Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Jackie Q. Carter among the commissioners who have been appointed to the SD Properties Inc. board instead of Lucero Ayala, according to new information provided by the Social Development Commission.
The Social Development Commission gained two new board members this month and is making plans for its next community needs assessment.
SDC provided a variety of programs to serve low-income residents in Milwaukee County before it stopped services and laid off employees in late April.
Since reopening in December, SDC has been budgeting and pursuing grant funding to resume a few key programs and pay back owed employees and contractors.
The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal government is adding more uncertainty to this process not just for SDC, but for all of the community action agencies in Wisconsin that rely on federal grants, according to Jorge Franco, SDC’s interim CEO and chair of the Board of Commissioners.
“The funding that normally would be allocated for 2025 is a little bit caught up in D.C. with everything going on over there,” Franco said.
New board appointments
Pam Fendt, the president of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council AFL-CIO, and City Treasurer Spencer Coggs are now SDC commissioners.
Fendt was sworn in to the labor council’s seat on the board on Feb. 4.
“The labor council has a historic spot and we didn’t want to keep it vacant,” Fendt said. “I can try to use my talents to help SDC at a critical time.”
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee received and accepted a request to appoint Coggs, an alumnus of the university, to its vacant seat on the SDC board, according to a university spokesperson.
“We’re being very specific and strategic about the talent we request to be appointed to the commission, and given his very strong financial and administrative background, he’s a real blessing for the commission,” Franco said.
SD Properties and SD Foundation changes
The board for SD Properties Inc., which owns and manages SDC’s buildings, now includes commissioners Jackie Q. Carter, Fendt and Franco in addition to Vincent Bobot, according to Franco.
With the exception of Coggs, the other commissioners will serve on the Social Development Foundation board, which used to mostly be made up of non-commissioners.
“I think that in the coming months, what they will be primarily focusing on is private donations, grants and recruiting board members with development expertise,” said William Sulton, SDC’s attorney, about the foundation board.
Technology still being updated
Franco said SDC is still working on relaunching a website landing page to post meeting notices and other information.
The staff are using their own phones and emails since the agency’s website and phone system are not functioning, Franco said.
Community needs assessment
SDC is starting to plan how it will research unmet needs facing Milwaukee residents in poverty for its community needs assessment, which it is required to do every three years to be eligible for block grant funding.
Franco said he believes the agency should complete the assessment annually.
“SDC needs to have its finger on the pulse of poverty and know exactly where the gaps are and exactly what the pathway is to get them funded,” Franco said.
Here’s more on the SDC
Here’s how to get free tax help in Milwaukee
‘We just want our money’: Former SDC employees still wait to be paid
Four takeaways from the Social Development Commission’s latest board meeting
Community leader Walter Lanier joins the Social Development Commission board
SDC is back in business but full recovery remains uncertain
How the Social Development Commission failed its Milwaukee residents
Why did the Social Development Commission fail? Here are takeaways from our investigation
Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
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