The Washington Park Quality of Life Plan is moving from planning into its next phase – bringing the neighborhood’s collective goals to life.
“This quality of life plan is a living, working document, which means as our residents steer us, it will adjust,” said Adrian Spencer, deputy director of Rooted & Rising Washington Park.
Rooted & Rising, a social services agency at 3940 W. Lisbon Ave., has partnered with Athena Communications on developing the Washington Park Quality of Life Plan over the past two years.
The groups held an event celebrating the plan on May 4. They plan to incorporate Lisbon Avenue development design options, additional feedback and partnerships, and share a version of the plan in the coming weeks, according to Spencer.
“Even with the bits and pieces, I am excited,” said resident leader Iran Jennings.
Plan priorities
The priority areas identified in the Quality of Life Plan are housing, public safety, economic development, youth development, and domestic violence and human trafficking.
Each priority area includes goals and recommendations to achieve them, though they are still being finalized, according to a draft synopsis of the plan.
To create a safe and welcoming environment, some recommended options are to launch 20 block clubs in Washington Park and start two community beautification projects with the support of the Milwaukee Police Department and community partners like Safe & Sound.
Rooted & Rising also intends to partner with other organizations like Sojourner Family Peace Center, Benedict Center and the Franciscan Peacemakers to provide domestic violence and human trafficking resources and embed trained advocates within Washington Park community hubs to act as referral points for help.
“If we can provide resources to them, some ladies will get out of that,” Jennings said.
She hasn’t seen the details of the plan yet but believes creating safe spaces and listening without judgment would help domestic violence and trafficking survivors.
The plan advocates for stronger workforce opportunities for youth through summer job programs and training programs at local businesses, and partnering with youth organizations to expand programming.
To help youth build leadership skills and maintain healthy relationships, some specific recommendations include training 20 mentors to work with neighborhood youth, hosting quarterly parent/guardian engagement sessions and establishing a youth leadership council.
Rooted & Rising and Athena Communications selected 14 people to participate as resident leaders, who received training, attended meetings and encouraged their neighbors to also participate in the process of creating the Quality of Life Plan.
In 2024 and 2025, the organizations held several dine and dialogue sessions focused on collecting feedback and brainstorming solutions for different priority areas.
Charette and corridor updates
In February, Rooted & Rising hosted a charette with Ce Planning Studio where architectural firms worked on designs for six possible development sites along Lisbon Avenue while collecting community input.
At the May 4 event, Carolyn Esswein, owner of Ce Planning Studio, revealed the final site designs. All included multistory apartment buildings or townhomes that could accommodate first-time homebuyers, and they also featured mixed-use buildings, grocery stores and public outdoor spaces.
The design for North 36th Street and West Lisbon Avenue incorporated a retail space that could be used as a food market, while the site at North 29th Street and West Lisbon Avenue included an option for a grocery on the ground floor with four stories of housing above.
For the North 30th Street and West Lisbon Avenue site, the plan featured a building with a food hall including an alley of food trucks lining the outside, and aspace whereresidents without vehicles could pick up groceries they ordered from an outside grocery store.
“We’re also being a little bit creative because we know the traditional grocery format is struggling right now,” Esswein said.
Jennings said a grocery store is important and she likes the designs for more housing and entertainment options. However, as property assessments increase, she questions if development projects would benefit the diverse groups of residents who already live in Washington Park.
“Often my question is: Is it going to be for us, or is it going to be for them?” Jennings said.
She encourages neighbors to consistently show up for meetings and share their opinions.
The housing and economic development parts of the Washington Park Quality of Life Plan will incorporate the charrette’s findings.
There is no guarantee the sites will be developed, Esswein said, but the model has had success in other parts of the city.
Next steps
The charette designs will be added to the City of Milwaukee website, where the city is also seeking feedback as it updates the Lisbon Avenue Corridor Plan.
There will be a bus tour looking at sites from Near West Side Partners’ 35th Street charette at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 9, leaving from the Ambassador Hotel, 2308 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Rooted & Rising and Athena Communications are open to collaborating with additional nonprofit, private and public organizations to build the capacity to address the priority areas.
Rooted & Rising will host a meeting on Monday, June 1 that will include time to discuss the next steps for the five priority areas, Spencer said.
“We need you all to continue to show up, continue to be engaged, continue to talk to your neighbors about the work that you’re doing,” Spencer said.
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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