Getting It Together

All across Milwaukee these days, there appears to be a renewed sense of urgency to get things done to improve the quality of life of residents in the city.  At first, I thought it was the weather, the upcoming November elections or the need of nearly everybody wanting to be seen doing something or to be heard.  But I believe and this is just me, that there seems to be more people who are seeing a need to become more engaged and to collaborate with others in order to solve many of the lagging problems facing the largest city of Wisconsin.  

During this year along, there have been a record number of community and town hall meetings sponsored by public officials at every level.  Additionally, there have been numerous agencies and organizations across the city providing outreach, organizing, workshops, seminars and fairs on topics of health care screening, employment, education, housing, credit repair, safety, youth services, Veterans and aging.  In addition, many religious groups, churches, non-profits and charities have provided an array of spiritual, counseling, and support services to individuals, families in crisis and victims of domestic violence. 

It has been wonderful to see; I completely promote and support such efforts.  What else has been encouraging to witness is the number of local mass media resources, including radio, TV, and newspapers helping to promote and report on many of these noteworthy events and more.   Even more revealing has been the amount of national attention.  This national attention has attracted a number of high profile personalities, award winning writers, noted researchers and political officials to visit, make presentations and give inspiriting speeches.         

This kind of attention can get addictive and signal a movement that we have not seen in years.  This new movement is about human rights, which includes a call for justice, equal treatment and the right to be heard.  At the base of this movement is how we are treating each other, calls for unity, protections of personal liberties, respect of family and getting back to the fundamentals of what it takes to make a good society.  While this new movement is taking shape, which is being born out of frustration, disappointment in elected officials and the political process, disenfranchisement, ongoing injustice, wealth disparity, and exclusion from livable wage employment...this new movement is gaining steam. 

What is more amazing about this new movement is that it is for real, has foot soldiers, advocates, an agenda and an open forum.  For many of us, this awaking is something we have been waiting for a long time and is long overdue.  The push for such reforms is coming from the new and upcoming generations of millennials, Gen Y and Gen Z.  They are becoming more demanding and expecting more accountability from the previous generation of “baby boomers.”  So, I say... let’s join this new movement and give a boost to what can only improve the quality of life for all in Milwaukee.   What do you think?