Milwaukee has the second-largest homeownership gap between Black and white families in the country. According to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, in 2022, only a quarter of Black families owned their homes, compared to 55% of white families.
And in neighborhoods like Bronzeville, residents are seeing increased gentrification, making it hard to remain in the neighborhood. But a group of artists in Milwaukee want to change that.
Their project is called Homeworks: Bronzeville. The group purchased foreclosed city-owned properties in the area, and currently, they're trying to convert a building into an artist's live-and-work space located on 322 West Meinecke Avenue. The adjacent area, 334-340 W. Meinecke Avenue, will be turned into a community green space.
"We're building like actual physical improvements, but also like the social capital, the political capital, the creative capital, the communal capital," says Mikal Floyd-Pruitt, one of the co-developers of Homeworks: Bronzeville. "Like all of these things that make you want to be at a place or make you want to live somewhere."
In 2019, the group redeveloped its first building for local artist Vedale Hill. "We kind of call him a guinea pig. He was the first one to get a crack at it," says Lexi S. Brunson, the owner of CopyWrite Magazine and is a part of the Homeworks: Bronzeville team.
"He went through the process of the full development, cultivating it, programming it. And now he has taken on full ownership of the property. And so now, with that, that means he is now an anchor in the community. He cannot be displaced at this time," Floyd-Pruitt says.
Brunson will be the first resident of the newest live-work building. As a longtime community member, she wants to build generational wealth in Bronzeville. "We're making these spaces so we can serve the community. Live and work. So what we're saying is the investment is also an economic investment. To put money into these communities," Brunson says.
Nolan Gray is a Milwaukee-based developer from Gray Development Group. He buys properties all over the city to rehab them, to re-sell or rent them out. He's leading the construction effort at 322 West Meinecke. "I hope that we could just look back and see, you know, our kids looking at these spaces as their homes," he says. "Whether it's a mixed community or a Black community. Whoever lives here, we want it to feel equitable, safe and equal."
Floyd-Pruitt emphasizes that using an artist's perspective can bring creative solutions to systemic issues, such as the racial homeownership gap. "We represent all of Milwaukee. People need to start looking at our issues through a different lens. That is the lens that we provide," he says. "That's what you do in a painting practice or photography. What am I actually seeing here? And that sort of capacity to draw more answers, more understanding out of an environment for the purpose of art is the same for the community."
Homeworks: Bronzeville’s second live-work residence is scheduled to open this summer. And the group hopes they can redevelop more spaces for their community.
