Reimagining Your Community: A Middle Ground Youth Capstone Presentation
About this Event
This summer, youth from The Middle Ground community took part in a hands-on capstone project exploring what it means to reimagine their own neighborhood.
Working alongside the BLC Field School (UWM), AK Development, and community partners, the youth identified anchor sites, documented neighborhood conditions, and shared their observations on safety, belonging, and community priorities. Their ideas fed directly into real, in-progress neighborhood development work, including a corner store redevelopment project.
Now it's their turn to share what they found.
The event opens with a short welcome from Cheri Fuqua (The Middle Ground MKE) and Ariam Kesete (AKDevelopment), who will share how this project came together. From there, Mecca Development and HGA will lead the rest of the program. Join us for the youth's capstone presentation, a celebration of their research, reflections, and vision for the future of their community.
The presentation will include their collages, AI-generated design concepts, interview highlights and recommendations for what comes next.
Light refreshments will be served, and the event will close with an open community conversation, a chance for neighbors, partners, and youth to reflect together and talk through next steps.
DATE: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
TIME: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
What To Expect:
- Youth presentations on neighborhood research and observations
- Collages and AI-generated visions created by the youth
- Reflections and interview highlights from the summer
- Connection to real neighborhood development work happening now
- Light refreshments
- Open community conversation
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
Neighbors, families, community partners, and anyone invested in the future of the Middle Ground neighborhood. Free and open to the community.
ORGANIZER:
Mecca Development, in partnership with The Middle Ground MKE, AK Development, HGA, and UWM
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER
This event is led by Mecca Development, in partnership with The Middle Ground MKE, AK Development, HGA, and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM). The Middle Ground MKE is a Milwaukee nonprofit founded by Cheri Fuqua to bridge the neighborhoods of Sherman Park and Metcalfe Park, an area residents call “Middle Ground.”
The organization connects neighbors through community events, mutual aid, youth programs, and initiatives that help young people and families become thriving, connected members of the community. AK Development is a development company that works in the community, serving as developer and visionary partner for the Middle Ground project, helping turn resident and youth ideas into real neighborhood investment. HGA is the architecture firm bringing the vision to life, translating the youth's ideas and the neighborhood research into an actual design that can be built, including the corner store project.
UWM, through the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Field School, led the neighborhood research that laid the groundwork for HGA's design work; students documented conditions and anchor sites, then handed that research off to the architects to shape into a real, buildable plan. Mecca Development connected this work through its Critical Conversations series, and leads today's program.
Light refreshments provided. Please let us know of any accessibility needs when you RSVP
Agenda
🕑: 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Registration and Check-In
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Program Begins – Program Ends
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00
