Community Resource Center Takes Shape in Shipping Container

Chaz Fortune and Trenell Henning are well-versed in the needs of their community. The childhood friends-turned-business partners are both advocates in Milwaukee’s Credible Messenger program, working with at-risk youth.

Through that work they learned that plenty of resources are available to the community, but not everyone knows how or where to access them.

That inspired them to invest money from their own business ventures into building a new resource center and gathering place.

They purchased a plot of land in the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood and started converting a repurposed shipping container into the Bronzeville Way Healing and Safe Space.

“It’s basically a community-focused park,” Fortune told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “It’s designed to promote wellness, recreation and connecting and engaging with the community and local residents.”

The outdoors portion of the property at 2776 N. 6th St. features landscaping, tables, chairs and permanent canopies for events.

Inside the structure, they have brochures and leaflets from local organizations as well as TVs, computers and free Wi-Fi to help community members connect to available resources, like jobs, food assistance and mental health services.

“I definitely think it is a little difficult for young people these days to get the resources that they’re looking for, or know where to get the information about the resources that they’re looking for,” Henning said. “What we’re doing is we’re trying to centralize all that information.”

Fortune and Henning see plenty of organizations in the area trying to help community members in need, but sometimes they have trouble maintaining a presence in the neighborhood and meeting families where they are.

Especially for the at-risk youth they work with, getting the right intervention in place early is critical for their success.

“They may hear some things if they’re in trouble from the different courts, or they may hear some stuff from maybe one of their friends that’s doing something, and then it stops there,” Fortune said. “I feel like if we want to see change, and we want to make change happen, we’ve got to get deeply involved.”

They hope Bronzeville Way can be a community pillar in the historically Black neighborhood and help bring residents together.

That’s why it was important for the pair to invest, beyond their work in community advocacy.

“We used our own money because we wanted to show people that we can do it ourselves,” Henning said. “It’s a sense of ownership. It’s ours. It’s tangible.”

The initial phase of the Bronzeville Way project is in place. Now they’re working to complete updates and additions to the existing structure.

They had a soft opening and have used the property for small events, but they need to add a bathroom and update the foundation to bring it up to code before they can fully open the indoor space for regular public use.

Fortune said the City of Milwaukee is also allowing them to buy an adjacent lot to expand their space.

They would eventually like to host town halls, healing meetings, peace circles and art galleries that would be more tricky in their current, limited space.

Henning and Fortune are seeking additional funding to build out the rest of the project, including community support through a GoFundMe page.

They hope the time and money they’ve put in so far serves as a proof of their commitment to making a positive impact on the community.

Listen to the WPR report

Milwaukee business partners building out community resource center was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.