Photo by Jim Moy
Kinship Community Food Center
Healthy communities and access to good food often go together. ThriveOn King (2153 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive), a mixed-use development that opened earlier this year in a former Gimbles-Schuster’s department store building in the Bronzeville neighborhood, formed with a goal of fostering an equitable, vibrant and healthy community.
Kinship Community Food Center will soon play a vital role in that mission. The nonprofit food center was recently chosen to operate a signature café in the ThriveOn King building.
The ThriveOn Collaboration, which operates the mixed-use space, is a partnership among the Greater Milwaukee Foundation (GMF), the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and Royal Capital. The trio of organizations has chosen Kinship Community Food Center to not only bring healthy food options to the table, but to also incorporate an innovative workforce training program for residents encountering barriers to employment.
“Kinship’s inclusion among the mosaic of partners contributing to the activation of ThriveOn King will help us meet two community-identified priorities at the same time,” states Greg Wesley, president and CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, in a press release. “In our initial visioning process and throughout our ongoing engagement, neighbors have consistently named access to nutritious food and access to jobs among their highest priorities. Thanks to this arrangement, the collaboration can fulfill another promise to Bronzeville area residents.”
The ThriveOn King community hub will house anchor tenants Malaika Early Learning Center, JobsWork MKE and Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin. The GMF has already relocated its offices to the fourth floor. The building also includes a community gathering space, public art and a wellness space.
“Access to healthy food is a key social determinant of health,” says John R. Raymond, Sr., president and CEO of MCW. “Addressing social determinants of health is fundamental to improving health outcomes and a crucial priority for ThriveOn Collaboration. The collaboration with Kinship aligns like-minded institutions and goals for the community.”
Kinship a Leader in Rethinking Food Systems
Operating a café at ThriveOn King provides Kinship Community Food Center (924 E. Clarke St.) an additional opportunity to expand their food-based social enterprise. The café is expected to open later this fall for breakfast and lunch, Monday through Friday.
The café will feature scratch-made hot sandwiches, bowls, salads, grab-and-go options and barista service. With a goal of offering a welcoming dining experience, the café will provide nourishing foods, companionship and opportunities to grow and thrive together.
In addition, Kinship will establish a workforce training program at the café that prioritizes social cohesion and healing, with employment opportunities for systems-impacted individuals. The participants will have paid work experience in culinary arts, urban agriculture and hospitality, while also learning social connection and personal development.
“We are committed to paving the way for career stability and personal healing, ensuring that everyone, including myself and all members of our workforce team, has the opportunity to grow and thrive together,” states Demonte Dismuke, workforce development manager for Kinship, in a press release.
Kinship Community Food Center began as Riverwest Food Pantry in 1979. In April 2022, the organization rebranded as Kinship Community Food Center to better reflect its mission and the people they serve.
Kinship uses a holistic approach to engage volunteers and community residents around food to end hunger, isolation and poverty. Their Food Center, arranged akin to a grocery store, distributes produce, nutritious dairy items and non-perishable goods. Their urban farm consists of 11 hoop houses located on land donated by Maglio Companies. Kinship’s Feast meal program invites shoppers, volunteers and donors to prepare and eat meals together as a community.
The organization’s Mission Interns and volunteers provide vital outreach and services to Kinship’s guests.
JobsWork MKE, another ThriveOn King tenant, will also partner with Kinship to support participants it the program. The workforce training component of the ThriveOn King café is funded by a $350,000 grant by the GMF.
“I have been able to push and work through challenges and big changes in my life that I’ve wanted to make for a long time because I have the support and love that I needed around me to show me that I had worth and that I was strong enough to change,” says Hope Wernicke, a current workforce trainee.
Teaching Kitchen Offers Additional Learning Opportunities
The new MCW Teaching Kitchen will also use the café at ThriveOn King to educate MCW medical students about promoting culinary skills and nutrition to students in Milwaukee schools.
"Community-engaged culinary medicine programming will provide medical students learning opportunities to understand how to make lifestyle discussions part of their routine visits with patients and to set a positive example by making healthy choices themselves,” said Stuart Wong, professor of medicine and director of MCW Center for Disease Prevention Research, and leader of the MCW Teaching Kitchen program.
For more information about ThriveOn King, visit thriveoncollaboration.org/thriveon-king.
