The Martin Drive NeighborhoodAssociation, Inc.

www.martin-drive.org

Milwaukee’s best kept secret!

What is the difference between the ‘Association’ and the ‘Non-

profit’?

The ‘Association’ is very good with disseminating information; can go to Association meetings to learn about topics or discuss topics, but isn’t necessarily action oriented and it leaves it up to neighbors to ‘do something’

The ‘Non-profit’ has a targeted goal and is committed to action to achieve that goal

What goal are you working towards?

Board shares the idea that the foundation of a strong neighborhood lies in its housing stock, and working towards increasing the quality of housing stock generally results in:• Higher owner occupancy

Better kept homes, engaged residents, higher property values• Responsible landlords

Higher rents, better quality of tenants, higher tenant engagement

• Lower crime• Better perception of the neighborhood

Cyclical; better perception of the neighborhood leads to higher owner occupancy

How do you intend to do that? Focus on:

Create a roadmap – use today’s presentation as a basis for what has been and will be accomplished• Branding• Home Owners / Landlords• Community Development / Engagement

Projects• Safety• Fundraising

Leveraging MDN residents’ skills wherever possible

What have you done already?

Focus on branding:• New signs for neighborhood meetings• Updated website, always updating – driving people to

resources Owners / potential owners can find resources about buying

houses or the TIN Landlords can find information on training, rents, resources Tenants can find places to live, information on rents, utilities

• Neighborhood presentation Presentation used as a template to promote the

neighborhood; valuable promotion tool for owners, landlords and neighbors

• Branding boxes To be used with presentation / other promotional materials

What projects or future actions are under consideration?

Focus on branding:• Website

Further development• LinkedIn

Recently introduced, further development• Presentation

Continue to work on / fine tune Working with Brad Posnanski to update

• Distribution of branding materials Need to actually get presentation into peoples hands, stake

out Branding boxes, share with Miller / Harley / other area businesses

What have you done already?

Home Owners / Landlords• Inventory neighborhood for baseline for comparison

and progress Started last summer

• Working with home owners Block-by-block information sharing Door-to-door on 44th St Partnered with Habitat to paint residents’ front steps Engaged Brad Posnanski to be our neighborhoods real estate

expert• Working with landlords

Started a landlord group Working with problem landlords tenants of finding solutions

that work for all parties Engaging David Jennings in event of evictions of problem

tenants

Examples of working with landlords

13XX N 4Xth St• Landlord had tenants that didn’t pay rent• Tenants lived in downstairs• Upstairs had three pit bulls that used it as a bathroom• One downstairs tenant had a felony gun conviction• Worked with landlord to evict old tenants and place

new tenants• Specifically, many phone calls and text messages, and

the involvement of another neighbor to evict the tenant proved successful

Examples of working with landlords (cont’d)

13XX-13XX N 4Xth St• Upstairs tenant was a sex offender• Downstairs tenant had unsupervised children• Address was location of shots fired• Upon leaving, tenants clogged drains and turned on

water• Repeated calls to landlord followed by education

regarding the TIN program• Landlord applied for the TIN program and is in midst of

rehabbing

Examples of working with landlords (cont’d)

13XX-13XX N 4Xrd St• Upstairs tenants interfering with residents quality of

life• Multiple calls to police• Found out property registered agent• Sent a letter to the registered agent• Called the registered agent and advised him of

problems at property

What projects or future actions are under consideration?

Homeowners / Landlords:• Housing matrix to better align people and resources

Many, many programs, but no way to tell which people fit which program

Continue to develop relationships with RTGM and Habitat for Humanity

• Continue to engage residents on current programs• Fund programs for improvement for exterior of houses

‘Simple scape’ – universal curb appeal landscape plans Most improved house contest Dumpsters

What have you done?

Community Engagement Projects• MDN Community Garden Pavilion - ‘Garden Structure’

Started last year Engaged John Klatt to help with plot layout, landscape design

and suggested plantings Initially partnered with ReFlo on structure design

• Community Garden Maintenance Worked on original grant for maintenance; tree trimmings,

face lift of neighborhood marker and path

What projects or future actions are under consideration?

Community Development / Engagement Projects• 44th St Vacant Lot

Engage residents on either side to purchase property If not, re-commission into a public space

Review City of Milwaukee - Vacant Lot Handbook Review and adopt plan for space Tree plants, benches and beautification

• Infrastructure Get to top of the list to repave vital streets Lighting initiative – residential and street lights

What projects or future actions are under consideration?

Safety• Haven’t done much yet

Passive versus active Many other meetings already exist to address safety Not intent to duplicate other efforts, want to compliment those efforts

Crime can naturally be lowered by focusing on housing• Cameras

Placement of cameras on corner of Highland and Martin Drive Have already identified a party for a likely, partial grant of $300 - $500

Identify strategic locations for further placement Develop and support package for residential use

What have you done?

Fundraising is ESSENTIAL• Filed for non-profit, allows for legitimacy and tax-

deductible contributions• Attended classes for specific grants• Commissioned electronic surveys for grant writing

input• Wrote and received grants for Branding Initiative which

covered Neighborhood meeting signs Stickers Branding boxes

• Wrote and received grant for MDN Community Garden Pavilion Very successful GoFundMe campaign

What projects or future actions are under consideration?

Fundraising• Continue to pursue grants for programs identified in

this presentation Further electronic surveys for information / input gathering

• Continue to use GoFundMe as a platform to raise funds for specific programs Each program will have a GoFundMe campaign Contributions will be restricted to that program/purpose

• Build and leverage relationships with partners Neighbors with specific skills; David Jennings, Brad Posnanski,

John Klatt Corporate partners – HD, MillerCoors Other charitable organizations; Safe & Sound