Milwaukee Youth Council to discuss children’s zone

The newly-sworn City of Milwaukee Youth Council will begin its term discussing several key initiatives – including a proposed sustainable “children’s zone” — during its meeting at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday, December 10) in the Common Council Chamber at City Hall.

Youth Council members were sworn in on December 3 during an inauguration ceremony in the Council Chamber, and tomorrow’s meeting will include several items for discussion, including a proposed community youth forum, a youth court, and the aforementioned Milwaukee Children’s Zone.

The Milwaukee Children’s Zone initiative – proposed by Common Council legislation authored by Alderman José G. Pérez – seeks to create a “blueprint commission” that would propose a five-year effort to target a densely populated area of the near south side as a “Children’s Zone,” where neighborhood institutions, faith-based institutions, nonprofit social service providers, healthcare facilities and others would be brought together to improve the health, education and well-being of children and families.

“This area of the near south side has an extremely high number of children and young adults, and in many cases they are living in poverty and with low educational achievement. This initiative is of keen interest to the Youth Council, and I appreciate the body’s willingness to take it up for discussion and consideration,” Alderman Pérez said, noting that a successful children’s zone in Harlem (NYC) has helped boost the lives and outcomes of children in neighborhoods struggling with poverty, poor health care and low academic achievement.

“The creation and promotion of a Milwaukee Children’s Zone provides an opportunity for effective and productive collaboration among agencies of city government, other county and state agencies, the business community, educational institutions and other citywide and neighborhood organizations to accomplish much more than is possible by individual efforts alone,” Alderman Pérez said.

Alderman Pérez said the creation of a model Children’s Zone to initiate comprehensive, multi-dimensional efforts promoting the health and education of children and families on the near south side could provide a laboratory for implementing and evaluating replicable programs and strategies throughout the city.

The Milwaukee Youth Council is a body of young leaders aged 14 to18 interested in government and in making a difference in the Milwaukee community. For more information on the Youth Council please visit http://city.milwaukee.gov/YouthCouncil.
Please follow the Youth Council on Twitter @mkeyouthcouncil or via the MYC Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mkeyouthcouncil/.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.