Milwaukee Public Schools recently approved Brian Litzsey as the new senior director of Milwaukee Recreation. Litzsey has been with the department since 2002 and has held various leadership roles, most recently as assistant director and manager of operations.
Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez talks with Litzsey about his goals and priorities in this new role.
Why did you decide to take on this new role?
I took it on because I felt like I was ready, I felt like I can serve the community, and I felt like I can give my absolute all to the people of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools and all of the neighborhoods adjoining Milwaukee. I think I've been prepared for this after 23 years of working for Milwaukee Recreation. So it's given me a unique vantage point of the city, the inner workings of recreation and MPS. I just think of the connections that I've made, and I want to make those collaborations even stronger, because my goal, and our goal of our department, is to have healthy neighborhoods, one at a time. A healthy Milwaukee is a healthy environment for all of us, for our schools, for our county. I just wanted to be a part of that so bad.
On top of the hundreds of educational and recreational programs Milwaukee Rec offers, the department also oversees 52 play fields, the 'Dream Build Play’ initiative and youth sports. I know you just started a few weeks ago, but how are you approaching the first few months of this new role?
A little different, because I've been embedded in Milwaukee, so I'm not coming in fresh, right? I have a different set of eyes than the former director Lynn Greb, of course, but my thing is that I've come into it, making some challenges to myself and to my team, and one of those challenges is — we love our social media presence, right, we've grown so much with that — but what I really want our team to do, and myself to do, is to get back out into the community and meet people face to face. Make those partnerships with our neighborhood associations, with our faith-based communities, really walk the neighborhoods to see what the kids and the families are doing, and make those real, deep-rooted connections with a handshake and a smile.
On top of that, are there any major projects or goals you're looking forward to accomplishing?
Yeah, definitely [keep working] on revitalizing our play fields. We also have a community center that we're working on, and I believe that will be up in 2027, and I think that will bring a great boost to the community on 76th and Silver Spring. So it'll be the first one we've ever had where we took an existing school building that was no longer being used, and we're making it into a full-scale community center with a pool, gym, meeting spaces and things like that. So that'll be a huge challenge for our team.
And I want us to be innovative, right? I want us to think about new and vibrant programs and ideas that we can offer to the community, and with the help of the community, to let us know what [programs] we're missing and what things we can be doing that are new and fresh for them. So that's another challenge that I have for myself and my team.
And lastly, I just think sustainability, right? Having quality service. When you call us, we should be able to fix your problem. If there's an issue, let us try to help you. That's the goal of my staff — when that person hangs up that phone or that email, they say they got great customer service from us.
How do you envision the future of Milwaukee Recreation?
I envision it as strong and vibrant, having collaborations and input from our neighborhoods, our community leaders and anybody in the community that uses our facilities to have a say in what's going on in their play field or in their community center. We have open and vibrant spaces for everybody to use, and it's safe. Again, healthy neighborhoods mean healthy schools mean a healthy ecosystem ‚ it all kind of trickles down, and that's how I see Milwaukee Rec playing its part in the whole system of Milwaukee.
