Good Jobs, Livable Neighborhoods Coalition, Midwest Environmental Advocates: Bader Foundation grant will help revitalize Milwaukee’s economically and environmentally scarred 30th Street industrial corridor 12/18/2008 Contact: Karen Schapiro, Executive Director Midwest Environmental Advocates Tel. (414) 507-7049 Pam Fendt, Executive Director Good Jobs, Livable Neighborhoods Tel. (414) 443-2090 Milwaukee, WI – The Helen Bader Foundation has made a generous grant to Good Jobs, Livable Neighborhoods Coalition (GJLN) and Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) for their work in building community awareness and engaging local citizens in the redevelopment of the AO Smith/Tower site in Milwaukee’s 30th Street Industrial Corridor. The AO Smith/Tower site once employed thousands of area residents, providing income and stability. Although currently underused and contaminated, if redeveloped it could be an economic engine for the 30th Street Industrial Corridor. Clean up and redevelopment of the 30th Street Industrial Corridor is essential for the health and welfare of neighborhood residents and the city; this grant makes their participation and involvement in the health of their neighborhood possible. “An engaged community is vital to any redevelopment process,” said Pam Fendt, Executive Director for GJLN. “Neighborhood individuals and groups have a real interest in seeing the site remediated and redeveloped, in seeing jobs come back to their neighborhood. Area residents need good jobs, local hiring and decent affordable housing. This generous grant from the Bader Foundation will allow us to help area residents bring a voice to the redevelopment table.” Cleaning up the Corridor and creating “green job” opportunities is important to the health and vitality of the city. “The Milwaukee residents along the 30th Street Industrial Corridor experience a disproportionate burden of environmental contamination,” says Karen Schapiro, MEA Executive Director. “The remediation and redevelopment of the area is a major environmental justice concern. Empowering citizens through educating them about their rights to a clean, healthy neighborhood is essential to the future of the 30th Street Corridor and its surrounding communities.” The Helen Bader Foundation supports innovative projects and programs that advance the well-being of people and promote successful relationships with families and communities. With offices in Milwaukee and Jerusalem, the Foundation awards an average of $11 million per year in grants, with more than $179 million awarded since 1992.

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