Near 37th Street and North Avenue in Milwaukee, the team at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges starts every day with warmup stretches. Deputy director Melody McCurtis says they stretch to get ready — physically and mentally.
"We want to let go of any bad energy, take in the good energy and get pumped and ready to go," McCurtis says.
The group has gone door-to-door about 30 times in the 15th aldermanic district. They hand out newsletters and encourage people to vote, but not who to vote for. McCurtis says the newsletter is bigger than usual because it includes a referendum breakdown, details on how to vote and information about Supreme Court candidates Judge Janet Protasiewicz and former Justice Dan Kelly.
"When we think about decisions being made at the Supreme Court level — when we think about things being made at the state and at the city level — all of those things can impact us immediately," says McCurtis. "We can feel it, so all elections are important. Presidential elections are important, but the local elections to us, they're far more important because of the immediate impact of some of these decisions."
They venture out to 32nd Street and North Avenue to cover new ground. Members split up and approach each house with a clipboard in hand. James Taylor Cain says he likes to knock softly.
"You don't want to make people mad or nothing with the door, so I knock silently or a little loud so they hear it," says Cain. "It’s a bummer when they don’t though."
When no one answers, Cain leaves a newsletter behind. But when someone does open the door, like resident Unique Long, Cain informs them about Metcalfe’s purpose.
Long says she feels like the community and people of every race need help. "But I feel like African Americans are at an all-time low right now only because the cost of living is high," she says. "There’s a lot of single parents out here. Everybody don't have a community like back in the day, we had our neighbors looking out for us. We had stuff going on, it's not like that anymore. Bring that back and you will see the change. You will see the crime go down. You will see the results."
Cain says Long’s sentiment is a common one. As Cain approaches the next house, he comments on how he hopes to be the change that people want to see: "You see me out here. I'm at your door right now — this is live. I'm trying to get you to engage with the community."
Cain says he wants to encourage his peers to give back to the neighborhood. "I really love when I can get people to understand me, and they listen to my ideas of coming up with something for the community," he says. "So that's really what I love doing, just engaging more into my community, showing them I do care. I'm only 22. I'm trying to engage into my youth and tell them we got to do better in our community and show the elders that we’re not just the mess up."
Canvasser Jarrod Logan says his mission is to inform more people about elections. "Because the Black and brown people kind of fall short on voting," he says. "We try to get the awareness out there that our vote really matters."
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges is hosting an event called Jammin’ at the Polls Tuesday at the JCC Pantry from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event includes music, free food and voting information. Free groceries will be available from 4 to 6 p.m. for residents of the 53210 and 53216 zip codes.
Need help learning how to vote on April 4? Our voter guide has the information you need on the voting process and how to participate.
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