Sprouts | Milwaukee Parks Foundation

A park connected to its community is safer, healthier, more vibrant. And a community connected to its park is safer, healthier, more vibrant.

Sprouts Strategy

With our Sprouts strategy, we invest in grassroots leaders and groups that anchor our parks. Community voices must play an active role in shaping the agenda for their park and our system as a whole. We support the ideas and energy of community park leaders as a form of support for Milwaukee County Parks.

Early examples of this strategy in action include:

Collaboration on community-led mural projects in Rose Park with Friends of Rose Park and Wells Fargo, as well as in Berrien Park with Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism & Political Repression, Lucille Berrien’s family and True Skool.
Partnership with local leaders like Camille Mays and organizations like Nearby Nature MKE, finding new ways to collaborate through continued exchange.
Production of a youth writing competition themed around parks named Lyrics for Our Sanctuaries, yielding both tributes to our green spaces and insight from young creatives.

A black man carrying a bucket near a creek

Steven Hunter of Nearby Nature MKE collaborated with MPF and Friends of Lincoln Park for a cleanup of green spaces, park buildings and waterways with Kohl’s volunteers.

A Black woman sitting in the open field of a part using sound bowls

Organizer and healer Camille Mays plays her sound bowls at County Grounds Park.

A young Black teen standing in front of a colorful mural

Rapper, poet and high school student Jonah Denae wrote ‘Beyond These Grounds,’ a poem that was selected as winner of Lyrics for Our Sanctuary.

A group of people smiling while presenting a mural

Friends of Rose Park collaborated with Rozalia and Reynaldo Hernandez to create a community mural which will be installed on the Clinton-Rose Center in spring 2023.

2022 Sprouts Fund

In 2022, we launched our Sprouts Fund to invest further in this emerging strategy. Guided by experienced leaders on our Program Committee (see below), Milwaukee Parks Foundation invited grassroots groups connected high ranked parks on Milwaukee County’s Equity Index to participate in this pilot including Atkinson, Clarke Square, Johnsons, Moody and Walker Square.

We offered grants of $5,000 to support ideas with momentum or requiring resources to get off the ground. Our core question: “Does this project belong to the park’s community?” Without exception, each conversation was brimming with potential. We heard about the desire to gather and play, as well as ambitious and exciting visions for what’s possible. We also discussed the complexities faced by a park, its community and their many stakeholders.

In fall 2022, we gave gifts to Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative, Friends of Moody Park, Northwest Side CDC and The Table. Each collaboration has led to valuable learning for the Milwaukee Parks Foundation and we are grateful to each group for their partnership.

Learn More About 2023 Sprouts fund

A group of young children posing for the camera with one dressed as Spiderman in the middle

Friends of Moody Park and the Amani Youth Council held their Mask-querade Dance Party in 2022, which included food, games, music, and of course, costumes.

Moody Park

When we approached Friends of Moody Park, chaired by Elizabeth Brown, the Amani Youth Council had just brainstormed a series of community holiday events centered in their park’s pavilion. Throughout the 2022 holiday season, we were able to support their community gatherings for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, each planned and hosted by young leaders from the Amani neighborhood.

A group of people walking in a garden at sunset

Through Foodways & Fieldhands, students from Brown Street Academy will be learning in neighboring Alice’s Garden and Johnsons Park.

Johnsons Park

Alice’s Garden is located on parkland connected to Johnsons Park. We are supporting Venice Williams and The Table’s collaboration with neighboring Brown Street Academy for the Foodways & Fieldhands. This program “invites students and families, of all ethnic backgrounds, to explore the agricultural and culinary traditions of the Africans who were brought to the Americas, and of African American people.”

tree-lined path with park center and playground in the background

A path leading to the pavilion and playground on a beautiful sunny day in Clarke Square Park during summer 2022.

Clarke Square & Atkinson Triangle

Community grows at the speed of trust and in both of these parks, weather and other circumstances did not not cooperate with our original timelines. So we did not rush. We are currently working with our collaborators to remount plans in spring 2023. In both parks, this will include events organized around community resources and needs, with the potential of a new friends group for Clarke Square Park.