Number
170173
Version
SUBSTITUTE 1
Reference
Sponsor
ALD. DONOVAN, BORKOWSKI, JOHNSON, WITKOWSKI, BOHL, RAINEY, HAMILTON, ZIELINSKI, STAMPER AND LEWIS
Title
Substitute resolution directing the Department of City Development to facilitate creation of a business cooperative providing basic goods and services to major Milwaukee employers and institutions.
Analysis
This resolution directs the Department of City Development to facilitate the creation of a business cooperative on the City of Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperative model. Cleveland created Evergreen Cooperative - a collection of cooperative businesses that provide jobs to residents looking for jobs and provide goods and services to area employers and institutions. The cooperative businesses also offer workers shares in the companies and a path to homeownership through a home-buying program.
Body
Whereas, Milwaukee’s manufacturing sector has suffered a swift, precipitous decline; and
Whereas, High poverty and large numbers of Milwaukee residents, especially African-American residents, find it difficult to find jobs or own homes; and
Whereas, High poverty neighborhoods are plagued by crime; and
Whereas, The homeownership rate for African-Americans in Milwaukee is 29% compared to 68% for white residents; and
Whereas, From 1970 to 2015, the unemployment rate for whites in Milwaukee increased from 3% to 6%, while the unemployment rate for African-Americans increased from 8% to 18%, with the gap between the two groups growing from 5% to 12%, resulting in African-American unemployment being approximately triple the number that it is for whites in Milwaukee; and
Whereas, The unemployment rate for African-American men in Milwaukee is even more severe at nearly 50%, which is approximately twice the rate that the nation suffered during the Great Depression; and
Whereas, In 61 of Milwaukee’s 210 census tracts, at least 40% of the population lives in poverty; and
Whereas, Milwaukee’s current jobs pro...
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