Mural Project Set to Begin

The Beerline Trail Mural Project is scheduled to begin this upcoming Monday, July 20 at 11:00 am. Thanks to assistance we received from community partners in promoting the project and spreading the news to youth in the HGNI area, 15 youth applied for 3 available apprentice positions! 10 of these individuals were interviewed on Wednesday, and from the feedback I received from Artworks for Milwaukee and Reynaldo Hernandez, all the kids were terrific. We're confident that this project will be a positive experience for everyone involved, including the general public that will benefit from a piece of community art.

We'll do our best to keep everybody posted through the HGNI blog, but don't hesitate to contact me for any news or updates. You can reach me by phone at 414-906-9650 or by email at chrisg@riverworksmke.org.

If you're reading this message from the Harambee Connections group, you can access more information regarding the project by going to the "Harambee - A Great Neighborhood" blog site at http://harambeegreatneighborhood.blogspot.com/.

Beerline Trail Youth Mural Project

The Harambee Great Neighborhoods Initiative together with Artworks for Milwaukee, mural artist Reynaldo Hernandez, and Riverworks Development Corporation finalized a project to work with youth in producing a mural this summer. Reynaldo Hernandez will be the lead artist, and we are looking to hire three neighborhood youth to work with him as youth apprentices. Youth will be paid $6.00/hr over a five week program period. All apprentices must be enrolled in high school and live in the 53212 zip code north of Center Street.

The project is scheduled to begin on July 20 at Reynaldo's studio. Applications must be submitted to Meghan Koven at Artworks for Milwaukee by July 13. You can access this application and all the details by visiting the Artworks for Milwaukee website at http://www.artworksformilwaukee.org/. Scroll down to the "Announcements" section where the Beerline Trail Mural Project is highlighted and open the application by clicking on the "Click here" link.

If you have any questions or need assistance accessing the application or filling it out, feel free to contact Meghan Koven at Artworks for Milwaukee at 414-277-8506. You may also contact Chris Grandt at Riverworks at chrisg@riverworksmke.org or 414-906-9650.

Thanks

Partners Join Habitat at Harambee Wallraising

Last Monday, May 11, Members of the the Harambee Great Neighborhood Steering Committee and joined Mayor Tom Barrett at the symbolic wallraising for ten homes to be built by Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity and their volunteers.

This year, Thrivent Builds is providing $704,280 and will mobilize its members and other volunteers to build 10 homes in Milwaukee’s Harambee Great Neighborhood. Since 2006, the first year of the program, Thrivent Builds has mobilized more than 6,000 volunteers who have dedicated more than 50,000 hours to help build 30 homes in Milwaukee, 20 of them in Harambee. Lots for these homes were contributed by the City of Milwaukee and Inner City Redevelopment Corporation.

To learn more about the build, visit Milwaukee Habitat's website. To learn more about the new Harambee neighbors who are helping to build these homes and who will move into them when they are complete, click here.