Due Diligence Excoriation - Will Allen and Growing Power brand

L-R:  Ossie Kendrix - African American Chamber of Commerce,  Deneine Powell - Groundworks, Deshea Agee - King Drive BID, Brian Sales - Growing Power, Leo Ries - MLKing Economic Development  

People – African American Leaders with historic wealth from the school of hard knocks, DO NOT RETIRE.  They may slow down due to health and wealth.

Mary Glass – Public Policy w/Mary Glass & Company

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December 3, 2017
CITY-WIDE MILWAUKEE || Milwaukee Professionals Association LLC speaks out about our lack of due diligence to a member of the Patchwork of King Drive, Silver Spring, the city and across the country.

According to the article, Growing Power’s uncertain future saddens community leaders, by Elliot Hughes, it appears that there are “right-now” revenue concerns facing Will Allen, Growing Power.

 

What I do not get from the article is individuals coming together or already working on a solution.  What I hear is dismay, abandonment, forlorn and hand-wringing.

 

It is time for those of you who know the value of Will Allen’s brand to step to the lift.

 

It is time for Growing Power brand users to come to his aid, instead of abandonment.  Where are you?  The comments in this article speak to doom from folks who say they gained much and are supposed to have a game.

Where are all of you that piled on, got your start, was introduced to gardening, agriculture, and horticulture?  Those introductions provided seed money, program development, employment, research, volunteerism and ongoing grant funding by philanthropic and government resources based on your association with Will Allen. 

Where are the benefactors through UW-Milwaukee-CIUN/Cooperative Institute for Urban Agriculture and Nutrition, Milwaukee Food Council Board, Milwaukee Food Council member that is now at Johns Hopkins, UW-Milwaukee Freshwater Science, UW-Madison, UW-M Helen Bader Social Work and UW-M Extension to name a few.

Ossie Kendrix, African American Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, Deshea Agee, executive director of the Historic King Drive Business Improvement District, Operations Manager Brian Sales, co-founded Green Veterans, Adams and Deneine Powell, executive director of Groundwork Milwaukee and Leo Ries of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corp have a fiduciary responsibility to the citizenry since they each have and have had frontline leadership on King Drive  NEW DEVELOPMENT and/or Will Allen. 

Where were you Deshea Agee (King Drive BID) and Leo Ries (MLKing Economic Development) during the last year of downfall?  The two of you would have had first-hand knowledge of the lack of building use and could have asked for transparency and accountability as well as to offer a hand.

Why did the building go vacant and without use?  What did you two and the cross-section of organizations – your board members, Harambee, and Westcare Wisconsin do?

I say this because the two of you have long tentacles into the offices of Rocky Marcoux and Martha Brown -  through Tom Barrett, the mayor, Milele Coggs, Alderwoman 6^th District; and, other insiders with solution resources.

Going forward, Brian Sales, Operation Manager, has both an opportunity and a challenge.  Is he working with Will Allen?  We, the People, must be giving an opportunity of due diligence.  This is historic.  This is an iconic brand and brings back memories of the downfall of OIC.  We, the People, failed ourselves by not taking the powers to be inside of OIC and outside to task.

We, the People, must reach out to Will Allen, Brian Sales and watch closely how quickly Alderwoman Coggs, Westcare, Harambee, African American Chamber of Commerce and Martin Luther King Economic Development Corp hop to RECOVER.