Help Us Expand Our Team!

Reporter Graham Kilmer working on a story for Urban Milwaukee.

These are exciting times. With so much happening we often have no idea what the next hour much less the next day of news will be, nor can we predict what kind of support will come from readers. And yet we continue to make strides in improving and growing Urban Milwaukee, and it has been inspiring to see the community respond positively with more members joining.

In fact, we are confident enough of your support we plan to grow our team and add another full-time reporter to our staff. In short, because you believe in us, we believe we can expand.

So, meet Graham Kilmer, our one-time intern, turned freelance writer, turned part-time editor, who has proven his skills, knowledge and particularly his dedication to our team (yes, this is a very mission-oriented publication) and has agreed to become our next full-time staff member. We couldn’t be happier about it.

In 2015 Graham joined the Urban Milwaukee team during his senior year of college at UW-Milwaukee as an intern. After his graduation, our editor Bruce Murphy gave Graham his first freelance assignment, a preview of the Milwaukee Ballet performance of Scheherazade. Throughout the years he continued his freelance reporting about different aspects of the Milwaukee community until he turned into a beat reporter covering Milwaukee County government.

At the beginning of 2020 Graham was hired as a part-time editor while still writing multiple articles per week. And as 2020 first showed itself to be the news monster it has truly become, Graham stepped up to the plate, walking countless miles while live reporting the protests against police brutality, and consistently reporting on COVID-19 policies and events.

On becoming a full-time reporter with Urban Milwaukee, Graham states “I’m incredibly lucky that Urban Milwaukee continued to give me new opportunities. It’s been five years since I first started here as an intern. And it feels like I was given an apprenticeship on urbanism and Milwaukee. And I’m incredibly grateful for that.”

So it’s a happy time for Graham and Urban Milwaukee, but only possible because of our readers’ support, because so many readers have become, yes, a paying member. We know there are so many loyal daily readers of Urban Milwaukee who haven’t yet become members, and we hope our expansion will inspire you to join the team.

For only $9/month or $99/year you could help us continue to expand what has already become the city’s foremost online daily, helping us increase our ability to cover more stories in more neighborhoods, do more in-depth reporting and continue to champion a great city with stories that help readers understand critical urban issues.

Plus by becoming a member you can get some pretty cool benefits! That includes:

• Virtual member-only events featuring tours, deals and interviews with local politicians and leaders
• A website free of banner ads that provides faster page loads and a unique, editorial-only experience
• Access to an advertising-free daily or weekly emails
• The ability to comment on articles
• A better, faster photo browser on the website
• The knowledge that you are helping support hard-hitting local journalism

We believe high-quality, well-reported local news should be available to everyone, it is critical to the functioning of democracy and makes for a stronger city, which is why we refuse to put paywalls on our site. However, that’s only possible if we have members willing to support what we do.

So if you value what we do, please become a member of Urban Milwaukee now. And help us maintain and grow the kind of publican this community needs.

Join Today