“In order for the City of Milwaukee to be a place where there’s true economic diversity among all people, the isolation and exclusion [of minorities] has to continue to be addressed,” says Antonio Butts, executive director of Walnut Way. The nonprofit organization, based in Lindsay Heights, is dedicated to supporting the neighborhood’s residents through community engagement, environmental stewardship and economic development. Butts holds a strong belief that the strengthening of a neighborhood happens by harboring the skills of its residents and building from within. As he explains, the funding and support need to come from people who are part of the community, not from external sources.
Walnut Way was founded 20 years ago, when a group of neighbors came together to talk about the lack of camaraderie in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood compared to the time when they were children. These residents grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, when the area was still known as Bronzeville, a thriving African American neighborhood fueled by a wealth of industrial jobs and ambitious migrants from the South.
But Bronzeville and its booming businesses got torn apart in the late ’50s and early ’60s, when the City of Milwaukee decided to build the I-94 and I-43 freeways right through the middle of the neighborhood; the communities have not been the same since. Businesses and residents were displaced and consequently divided and neglected. That small group of Lindsay Heights neighbors remembered the strong sense of community from their childhood and began gathering groups of residents, reclaiming vacant lots and taking on initiatives.
‘Neighborhoods Need Businesses, Organizations and Institutions’
Motivated to make a difference in the neighborhood he has called home his whole life, Butts became Walnut Way’s executive director three years ago. His professional experience involves both social work in the nonprofit sector and work with social enterprises that use for-profit models; he was specifically drawn to Walnut Way because of the unique opportunity it presented to blend the two.
A program called the “Community Wealth-Building Campaign” is a perfect example. Walnut Way has built relationships with the residents of Lindsay Heights and taken note of all their skills and interests. That information is then used to group people together in an effort to start interest groups and evoke business ideas. “In order to turn neighborhoods around and create real opportunities for residents to have social and economic mobility, neighborhoods need businesses, organizations and institutions,” says Butts. The community gatherings have already brought ideas for new business ventures which Walnut Way will help bring to life. As part of the program, Walnut Way will offer funding, administrative and structural support to these groups.
The success in this organization comes from building spaces of trust as well as seeing the potential in each of the residents. The destruction of the neighborhood in the early ’60s and “lack of investment in areas predominantly populated by African Americans, left [the residents] without an economic base to be able to move forward,” says Butts. Walnut Way has been breaking down those barriers and helping individuals succeed by building trust for 20 years. When individuals are confident in their potential, a neighborhood can start to be rebuilt.
To support the health of the community during the COVID-19 outbreak, Walnut Way is temporarily postponing events at the Walnut Way Center and the Men's Wellness Group at The Innovations and Wellness Commons until further notice.
Learn more at walnutway.org. Read this article on the Shepherd Express, part of the column “Hero of the Week.”