For residents of Milwaukee’s south side neighborhoods, both the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative and VIA Community Development Corporation serve as bridges to critical resources.
Now, the two groups are joining forces. Moving forward, VIA CDC will maintain its name and mission and integrate Clarke Square into the neighborhoods it serves.
“We’re doing this so we can continue to provide resources and even enhance them so that long term, Clarke Square residents will get a lot more than what we were able to provide just as ourselves,” said Kevin Kuschel, executive director of the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative (CSNI).
CSNI, founded in Clarke Square in 2013, focuses on increasing community engagement among residents, highlighting arts and culture, increasing housing availability and improving the economic development of the south side neighborhood.
VIA Community Development Corporation (VIA CDC), which serves the Silver City, Layton Park and Burnham Park neighborhoods, shares a similar mission.
The organizations have been working together for years through shared initiatives and projects, according to JoAnna Bautch, VIA CDC’s executive director.
Bautch, who was formerly on CSNI’s board from 2021 to 2022, describes the organizations as “cousins” — two separate groups with the same goals.
CSNI served the Clarke Square neighborhood with a staff of three and a nearly $200,000 annual budget, Kuschel said. None of CSNI’s three staff members, including Kuschel, will be joining VIA CDC’s staff following the merger, he said.
VIA CDC’s annual budget is typically around $1.5 million, not including the $3 million the organization receives for its affordable housing development construction projects, Bautch said. Discussions about how CSNI’s funds will be allocated for VIA CDC’s work in the Clarke Square neighborhood are ongoing.
VIA CDC will be maintaining its current staffing of 12 people but hopes to list additional job opportunities in the future, to which current CSNI staff members are welcome to apply, Bautch said.
VIA CDC will add board members from CSNI’s current board to ensure neighborhood residents have a representative to advocate for them, Kuschel said.
The invitation was made to all CSNI board members; so far, Paul Grippe is the only one to confirm he will join the advisory board at VIA CDC, Bautch said.
At a recent Clarke Square neighborhood meeting, Grippe said he’s confident the neighborhood is in good hands with VIA CDC and is grateful for the work of Kuschel and the rest of CSNI’s staff.
“I want to thank these three guys,” Grippe said. “They’ve been running this ship without any sails.”
Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative staff and volunteers gather for an Earth Day event at Clarke Square Park on April 22, 2025, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Clarke Square neighbors react to merger
Since the two groups made the choice to merge in January 2025, several community listening sessions have been held with neighbors to give residents the opportunity to voice their concerns.
On Wednesday, Aug. 27, Clarke Square neighbors gathered at the Clarke Square Park Pavillion for the final CSNI monthly neighborhood meeting to celebrate the organization’s independent work and discuss the merger. Neighbors were able to ask both organizations questions about how they will continue to serve the community.
Michael Daniel, who has been living in Clarke Square for over a year and a half, said he first began connecting with the community by attending CSNI’s monthly neighborhood meetings. He’s concerned about crime in the area, including drug trafficking and human trafficking, and hopes VIA CDC will continue to partner with police District 2 to reduce crime as CSNI has done in the past.
“It’s a tough neighborhood,” Daniel said. “I know the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative had a unique relationship with the second district, and I don’t know if we’re going to lose that or not.”
According to Bautch, several neighbors have expressed fear of the merger, sharing concerns that the resources Clarke Square neighbors currently receive through CSNI will dwindle if the neighborhood is integrated under VIA CDC’s umbrella.
Both Kuschel and Bautch said they reassured neighbors that a merger will allow them to access additional resources, not cut back on the support each neighborhood currently receives.
A merger allows the organizations to combine funding to increase the scale of the support each provides to neighbors, Kuschel said.
Resources formerly offered by CSNI will also be offered through VIA CDC, Bautch said. Clarke Square neighbors will have access to VIA CDC’s monthly neighbor meetings, monthly business owner meetings, housing support, support in starting or developing small businesses and more. They’ll also be able to participate in VIA CDC’s home repair grants, which fund half the cost of critical home repairs for residents.
Most CSNI events at the Clarke Square Park Pavillion will also continue, including the popular CSNI’s yoga and tai chi classes at the park, Bautch said.
Neighbors gather at VIA Community Development Corporation to play loteria, or Mexican bingo, on April 11, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Behind the decision to merge
Initially, Kuschel said he was against a merger, hoping that CSNI could continue its work on its own.
Kuschel assumed the role of the organization’s full-time executive director in July 2023 and focused on reestablishing trust with the Clarke Square community by partnering with other local organizations and hosting several events including Know Your Rights trainings and community clean-ups, he said.
While Kuschel’s goal of strengthening the organization’s connection with neighbors was successful, he said the need for a merger became more apparent last fall.
According to Kuschel, around 75 percent of CSNI’s funding was provided by the Zilber Family Foundation, a private grantmaking institution that works with and supports nonprofits to increase social and economic opportunity in the Lindsay Heights, Clarke Square and Layton Boulevard West neighborhoods, among others.
Around $400,000 of CSNI’s funding for 2022 to 2024 was provided by the foundation, Kuschel said.
The Zilber Family Foundation has supported work in the Clarke Square neighborhood through its various strategic plans since 2008. Ahead of each plan, it connects with neighbors, stakeholders and community organizations to determine how it can best invest in the community moving forward, said Lianna Bishop, the foundation’s executive director.
The foundation identified access to affordable housing and access to cash and capital as leading issues, and prioritized funding strategies to address those needs, Bishop said.
The foundation informed CSNI its funding priorities would be shifting in the coming year, and the organization was welcome to apply for further grants, but it would not likely receive them. CSNI chose not to apply for further funding, Kuschel said.
CSNI tried to replace the funding it would have received through the Zilber Family Foundation with other funding sources such as federal Community Development Block Grants, Kuschel said. But it wasn’t enough to match what had previously been provided by the Zilber Foundation.
“We felt that it would be best for the organization to be able to merge with an organization that had a very similar history to us,” Kuschel said.
By the start of 2025, CSNI and VIA CDC made the official decision to merge, he said.
“Because we know the VIA model, we thought this would be a good way for us to be able to continue our story,” Kuschel said.
VIA CDC also receives funding from the Zilber Family Foundation and will continue to receive support, Bishop said, adding that the foundation is grateful to CSNI for its continued work in the community.
For neighbors who may be wary of the merger, Bishop said “change can be hard, but hopefully we can lean into the opportunity of what’s next.”
Bautch said the combined groups will be able to address housing issues and increase economic development, among other goals, in each neighborhood.
“We’re one community, we’re Southsiders,” Bautch said. “We want to make sure we’re working together as one community moving forward.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: VIA CDC, Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative merge