Photo via Jody Rhodes
For two decades, Neu-Life Community Development (2014 W. North Ave.) has helped foster creativity, leadership, wellness, and community service in Milwaukee’s North Side youths through its innovative programming. Neu-Life was recently awarded accreditation through the New-York-based Council on Accreditation (COA), the first Wisconsin organization to achieve this status. Off the Cuff caught up with Neu-Life executive director Jody Rhodes to ask her a few questions about the organization.
How did Neu-Life get started?
We got started twenty years ago, as a small one-day-a-week after-school program—we had homework help and dinner, and more and more kids started showing up. Joann Harris-Comodore, the CEO, sought out funding to expand the program into the Neu-Life organization. She hired me fresh out of grad school, and I’ve been there for 18 years now. We’ve grown to four sites within about a mile of each other on Milwaukee’s North \Side.
What is Neu-Life’s mission?
Neu-Life has an amazing model. We’re big on youth prevention—from drug use, violence, teen pregnancy and sex trafficking. Our model works very well—we keep our kids busy with programs such as creative and performing arts, urban gardening, yoga, and more. Kids have a lot to choose from. We always take youth input into consideration with programming—that way, they are more enthusiastic and engaged. We work with youths ages four to 24, and some of our kids stay with us for 10 years or more. Fifty-five percent of our staff are former Neu-Life participants.
The pandemic has been a challenging time for many nonprofits. How has Neu-Life navigated the last year?
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Last March, we switched to virtual programming only, but during the summer, we were able to safely organize in-person programming as well—kids needed to get out of the house! We now offer a mix of virtual and in-person programming.
The process to receive COA accreditation was intense. I think I uploaded something like 800 documents. The pandemic gave us time to get all of the documents and everything we needed together for this, so I’m grateful for that. COA accreditation is the gold seal.
Is Neu-Life currently working on any new projects? What are some plans for the organization?
Our media studio is our newest project—it was an idea born out of the pandemic. We just held our annual Youth Summit, and we were able to broadcast the events from a sort of mini-TV studio. It was an awesome experience. There are lots of options for the studio. We’re planning to host a Neu-Life TV show in the fall, and train youths in graphic design. We want to open their horizons, and we’re always trying to be innovative.
How can the Milwaukee community support Neu-Life?
To donate to or volunteer with Neu-Life, please visit our website. You can also buy youth art from our Etsy store. Also, visit our Facebook page for upcoming events and more information.
