December 18 , 2010
Our 6th annual Breakfast With Santa event took place the week before Christmas this year. The event allows us to help famillies in the neighborhood dealing with financial issues and help them fill gift requests that might go unmet otherwise. This year Time Warner Cable went over and above filling these requests and everyone had a great time. Kudos to them for their generosity, as well as Don Sargent (Santa), V&J Foods, and all our friends and staff who volunteered.

Kids enjoyed their time with Santa as receiving their gift.

December 14 , 2010
Riverworks held a ceremony at True Love Missionary Baptist Church to unveil new signage for the Harambee Great Neighborhoods Targeted Investment Neighborhood (TIN).   The event celebrated 25 “Harambee Community” signs that will help provide identity to the TIN as well as improve the neighborhood aesthetics.  The project was funded through a grant Riverworks received from Neighborhood Improvement Development Corporation (NIDC), an affiliate of the City of Milwaukee Department of City Development.  24 residents and community stakeholders joined us, in addition to WTMJ 4 who was there to videotape the event.

Residents from the neighborhood help unveil the new sign.

September 16 , 2010
Riverworks partnered with the United Way and it's Days of Caring program to hold a volunteer event that benefittied elderly homeowners in the Riverworks area. Our event focused on landscape maintenance work to assist seniors in taking care of things like weeding, bush and shrub trimming, gutter cleaning, and other exterior work that is challenging for them to take care of on their own. A special thanks goes out to the 15 volunteers from Rockwell Automation who devoted their time and energy to assist 11 homeowners in our community.

Darryl and Chris haul off weeds and brush from a house on North 5th Street

May 3 , 2010
On April 12 construction work began to improve the Holton/Townsend Street intersection. This includes removing old railroad tracks and adding colored curbs and crosswalks. Excavation and grading work began on the Beerline Recreational Trail in April as well to initiate a landscape plan through $200,000 in funding from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The project is being managed by Milwaukee DPW in coordination with Riverworks and BID #36. Finally, Keefe Avenue is being repaved from Humboldt to 7th Street with ARRA funds - the project is set to begin in May. Riverworks had an influence on all three projects and is excited to see them coming to fruition.

Contractors pouring colored concrete at the new Holton/Townsend intersection.

November 27 , 2009
The Riverworks BID #25 finished up their streetscape project for 2009 this fall. The old, deteriorating gateway signs were replaced with more modern, sleek, and sustainable signs designed and constructed by Ascend Design. In addition, decorative fencing was produced and installed by a local business, Gallas Safeguards. This work combined with updated lighting makes the Capitol Drive medians much more prominant and adds to the promotion of the Riverworks Center.

New sign by Outpost Natural Foods with tower lights on pedestals in background.

October 16 , 2009
The Beerline Trail Mural Dedication was held on Friday, October 16. More than 50 people attended including neighbors from Riverwest and Harambee, business and property owners from the Riverworks BIDs, representatives from the Harambee Great Neighborhood Initiative, in addition to government officials and other Riverworks stakeholders. This project highlights other changes in-the-works to the Beerline Recreational Trail including extensive landscaping and streetscape construction.

Group photo of those that attended the mural dedication event on October 16.

September 18 , 2009
Riverworks Development Corporation worked hard this summer promoting the "TIN Small Scale Block Improvement Project" program administered by the Neighborhood Improvement Development Corporation (NIDC) of the City of Milwaukee. The most recent project we worked on involved a partnership with the Hands Around 1st Street Block Watch. We helped them secure a grant from NIDC to purchase three City planters and plant them with perrenials to spruce up the block of 1st Street between Concordia Ave and Townsend Street. Special thanks go to Ms. El-Louise Games of Hands Around 1st Street, David Weber of NIDC, and Lowes.

Neighbors from the Hands Around 1st Street Block Watch planting one of the planters to help beautify their block.

August 17 , 2009
The Beerline Trail Mural Project is steadily moving forward! Three apprentices from the Harambee neighborhood were selected to work on the project through a competitive application process open to high school-aged youth from Harambee and Riverwest. The apprentices helped Lead Artist Reynaldo Hernandez develop the concept for the mural which focuses on the history of the area and the former Milwaukee Road rail line. Now they are in the process of putting it all together. The project has been a great success thus far, and we're excited to see the finished product.

Apprentices (from left to right) Marcus Beebe, Raven Brannon, and Chante Hollinshed with Lead Artist Reynaldo Hernandez (in white shirt second from right).

July 6 , 2009
This spring Riverworks staff found out about the "Small Scale Block Improvement Project" put on by the City of Milwaukee through its Target Investement Neighborhood program, and we did our best to run with it. All in all we promoted it to three neighborhood associations located in the Harambee TIN area, and we even came up with our own project as well! The City designed the project to help bring residents together to collectively improve the blocks they live on. Block projects that were approved by the City were awarded up to $2,000 in grant money. The photo to the right shows the flower planter project developed by Darryl Johnson of Riverworks that was awarded a grant. Two other grants were also awarded around the 4th Street and Keefe Avenue area.

Darryl Johnson, Richard Galls of Gallas Safeguards, and Chris Grandt show off the "Neighborhood Watch" planters that are now proudly displayed on Randolph and 1st Streets .