week in Milwaukee: milwaukeenns.org/2025/06/22/5...

The new Marcia P. Coggs Health & Human Services Center at 1230 W. Cherry St. will run in accordance with Milwaukee County's plan to implement a No Wrong Door policy, aimed at making it easy for residents to access every service they need wherever they come into the system.

Participatory budgeting is a democratic process in which community members decide how public dollars are spent.  In Milwaukee, the African American Roundtable has been educating and advocating on the process for years. In April, the Common Council approved a $600,000 participatory budgeting program.

Thursday is #Juneteenth, a national holiday that celebrates the freedom of slaves on June 19, 1865. Milwaukee first began celebrating in 1971. But the day is more than a celebration, it's a reflection on Black identity, ancestry and history. Here's what Milwaukee has planned for its 54th Juneteenth.

Where are teens supposed to go when the only program catered to them in their neighborhood closes down? That's the situation facing teens in Milwaukee's Amani neighborhood after the local COA Youth & Family Center was paused and downsized in March. Here's what we know now.

Job Corps is the nation’s largest free residential career training and education program for low-income young adults ages 16 to 24, many of whom have experienced homelessness. Since 1964, the corps has trained people in nursing, manufacturing and the trades.

Violence interrupters and outreach workers have hit the streets in Milwaukee hard in recent weeks, responding to an uptick in violence. The interrupters are well-versed in the street lifestyle, having lived through the same challenges that people in the community face now.

Important new ruling from the WI Supreme Court. Employers cannot base employment decisions – such as hiring, firing, promotion or transfer – solely on municipal citations in a person’s record. Municipal citations are violations of city-specific laws and are typically small infractions.

Some AmeriCorps members had to make quick decisions on their housing, education and employment arrangements after the federal government abruptly canceled funding for their programs. The Milwaukee Turners are taking steps to help impacted programs navigate the sudden change.

📍 Lindsay Heights, Milwaukee -- Nine community members spent months capturing the good and bad of their neighborhood's environment on camera, and then turned the photos into an exhibit. View their photos at Legacy Days from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 1 on North Avenue between 14th and 18th streets.

Rethinking I-794: What removing Seoul’s "Car Sewer" can teach Milwaukee about revitalizing its downtown Ⓜ mkeind.com/3FlfGf2

Investigators believe that a Milwaukee man accused of writing a letter threatening to kill the president may have been framed so that he would get arrested and be deported from the U.S. before he got a chance to testify in a trial as a victim of assault.

“It’s moments like these that should charge us up... it’s often the hard times, not the easy ones, that move people to take action.” -- Michael Nguyen, executive director, Teach For America Milwaukee

A big thank you to #MarquetteUniversity alum Greg Myers who is biking across Wisconsin to raise money for a service organization in his home town of St. Paul and for our nonprofit newsroom here in Milwaukee. He will match up to $5,000 in donations if you can afford to chip in and cheer him on! 🚴‍♂️

“I don’t think that everybody was ready to be in the program at the time they enrolled. They come home with a lot of institutional thoughts and ideas ... I took it slow and low, you know – one class a semester.” - Jamie de Jesus Sr.

A dashboard designed to provide real-time transparency about Milwaukee County youths in secure custody doesn’t yet offer a complete picture, including when it comes to race. Here's what you need to understand about what is -- and isn't -- represented in the dashboard.

If you want to see teens making a difference, you need look no further than the youth programs at the African American Roundtable, or AART, in Milwaukee. At these hangouts, teens are not just learning about leadership – they are the ones leading, sharing ideas and helping one another grow.

The Social Development Commission (SDC) plans to request a review with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and may also file a lawsuit against Milwaukee's Department of Children and Families, according to William Sulton, SDC’s attorney.

It's Monday in #Milwaukee and here are some things to know and do this week.

“If we don’t have AmeriCorps dollars, it essentially cuts 90% of our budget." - Nanis Rodriguez, executive director of Public Allies Wisconsin since 2022 and a 2009 alum of the program

Sunshine Ketchum continues to have ups and downs as she anticipates her eventual release from Taycheedah Correctional Institution, the state’s most secure prison for women. Read and listen to our latest 'diary entry' about her experience.

You can use a municipal ID card to get medical care, open bank accounts and get library cards. Here's what you need to know about how to get one:

Opinion: The teachers who shape teachers: A thank you to my mentor: milwaukeenns.org/2025/05/08/o...

A new Overdose Dashboard was released on Feb. 18 by Milwaukee County and the Office of Emergency Management. The dashboard contains demographic data on fatal and nonfatal overdoses, including which drugs were involved, and information on naloxone distribution.

If you’re an early childhood educator in Milwaukee, you might be eligible to purchase an affordable home. Local groups have partnered to create homes for early childhood educators. Herb Kohl Philanthropies announced a $1 million gift to help fund the development of more.

“She lights up a room when she comes in, and she’s really able to navigate a lot of different rooms, which is important in Milwaukee because it’s such a segregated community.” -- Joe’Mar Hooper, friend and former coworker of Raynetta "Ray" Hill

Eviction filings are high in Milwaukee. But some with eviction records may be able to get them sealed. We spoke with Abrielle Newman, a staff attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin, to explain how eviction sealing works.

Low credit scores are keeping some Milwaukeeans from homeownership, renting properties and even job opportunities. We asked a loan officer at Great Midwest Bank with over 20 years of experience what people should know about credit.

It appears that Milwaukee County is ready to work with the state to find a new community action agency to replace the Social Development Commission, the embattled agency that has provided anti-poverty services for more than 60 years.

The FBI on Friday arrested a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, escalating a clash between the Trump administration and the judiciary over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

“I’ve seen so many things in this community that have caused these disparities that cause people to not be able to access treatment. It’s really devastating – a lot of mental health issues have led people to do things like carjacking, shooting and stealing.” – Dwain Berry

The memo comes as Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature and minority Democrats are taking opposite sides on how to handle immigration enforcement. The Wisconsin Assembly last month passed a bill requiring county sheriffs to comply with federal immigration authorities.