“There’s a lot in this neighborhood. It’s really important in my family history, and this was the landing spot for so many different immigrant groups historically,” says Kevin Kuschel, the new executive director of the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative. (Photo by Meredith Melland)
By Meredith Melland
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
As the new executive director of the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative, Kevin Kuschel sees opportunities all over the neighborhood.
Kuschel envisions the park pavilion in Clarke Square Park filled with people for his first community meeting. He sees thriving business corridors and a National Avenue that pedestrians can safely cross to get to the Mitchell Park Domes, 524 S. Layton Blvd. Clarke Square is bordered by Pierce Street, Cesar E Chavez Drive, Greenfield Avenue and Layton Boulevard.
“There’s so much possibility here,” he said.
In July, Kuschel joined Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative, or CSNI as the organization’s new executive director. He had served on its board since early in 2023.
Kuschel hopes to relaunch some of the successful initiatives started by past directors, such as neighborhood clean-ups and meetings to get input on both problems and solutions from Clarke Square residents.
“Kevin really wanted the job,” said Howard Snyder, president of the CSNI Board of Directors. “He had some of the kind of experience” a growing organization needs.
Kuschel replaces CSNI’s former Executive Director Patricia Nájera, who resigned in June after the hiring process was complete, Snyder said.
An urban planner
In his previous role as an associate planner for the City of Milwaukee Department of City Development, Kuschel learned how neighborhoods function and are connected.
Kuschel also served as co-chair of Avanzando MKE, an employee resource group for the advancement of Hispanic/Latinx city employees, since 2021. He helped bring a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration to City Hall.
“He has that knowledge of safe environments” and how to create them, said Jessica Sanchez, an economic development specialist for the Department of City Development. Sanchez co-chaired Avanzando with Kuschel and is its current president.
Paul Grippe, a Clarke Square resident and CSNI board member, remembered trying to introduce Kuschel at a meeting only to realize he already knew many people.
“It kind of made me feel at ease, that OK, we got the right guy,” Grippe said.
No stranger to the neighborhood
Kuschel is still “understanding the lay of the land” in his new position, but he’s no stranger to Clarke Square.
A Milwaukee native raised in Bay View and Sherman Park, Kuschel attended Milwaukee Public Schools and graduated from South Division High School.
He has fond childhood memories of his mother, a Honduran immigrant, taking him to the Mitchell Park Domes, El Rey and shops around Clarke Square.
“There’s a lot in this neighborhood. It’s really important in my family history, and this was the landing spot for so many different immigrant groups historically,” he said.
Kuschel attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned degrees in Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian studies and history with a focus on the Americas. He later received a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2019.
After college, Kuschel served in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria and volunteered on coffee farms in Nicaragua.
He was part of a cohort that partnered with CSNI in 2020 on a project for Co:Lab MKE, a program where professionals developed project ideas for neighborhood organizations and competed for a prize. The group’s concept of “InterNATIONAL Avenue” won $5,000 for CSNI.
Leading by consensus
Kuschel said he spent his first few months on the job at CSNI reviewing the organization’s finances and forming partnerships with neighborhood leaders and institutions.
But above all, he started conversations with residents.
“I have my professional background and everything, but the experts on the neighborhood are going to be the residents themselves,” he said.
Residents have informed Kuschel of concerns ranging from crime in the area and how it affects businesses to turning on the splash pad in Clarke Square Park when it’s hot out, he said.
“I guess I’m called a leader but I try to lead by consensus, like OK, can we get everybody on board?” he said.
Kuschel now hopes to strengthen the neighborhood by celebrating its diversity and vibrance.
“I think I just want folks to see this community and see the beauty that exists here,” he said. “Because it’s a wonderful community, and it needs to be able to survive and thrive just like the rest of us.”
Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.