Leaders, community members weigh in on the SDC’s shutdown | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
May 9, 2024
Social service advocates and community residents are speaking out about the sudden shutdown of the Social Development Commission, or SDC.
The social service agency’s closing has impacted thousands of low-income residents who have relied on the longstanding service provider for a range of social services, including food, employment, substance use prevention and education.
SDC laid off its staff and suspended all of its operations at the end of April, following the “misallocation of funding” for its weatherization program and the resignation and firing of executive staff.
NNS asked people who work in or touch the same sectors as the SDC to weigh in on the impact of SDC’s suspension of services as well as who could fill in the gaps.
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Drea Rodriguez, executive director of the Peace Learning Center of Milwaukee, is concerned about the impact the SDC’s closing could have on the many residents who depend on its services.
“I’m hopeful to hear elected representatives publicly weigh in on how the funding SDC was given will be transferred to other organizations that can continue these vital efforts,” Rodriguez said.
As a community health worker, Shay Dotson connects people who are re-entering the community after incarceration with a range of services, including employment resources. She thinks the SDC’s shutdown will make this task more difficult.
“It’s going to take all of us to get this work done in order to fill in the gap and the huge hole the community is definitely going to feel with the suspension of SDC,” Dotson said.
Alan Chavoya is the outreach chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, or MAARPR, a group that advocates for greater police accountability.
He and his fellow MAARPR members were “shocked” at the news but placed its shutdown within a grander trend of defunding essential public services.
“It’s also the result of the county prioritizing funding the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office with millions that could be used to fund institutions like the SDC,” Chavoya said.
Walter Lanier, president and CEO of the African American Leadership Alliance of Milwaukee, or AALAM, said the SDC’s absence was immediately felt throughout the community.
“The SDC is a significant-sized organization that touches a lot of lives, not just those of the employees that were laid off,” Lanier said.
He said he’s concerned about the effect the SDC’s closing will have on the Black community.
“I can’t help but think about 15 or 20 years ago when the OIC (Opportunities Industrialization Center of Greater Milwaukee) was closed and the ripple effect it had not only on the employees, vendors and contractors but on the economy of the city, the Black community in particular.”
Jim Gaillard, vice president of Ezekiel Hope, said the SDC’s closing is devastating to the underfunded and underserved in Milwaukee. Ezekiel Hope is a Milwaukee nonprofit that trains unemployed and underemployed people in the skilled trades.
The SDC’s skilled trades program was where Gaillard sent people to be trained to work with Ezekiel Hope.
“They were providing training and getting people paid,” he said. “The community should be outraged  because we don’t have anything else like it.”
In light of the SDC’s closing, Maricha Harris, executive director of the Dominican Center, which is located in and serves the Amani neighborhood, called on the community to come together.
“We don’t know what the future holds, so how can all of the organizations around the city make sure that those services and resources are picked up somewhere?” Harris said.
Harris said the Dominican Center partners with Ezekiel Hope on a housing program, which is impacted by SDC’s closure because Ezekiel’s trainees were first sent to SDC for training.
She said she hopes the SDC reopens.
Elizabeth Brown, president of the resident-led neighborhood group Amani United, said the SDC’s closure is a great disservice.
“A lot of people are going to be affected, like as far as with the tax help, for energy assistance, for those who can’t go a far distance,” Brown said.
Brown said Amani residents might have to travel farther away from the neighborhood to get training to participate in programs like Ezekiel’s.
“A lot of people want to work in their own community. It’s more convenient,” Brown said. “It’s simpler as far as getting your kids to school, going to work” and checking in on kids during the day.
Maria Beltran, a Lindsay Heights resident, said she has used the SDC’s services for years, from getting new furnaces to the weatherization of her home.
Most recently, she had participated in the SDC/s lead abatement program. This meant work was supposed to be done to reduce lead hazards in and around her home.
“A lot of people were waiting to get their homes done, and now there is no one to monitor getting these jobs complete,” said Beltran, whose two children have tested positive for lead in their blood.
She now fears that the lead abatement process, which has already taken years from when she first applied to the program in 2019, is going to be a lot harder to access.
“The impact of the SDC closing is going to be drastic. It’s going to hurt a lot of people,” Beltran said.
Angelique Sharpe is among many in the community calling for a thorough investigation of the situation at SDC. Sharpe, who is an economic solutions strategist and founder and owner of LADYINC Ventures, calls it a blow to residents.
“The impact of SDC’s closing is tremendous and there’s way too many livelihoods at stake, especially innocent parties who are already dealing with struggle and strife,” she said.
“Whatever is decided, let’s not make this about the perpetrators, mission first,” Sharpe said. “All power to the people.”
Kamaljit K. Jackson, director of the Wisconsin Minority Business Development Agency, said, “the SDC has been a haven – providing resources and support to the many to navigate challenges inherent in everyday life.”
Despite the closing, she said she has hope that others will rise to the challenge and utilize the loss as an opportunity to transform how the community is served.
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit,” Jackson said. “Calling all partners to let us plant those seeds together for the betterment of our neighbors.”
Meredith Melland, Trisha Young, Devin Blake, PrincessSafiya Byers and Edgar Mendez contributed to this story.