Compassion in Near West Side
CAMPus Impact Fall Break Immersion Experience
A new student organization on Marquette University’s campus, CAMPus Impact, was established last spring to introduce Marquette students to the Near West Side as well as other underutilized parts of Milwaukee. CAMPus Impact, affiliated with the Near West Side Partners, strives to engage with residents of the Near West Side, explore different parts of Milwaukee, and participate in service.
CAMPus Impact’s name comes connecting “CAMP,” an acronym representing the seven neighborhoods of the Near West Side (Cold Spring Park, Concordia, Avenues West, Martin Drive, Merrill Park, Miller Valley, and Pigsville/The Valley) with “us”, the Marquette students involved. The organization envisions a Near West Side where Marquette students and residents connect with one another and impact each other in a variety of ways.
This semester, CAMPus Impact has hit the ground running with fun events such as attending the Milwaukee Film Festival, participating in the Near West Side Resident Survey with Marquette’s Center for Peacemaking, as well as organizing a service immersion experience in the Near West Side. Ten students from Marquette from a variety of classes, majors, and hometowns, stayed at City on a Hill - a Near West Side nonprofit working to end generational poverty.
City on a Hill, at 23rd and Kilbourn, provides healthcare opportunities to residents, manages a youth outreach center, hosts different mission trips, while facilitating community outreach. It was a perfect place for the students to be with one another throughout the experience.
Each day, the students split up and worked with a number of nonprofits working in the Near West Side community: Wastecap, Neighborhood, and Strong Blocks.
At WasteCap, an environmental nonprofit that provides waste reduction and recycling assistance to businesses, students grinded staples from wooden floor boards and used nail guns to remove nails from wooden planks that would be packaged and sold at WasteCap. They also weeded the area’s green space and picked up trash on Clybourn near the highway. This enabled students to partake in work that directly benefitted the community.
At Neighborhood House, a community center serving individuals and families at all stages of life, students supervised the children of their early childhood care program, talked with students learning English at the International Learning Center, and spent meaningful time with the teens in the Youth Program. The students also helped with cleaning and yard work around the Neighborhood House property. The students were touched by the opportunity to engage with children and teens in their shared neighborhood.
At Strong Blocks, students helped with cleaning and fixing up three properties in the Near West Side. One of these properties is becoming a care center for women and children who have been a part of abusive relationships. Strong Blocks helps renters achieve home ownership through their 21 month rent-to-own program. By equipping residents with skills to take care of their property and achieve financial stability, Strong Blocks hopes to turn renters into homeowners within 21 months. By helping clean up these properties, CAMPus Impact students were able to help prepare Milwaukee residents for eventual home ownership and strengthening of the neighborhood.
Marquette University alumni provided dinner and opened their homes for the students who went on the trip. They were able to engage in discussion about the similarities and differences of Marquette from when the alumni graduated to now. The alumni were able to share about their work in the Near West Side and make connections with the students. It was a great experience for the students to make connections and enjoy the company of those who have also had impactful Marquette experiences, as well as share the mission of the Near West Side Partners with local Marquette alumni.
The students ended their day, with nightly reflections lead by the trip organizers, Elizabeth Killian (CAMPus Impact President), Brian Martindale (Vice President), and Elli Pointner (Treasurer). The nightly reflections provided the students the opportunity to share their thoughts on their day and reflect on the overall experience. After being split into two groups during the day, the reflections were a great opportunity for each group to collaborate and share their different, yet equally meaningful, experiences.
When one student was asked how the experience impacted them, they responded, “I was able to become more comfortable with the neighborhood that I live in. Now I can walk the streets with less fear, and more compassion for those I pass by.”
All in all, CAMPus Impact’s Fall Break Immersion Experience was a huge success! We look forward to another Immersion Experience in the Near West Side next year.
