HOME GROWN Milwaukee

Milwaukee’s HOME GR/OWN initiative is increasing demand for and access to healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods. The “health” of historically important neighborhoods has been severely impacted by the foreclosure crisis, lack of sufficient economic opportunity for all and poor eating habits. HOME GR/OWN re-imagines how urban liabilities like foreclosed properties can be turned into assets that increase the availability and demand for healthy foods, thereby improving health, supplementing incomes through new opportunities in the local food supply chain, and place-making in unsafe and disconnected neighborhoods. Mayor Tom Barrett has committed city resources to jump-start HOME GR/OWN in a target neighborhood in close collaboration with a wide array of community stakeholders. A new public-private model for improving quality of life will emerge so that all Milwaukee neighborhoods can be better places to live, work and play. This is the HOME GR/OWN vision.