When I had my first conversation with Melody McCurtis, deputy director and lead organizer at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, I made sure she knew one thing about me at the outset: I grew up on the northwest side of Chicago in a neighborhood just like Metcalfe Park.
Hermosa, a neighborhood made up of mostly working-class Mexican and Puerto Rican families, experienced many of the same challenges I now see in my new beat in Milwaukee.
To start, we, too, lost our only full-service grocery store after the local Jewel-Osco closed when I was a kid. The neighborhood carried a reputation for gang violence. And like Metcalfe Park, it often felt overlooked by city officials and the media.
Illegal dumping is a completely new concept to me – Hermosa did not have that problem. But litter? That was as constant in my childhood neighborhood as it is in Metcalfe Park.
It’s one of the first things people notice, and one of the easiest ways a neighborhood can start to feel neglected – even when the people who live there care deeply about it.
It sends the wrong message to passersby, subconsciously granting people permission to treat the area like a dumping ground, as Metcalfe Park resident and NID board candidate Charlicia Brown said during an interview last month.
Brown is not the only person raising concerns about illegal dumping and litter. In fact, it’s come up in nearly every conversation I’ve had with residents.
Neighbors like Ida Penix and Larry Rogers regularly clean up their blocks even when it feels like a losing battle, because if not them, who?
There are things I cannot do as a reporter.
For example, I cannot reopen the Pick ‘n Save on North 35th Street – though I have covered its impact on local businesses, examined the available grocery options in the neighborhood and used publicly accessible data to question rhetoric surrounding the reason for the closure.
But what I can do is make sure residents’ stories are heard, whether they are good or bad. And I can ask my editor – as I did last fall – if the newsroom could volunteer to help Metcalfe Park make their streets clean again.
So, the answer, I think, is us.
This month, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Big Clean are partnering to host a neighborhood-wide clean-up.
The 2026 Metcalfe Park Big Clean will take place on Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Together, we’ll meet up at Metcalfe Park Rising (3401 W. Center St.) and break into groups to clean up from North 27th to North 39th streets and from West Center Street to West North Avenue.
The cleanup isn’t the only thing we’ll be doing.
We’ll also be taking a deeper look at Metcalfe Park by surveying trees, illegal dumping sites and sidewalk access to help build a safer, greener and more connected community.
Afterward, we’ll gather at Metcalfe Park Rising for barbecue, good music and a chance to celebrate our work.
The event is free and open to all residents, families and friends.
You can register for the event via Eventbrite.
We hope to see you there.
April Quevedo covers Metcalfe Park for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact: aquevedo@usatodayco.com.
Neighborhood Dispatch reporting is supported by Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Journal Foundation, Bader Philanthropies, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Journal Sentinel staff to join Metcalfe Park residents for a neighborhood clean-up
Reporting by April Quevedo, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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