Kinship Cafe Community Food Center received a $900,000 grant through Wisconsin’s Non-State Grant Program to build a community food resource center.
Kinship, based on North King Drive by West Clarke Street and operator of a popular cafe at ThriveOn King, plans to open the facility on the corner of North Holton Street and East Locust Street.
The forthcoming center will offer programming to improve access to fresh food and community services, according to a representative from Kinship.
Additional information will be released in the coming weeks, the organization said in a statement.
Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin State Building Commission approved about $248 million in projects across Wisconsin centered around local infrastructure and community development.
Kinship was one of 71 local construction projects funded through the Non-State Grant Program, announced by Evers on Wednesday, May 13. The grant funds for Kinship run through 2027 as part of the Biennial Budget, according to a release.
Other Milwaukee-based organizations also received funds through the program, including the Mitchell Park Domes with $2 million for its Domes Reimagined project and the Historic Haymarket Milwaukee with $100,000 to help transform the Milwaukee Public Museum into the Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin.
Plans for the facility were initially approved in 2024 by the Board of Zoning Appeals, but due to delays, the deadline to secure a building permit within a year passed, and the organization had to request board re-approval, which was submitted in April this year, according to city records.
Trees on the lot were recently cut down to make room for the project, sparking some community confusion in a May 2 Facebook post questioning why they were removed.
The organization followed the proper steps to use and renovate the space, and it currently has approval to use the lot for its facility until December 2044, according to city records.
Everett Eaton covers Harambee for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact: eeaton@usatodayco.com.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kinship Community Food Center gets state grant for new food center
Reporting by Everett Eaton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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