Grant supports community redevelopment programming
State Farm Insurance is pleased to announce a $325,000 grant to LISC Milwaukee, a leading expert in achieving long-term neighborhood revitalization. LISC is known for mobilizing residents and optimizing resources to produce sustainable urban communities. State Farm’s grant will support Main Street Milwaukee, community safety and education programming, as well as provide continued support for the organization’s annual MANDI awards for neighborhood development.
“With thousands of agents across North America, State Farm has a major stake in building stronger, safer, better educated communities,” said Elizabeth Tharp, State Farm’s Vice President of Agency for Wisconsin. “By working with organizations such as LISC that share State Farm’s concern for healthy neighborhoods, we are able to focus on a comprehensive approach and drive results. After all, good places to live also are good places to work and do business.”
The State Farm grant will support:
- Main Street Milwaukee – a multi-year revitalization program delivering technical and financial resources to encourage economic development in six of the city’s older commercial districts.
- Community safety – a community safety liaison will work with residents, law enforcement and other community partners to develop and execute public safety strategies in the Washington Park and Harambee neighborhoods.
- Education programming – renewed funding to continue service-learning programs offered through the Urban Ecology Center connecting students and schools with outdoor learning and restoration of the Washington Park urban green space.
- Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDI) – State Farm has been a sponsor of LICS’s MANDI Awards since 2002. The “State Farm Building Blocks Award” honors real estate developments that promote the social and cultural life of their community, demonstrate high sensitivity to the surrounding neighborhood and have unique physical and social characteristics.
Leo Ries, executive director for LISC, commented that “State Farm is a long-time supporter of LISC that understands the challenges facing our urban neighborhoods. We appreciate State Farm’s support for the Milwaukee community.”
