Milwaukee continues to be ranked by various studies as one of the most, if not the most segregated city in the United States.
Not only does that refer to the separation between whites and blacks in the city, but also how wealth is represented.Less than five miles separate two of the area's wealthiest neighborhoods and one of its poorest.
In between is the Harambee neighborhood, basically bordered by Capitol Drive on the North, Center Street on the South, Highway 43 to the West and Holton on the East.
It’s not the poorest of the city’s neighborhoods, but Harambee struggles with many issues common to the city's innercity communities. It's median household income is less than $23,000 and only a quarter of its residents are college graduates.
Yet in the last few years, Harambee's also been home to tens of millions of dollars in investment, new developments cropping up all over, increasing resident involvement and revitalization of parks and other corridors.
But that story isn’t well-known, and that's where LISC Milwaukee comes in. LISC is the local chapter of the national group, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. It’s working to break down those stereotypes, and revitalize distressed neighborhoods.
It regularly hosts bus tours through neighborhoods to show community partners and key policymakers what's happening now - and could happen in the future.
Not too long ago, LISC invited residents, community leaders, politicians and business owners on a bus tour of Harambee to see what's going on.
