NeuVue will take two years to build and will be located between West Cherry and North 12th streets. (Photo provided by Darron Brüwer)
The project is designed to bridge gaps related to housing, workforce development, mental health and economic opportunity
Neu-Life Community Development, a nonprofit providing educational and recreational programs for young people, is raising $16 million to construct NeuVue, a six-story youth and community development center on Milwaukee’s Near West Side.
From career development to afterschool and summer programs, Neu-Life provides youths with engagement, life skills and opportunities to keep them on the right path. This includes participation in culinary, mentorship and annual service projects.
The NeuVue project is designed to bridge gaps related to housing, workforce development, mental health and economic opportunity in Milwaukee.
Jody Rhodes, executive director of Neu-Life, said NeuVue will feature a gymnasium, rooftop restaurant and expanded facilities for the organization’s Farmfork Culinary Arts and NeuMedia career development programs.
“We are so excited about this project because it’s so innovative,” Rhodes said.
NeuVue will have apartment studios, one and two bedroom units. (Photo provided Darron Brüwer)
NeuVue will also provide 36 units of affordable housing for young adults ages 18 to 24.
“Lack of affordable housing has been an issue for a long time. I know my young staff struggle with it and it’s something we’ve always wanted to try to address,” Rhodes said.
Philanthropists give $3 million matching donation
The fundraising campaign got a boost recently when philanthropists Keith Mardak and his wife, Mary Vandenberg, pledged $3 million to the project as a matching donation challenge. They said they were inspired to help inner-city youths.
“It’s a calling, a need and there are problems with the kids that it’s important to reach them at a young age and get them on the right path,” Mardak said.
Mardak said the new building will be a one-of-a-kind place because what it has to offer won’t be found in other Milwaukee clubs and organizations.
“It’s really going to be a special place,” Mardak said.
Mardak was a former CEO and chairman of Hal Leonard, an international sheet music publisher based in Milwaukee. Vandenberg served as vice president of business affairs during her time with the company.
Leaders emerging at Neu-Life
JaQuawn Seals (right), co-site coordinator at Neu-Life Community Development, gets recognized during the youth work awards celebration presented by the Wisconsin Association of Child and Youth Care Professionals in May. (Photo provided by Darron Brüwer)
JaQuawn Seals, 31, participated in Neu-Life Community Development as a teenager in 2009 and now serves as the NeuVue co-site coordinator.
Seals said NeuVue will serve as a safe space and a place of opportunity for young people.
Seals, who moved to Milwaukee from Chicago at 13 with a gang-related background, joined Neu-Life at 16.
He said he wishes he had a place like NeuVue when he was younger to prevent him from the difficult situations he faced.
“Growing up in the hood, you become a product of your environment and you think that’s life and you think that’s all to life, but Neu-Life showed me that the world is bigger than that little box I grew up in,” Seals said.
While at Neu-Life Community Development, Seals said he received support with college applications, visited Wisconsin attractions and developed leadership and media skills as he worked his way up to become a site coordinator for the project.
“I feel like my path at Neu-Life was God given,” he said.
He said he’s glad that today’s youths and young adults will have the experience of being guided in the right direction at the new building.
“The idea of NeuVue means even more young people will have that same chance,” Seals said. “I envision it filling that void I had in life.”
For more information
Rhodes said the group needs to raise approximately $2.4 million by the end of the year to break ground and begin the two-year construction.
“Give money please, to do life,” Mardak said. “That’s the whole purpose. We’ve put up the challenge and we’ve got to find people to meet the challenge,” he said.
This article first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.