Milwaukee organizers are turning up the heat on City Hall, formally launching Feed the Change MKE on Saturday, May 30, with a press conference and resource fair on the Northwest Side. The campaign is aimed at securing city dollars for neighborhood grocery stores, farmers markets and nutrition programs after a year of grocery closures and long-standing food access gaps on the city’s North and Northwest sides.
The African American Roundtable, a Black-led civic group, says the first big ask is clear: get the Common Council to add $1 million to the city’s Fresh Food Access Fund to bolster locally owned food businesses that residents say are hanging on by a thread.
The launch is scheduled from noon to 2:30 p.m. at Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy, with a 12:30 p.m. press conference and a family-focused resource fair, according to the African American Roundtable. Organizers say there will be free food, giveaways and sign-ups for resident trainings that will roll through the city’s budget season.
Funding And The City Budget
Organizers are tying the new push to recent council action that steered $400,000 into the Healthy Food Establishment Fund, a move the Common Council adopted on April 21, according to the City of Milwaukee Legistar. The money comes from settlement funds that had been set aside for a Grocery Store Retention Fund…