By Denise Konkol, Special to your Catholic Herald

MILWAUKEE — The adage “Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime” could well explain the success of the Dominican Center’s Housing Program, which has helped rehab 57 homes in Milwaukee’s poorest community.

Located at 2470 W. Locust St., the center has served the area since 1990. Founded by Sinsinawa Dominican Srs. Ann Halloran and Anne-Marie Doyle, the center first operated as a women’s education center. As the participants in the program expressed the needs of their community, the Dominican Center launched a homeownership program in 1999.

“Just seeing the pride people get from knowing their own hard work has given them a home is so satisfying,” said Sr. Ann. “And for me the best part of this process is the relationships we have built along the way.”

The center purchases tax-deeded homes from the city, or properties that may have otherwise been razed by the city’s housing authority, for a reasonable cost. It then links the prospective homeowner with volunteers and construction professionals to rehab the home together.

Participants are required to invest their own money as a down payment before the center and other private donors provide matching funds. Bartering grants are also available to homeowners, allowing them to receive an additional $1,000 for every 50 hours they spend working on neighboring project homes.

The required investment of time, money and work can seem daunting, Sr. Ann said, but the center’s focus on education and resources has helped residents, many of whom are first-time homeowners, deal with legal and financial processes. Monthly meetings at the center provide guest speakers on topics such as mortgage financing, lead paint abatement — the hazard is rampant in the area — and budgeting.

Despite the challenges, the formula of commitment plus education has meant success. In the program’s seven-year history, only two of the 57 homes have gone into default according to Sr. Ann.

“When you have 55 homes rehabbed, and 50 people showing up on the first Saturday of every month, that doesn’t happen because someone said, ‘We’re going to save you.’ It happens because they decided this was what they wanted and this is an opportunity for them to take advantage of it,” explained Carl Quindel, a special projects volunteer with the center.

“The Dominican Center is directed by people in this neighborhood, which means it’s extremely unique and that’s also what makes it extremely successful,” he said.

Homeowners who have gone through the program agree.

“If you’re always moving from place to place, you don’t really care if crime is going on, or there’s litter in the streets,” said Wesly Brill, who also volunteers at the center. “If you have a stake in your community, you want to see it prosper, you want to see it grow.”

On Sept. 9, the center sponsored its third annual “Parade of Homes.” The tour took approximately 80 people on trolleys through the neighborhood to view five of the project homes in various stages of renovation. Riders included 15th district alderman and common council president Willie Hines, seventh district alderman Willie Wade and Dominican Center board members.

Success has brought additional trials, however, and Sr. Ann admits the challenge in taking in more participants has meant more funding and volunteers are needed.

“It’s really money,” she said of the greatest challenge facing the center. “And it’s changing perceptions. We need to get the city of Milwaukee to understand that poor people don’t have ready money.”

On the other hand, Sr. Ann acknowledges a “wonderful relationship” with the Milwaukee Health Department, which has replaced windows free of cost on homes with extensive lead paint issues. Religious groups, civic organizations and private foundations have also helped keep the program running.

Overall, the impact of home renovation in this area has meant much more than new roofs and fresh coats of paint, and there is more being rebuilt than homes.

“The program allows people to build and maintain their community, which also means building and maintaining power. Once you get a community together and they find their voice, they find their voice as loud and clear, and that means power…and that’s good,” explained Sr. Ann.

Home ownership in the area has also has a positive impact upon the neighbors. “Since I’ve been in my home, I’ve started with a group of children in my neighborhood, and every Saturday morning we go and we do a neighborhood clean up of about three or four blocks,” said Shonia Zollicoffer, part of the 2005 Parade of Homes and now a healthy housing advocate volunteer. She helps identify and educates on lead paint and asthma triggers prevalent in the homes.

Brill has been part of similar clean-up efforts and said the effect is uplifting. “One of the best experiences I’ve had was when we had about 100 people come and we all cleaned up the alleys and the street with other people in the community watching. It was like, ‘Are they crazy? Why are they cleaning?’ But at the end of the day, those people in the neighborhood started helping us,” he said.

“It’s a phenomenal feeling … you have something that belongs to you, that you’ve created,” explained Zollicoffer. “So you’ve taken something from nothing and made it beautiful.”

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