By Karen Stokes
Annette Jackson
Annette Jackson is running to bring her talents and experience to the District 5 Alderperson position. She is looking to occupy the seat vacated by Nikiya Dodd. Six candidates will be challenging her for the position.
Born in Chicago, she has called Milwaukee her home for over 40 years.
Ms. Jackson has been a business owner for over 20 years, and a City of Milwaukee employee.
She holds degrees in Business and Childhood Education.
Annette has worked in three major departments within the City of Milwaukee, the Department of Neighborhood Service, the Water Department and the Common Council. All which has helped catapult her passion for improving our community.
She has been a Foster parent to abused children and made her home a safe haven for runaway and troubled youth.
Because she wants to make a difference, Annette has reached out to the District 5 residents to talk and listen to their concerns and one of their major concerns is the conditions of the streets.
“One of the things I think I would do, I would focus on the concerns of the community,” said Annette. “Knowing the condition of the streets, people zooming through the neighborhoods and messing up cars and the street lights seem to be a major issue. “I would focus on finding the major areas in that district that I could possibly repair those streets to make driving more safe for the residents.”
Another complaint was that residents felt it was difficult to reach their Alderperson. Jackson would like to do something in the community so she could be easily accessible.
She is also focused on providing community resources so that the residents are fully informed of business and services that are being offered in their neighborhoods to strengthen their community.
Jackson has two children and twelve grandchildren and wants to see them growing and living in a safe community.
“I see the world through a different lens than most. I place great importance on the development of the youth,” Annette said. “I think it’s so important to invest in our youth because they are our future. We have to develop programs that will promote their minds. One of the biggest mistakes was taking programs out of the school system. Children have too much idle time. We need to prepare them for greatness. We need to teach our youth to be productive.”
The primary election is on Feb. 21 and the top two candidates from the primary will advance to the April 4 general election.