October: Economic and Community Development Month

ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN

Rotary creates opportunities to help individuals and communities thrive financially and socially.

ROTARY IMPACTS LOCAL ECONOMIES

Rotary members train people to become resources for their community, offering networking activities, advice on new business development, and financial management training.

"Congratulations on receiving ShelterBox HERO recognition for Rotary Year 2020-2021.

"Your support is very much appreciated. Your club will be listed on our HERO page www.shelterboxusa.org/hero

"ShelterBox has provided aid to over 2 million people since 2000. We could not have reached them without clubs like yours. The global pandemic has not stopped our efforts, and your help provided aid to over 33,000 families in 2020 and over 13,000 households in the first half of 2021.

"Help us Stock the Box for 2021-22:
https://www.shelterboxusa.org/stockthebox/

"Thank you for being a ShelterBox HERO! — Bill"

The MYAC campus, which is the home of Milwaukee children’s theater group First Stage and the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, consists of two buildings near the intersection of West Walnut Street and Vel R. Phillips Avenue: the main building at 325 W. Walnut St. and another building across the street at 1702 N. 4th St.

MYAC also plans to update the building’s systems to increase energy efficiency, improve safety and security with a reconfigured front entrance and improve technology in the facility.

The project is expected to be completed by the fall. MYAC is using Milwaukee-based Ramlow/Stein Architecture & Interiors and Brookfield-based Hunzinger Constructions Company for the project. A second phase of the project will include renovating MYAC’s building on Fourth Street, which the organization purchased in 2016. When completed, the project is expected to create nearly twice the available teaching, rehearsal, and performance space by allowing 20,000 additional children to participate in their programs annually. Other groups, including Milwaukee’s Children Choir and Danceworks, already rent the facility.

MYAC first opened in 2005 in collaboration with First Stage and MYSO. In addition to those two organizations, MYAC hosts Danceworks, Milwaukee Children’s Choir and Festival City Symphony. The center annually serves about 25,000 students from about 90 zip codes throughout southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

Democracy Found is a Wisconsin-based initiative committed to revitalizing democracy. The organization argues that implementing Final-Five Voting (a system wherein the top five candidates are selected from the primary ballot and instant runoff voting is used in the general election) will ensure that politicians are held accountable for delivering results. A bill on Final-Five Voting is currently being considered in the Wisconsin legislative chambers.

The concept of Final-Five Voting is explored and explained in The Politics Industry (available on Amazon), a book by path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and business strategist Michael Porter. They apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the outcomes we see today.

Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. The Politics Industry hopes to open eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all.