Gov. Walker Announces $4.5M For Housing, Jobs On Milwaukee’s North Side

Gov. Scott Walker is promising $4.5 million to boost job creation and to clean up blighted property in a poor neighborhood on Milwaukee’s north side where the recent fatal police shooting of a black man led to violent unrest.

Community leaders say frustration over unemployment and economic disparities underlie the violence and destruction of property that rocked Sherman Park for two nights following the Aug. 13 killing of Sylville Smith. Police have said Smith fled a traffic stop and turned toward a Milwaukee police officer with a gun in hand when he was shot. The officer is also black.

Walker announced the multi-million-dollar initiative at a news conference Friday, just hours before Smith’s funeral at Christian Faith Fellowship Church.

The initiative includes state and local efforts.

State job counselors will be sent to more community sites in Milwaukee in hopes of reducing unemployment in largely African-American neighborhoods. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development will be in charge of the “mobile response” employment units that will offer the same assistance found at state job service offices, said Ray Allen, state Department of Workforce Development secretary.

“We will help with resume building, we will allow people to do job searches, we will assess them and then provide them or refer them to other services that will support their needs,” Allen said. “Our goal is to prepare people for the workforce.”

Job service offices will remain fully staffed, Allen said.

The state will also expand employment programs and provide $2 million to tear down or fix about 500 foreclosed and blighted properties in Milwaukee. The city-owned or privately owned buildings will be in Sherman Park area, where the protests took place, Walker said.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett praised the state’s announcement and said removing the decaying homes or properties can boost the economy.

“I want to put people from this neighborhood to work, fixing those homes or tearing them down, because we know there are thousands of people in this neighborhood who need work,” Barrett said.

There will also be more skills assessments and worker training, Walker said Thursday. This includes helping match people’s skills to job openings, and help identify programs and training opportunities for people to enroll in and then be hired for jobs or careers they want.

Barrett, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and members of Walker’s cabinet were at the Friday announcement.

On Thursday, Walker announced the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. authorized Direct Supply of Milwaukee to receive up to $22.5 million in tax credits to help add about 800 jobs over the next seven years and expand its global headquarters on the city’s north side. The jobs have a minimum $30-an-hour wage. The expansion is expected to create $33 million in additional state income tax revenue over a five-year period and generate at least 500 more jobs in the region on top of the required 800 jobs.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include reporting from WPR.