Milwaukee Natives Return to Keynote Annual Dr. Terence N. Thomas Scholarship Event

Milwaukee’s image too often is viewed by inner city residents with a degree of negativity.  Of course, if you were under-employed or unemployed, you would feel that way.  Or if your schools were not producing top notch students capable of going on to any college or university of your choice.   Or if your zip code exemplified all of the disparity figures that align with “ at risk”, clearly you could begin to feel and act as the nightly news displays, night after night.   But for most of the residents in the central community, we see even our most desperate problems as a glass half full, not a glass totally empty.

One only has to see the number of phenomenal children coming out of MPS schools, going on to advance educations throughout the country, or view the youngsters from Hope Christian Schools, as they have their SIGNING DAY..when 100% of the graduating classes get the jackets and tee shirts from the schools they will be attending.

Or go to the Cotillions in the month of November where beautiful young men and women are introduced to society, in their high school years.  There they learn to give time to various community organizations and help parents, their churches, their schools.  They begin to understand “paying forward”.   No, the central city is by no means devoid of  strong positivity, everyday in neighborhood after neighborhood.   We matter!

Regrettably, the few who are unchallenged, unprepared, unemployed, and sometimes simply uninterested continues to defy immediate solutions, today.   They are the ones that social service organizations, Greek sororities and fraternities, church youth programs and MPS and the Recreation Department continue to seek.   We shall not give up, nor will we give in.   For every child lost is fodder for the criminal justice system,  incarceration walls, premature funerals with vigils and RIP balloons.

We decry these losses that feed stereotypes of neglect, lack of concern, parental rejection and sordid stories of wanton defiance.  We remain totally committed to defying the bell curves, the statistics that hurt us and the illuminations that lump a total group of people into a picture that is not true, but could become self-fulfilling unless we continue to show...”NO” this is not who you are.   This is not what you were born to do.. You, like every other person born, comes with a mission...a purpose...a reason and a season.

We work weekly, twice a week in fact, to show you matter.    So does Reverend Justin Lester, who will keynote the MCJ’s anniversary Jazz Brunch, with music by Christopher’s Project and a spoof on fashion commentated by Cassandra McShepard and coordinated by Beverly Kern, with Larry Waters, Emcee guiding and amusing.  Now add to that good food and fabulous people, and this is the place to be, Sunday 8/6/17.

MCJ has a history, a legacy, a documented repository of Milwaukee’s central community..   We said 41 years ago, “we want to accentuate the positives and work to eliminate the negatives”.

​That declaration remains at the forefront of every paper we produce, every advertiser we approach and every dollar spent for printing and circulation, employees, our annual Scholarship Jazz Brunch and the numerous organizations with whom we partner and support   Indeed We Matter...and You Matter!     You inspire us to strive and thrive!  And, we believe that you can’t just talk a good game, you have to demonstrate a good game.  We put our money where our mouth is   We pay it forward and we push our readers to do the same.

Join us, Sunday, August 6, at the Italian Conference Center...631 E. Chicago Street.  Meet this year’s keynote speaker Reverend Lester, along with his wife Courtney and their new son.  Their story is our story and it is Milwaukee at its finest.  You’ll hear this outstanding orator and Biblical giant speak to HIS MILWAUKEE..and his joy in family and returning to honor MILLENNIAL MAGIC+:  The 2017 Honorees are modeling for young people.  They are molding new visions for the city of Milwaukee and they are paying it forward by supporting outstanding students from Milwaukee and the neighboring suburbs, all readers of the Milwaukee Community Journal newspaper and applicants to the Dr. Terence N. Thomas Memorial Scholarship Fund, Inc.  The scholarship fund continues to embrace academic honor-roll students who excel throughout the city and throughout the United States.

If you believe in Milwaukee.   If you believe our youth are worthy of our investment, then join Reverend Justin Lester, this auspicious cadre of millennial movers and shakers and these future Milwaukeeans whom we continue to encourage to come home and use their talents at home...

We seed success...if you don’t believe it....you must come to see it.   Sunday, August 6, 2017.  NOON RECEPTION..bountiful boutique, the magic of the carnival with the commitment of seasoned volunteers and community thought leaders and sponsors who say “ Oh Yes We Can”....and Indeed we DO!

For Tickets:  CLICK HERE or drop by the MCJ office:  3612 North Dr. King Dr. Milw. WI. 53212:  phone 414-265-5325