BASICS in Milwaukee, Inc.

History of Milwaukee

Did You Know? …

Milwaukee’s black unemployment is among the highest in the nation.
Milwaukee is one of the five highest drug-infested communities in the nation.
107 citizens were murdered in Milwaukee last year (2002).
Milwaukee is claimed to be the most segregated city in America.

Original Inhabitants - American Indians

The Indian name for Milwaukee — ‘Manawaukee’
a swamp - delta/ gathering of three rivers:
- Milwaukee River - from the north (flowing south)
- Menomonee River - from the northwest (flowing south and east)
- Kinnickinnic River - from the southwest and south (flowing north = rare)
A Sacred Land — ‘Holy’ - where the ‘great spirit’ wanted peace
- a gathering place - uniting the tribes
- a burial ground - over 300 burial mounds were found by settlers
  - most were destroyed by the settlers in building the city of Milwaukee
  - only eleven can be found today — if you know exactly where to look
- No fighting was allowed in the ‘Sacred Land’ — thus Peace ceremonies only
Seventeen Indian tribes lived in Southeast Wisconsin and fought viciously over hunting lands

European Settlers - 1674

Father Jacques Marquette - the first recorded explorer — 1674
Solomon
Land developers were the first settlers - very greedy (hated each other)
—Founding Fathers:
- Solomon Juneau (1793 - 1856) — Eastside - set-up a Fur Trading Outpost in 1830
- Byron Kilbourn (1801 - 1870) — Westside
- George Walker (1811 - 1866) — Southside
Fierce Competition - Rivalry between founding fathers and families
- Wisconsin Ave. and the Milwaukee River - roads were built so they didn’t align
  - bridges were built on a diagonal
  - canons would fire at each other across the river
First Churches —
- 1830 — Catholic
- 1835 $#8212; Methodists
- 1837 — Baptists
- 1846 — Dutch Reformed
Early Commerce — early settlers were mostly men — trading involved:
- Whiskey - from the settlers
- Furs - from the Indians
- Women (Squaws) - from the Indians — intermarriage
- Land - from the Indians (but they didn’t understand land ownership in white man’s terms)

1848 - Wisconsin Statehood

1850’s - Industrial Revolution — became a polluted and dirty city
Immigrants: 1850
- 2/3 of population was foreign-born
- East Side - Jewish immigrants
- West Side - Lutheran immigrants/German & Irish
- South Side - Catholic immigrants/Italians & Polish

Milwaukee Today

BASICS’ target area — 1950 to date
- Population = 240,000 people
- Capitol Drive — 1st Street — Lincoln Ave. — 60th Street (22 sq. miles)
Wealthy and middle income people have left the target area — abandoned
- History of Milwaukee’s Black unemployment is the highest in the nation.
  - 40% of the Blacks live in or near poverty
  - A typical household may make 40% of the income of a typical white household in Milwaukee
  - Although blacks constitute 11% of Milwaukee’s labor force, they represent 40% of the unemployment.
  - More than 65%, under 18, do not live with a husband-wife relationship in their home.
  - 80% of all black children are born to unwed mothers who must somehow raise them alone.
  - Over 95% of prisoners have no relationship with their father.
- Houses deteriorating - in stages:
  1. Owner occupied - well cared for
  2. Owner occupied landlords - with stable renters
  3. Absentee landlords - with low income, mobile renters and houses in disrepair
  4. Vacant apartments - gangs and drug dealers move in - pay no rent
  5. When police do a drug bust, the house is destroyed and boarded-up
  6. House is put-up for sale for usually less than $2,000 by city for people willing to fix it up within one year and live in it for three years. Cost to restore is usually two to three times the resale value of the house after it’s restored. Restoration subsidies are available to citizens at poverty levels with a good credit standing.
  7. If the house is not sold and there’s significant damage to the house (such as a fire), the house is demolished by the city. The vacant lot is available to an adjoining property owner for $1.
- Many homeless women with children - live with relatives — W-2 forces them to work and leave young children — in child care if they can afford it
- Many homeless men - with criminal records (estimate = over 16,000 men) unemployed or dealing in drugs/crime
- History of Milwaukee is one of the five highest drug-infested communities in the United States.
- Kids abandoned go into gangs as young as 4 years old - for survival
  - gangs are on the streets 24 hours a day, seven days a week — to ‘help’ kids with no place to go or who want to get away form an ‘abusive’ home.
- Welfare Community:
  - Dependent on the system — know how to use it to their advantage
  - con artists - for survival - no truth
  - homeless - abandoned - into addictions - have no hope
  - not welcomed into churches - a liability to poor churches especially
  - undisciplined - make bad decisions that lead to deeper crises
- Gangs - are Illegitimate Businesses:
  - theft - autos, stereos, electronics, —
  - drugs - heroine, cocaine, crack cocaine, —
  - alcohol - abuse —
  - prostitution —
Communities in transition
- many 2 hour churches — need 7/24 Christian Community Centers
- few stores, few jobs
- many taverns - strip joints — many being closed
- many Christian Ministries - but have very little support and are very poor with buildings falling apart

BASICS in Milwaukee, Inc.

started in 1996 - after carefully studying the central city for one year - 1995
- to find out where God was working and to join Him there /Blackaby - ‘Experiencing God’
- found many Christian Ministries doing amazing things but receiving very little support or encouragement from the Christian Community at large.
- per the 1990 US Census, the highest concentration of ‘Bible reading and devotional’ people were living in the central city
- there was a significant need and desire by the already-planted churches to receive assistance in all aspects of their ministry.
- made many dear friends who served the same Lord - Jesus Christ
A great opportunity exists for Christians to work together in unity by ‘Showing and Telling’ God’s Love —
- the Great Command - Love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and Love our neighbor as ourselves
- the Great Commission - Go! Make Disciples, Baptize and Teach
- Matt. 25:31-46 —
  When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? (Jesus replied) —I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ — ‘They will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
- John 10:10 —
  (Jesus said) “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

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