Senator Dora Drake (D) Wisconsin
By Senator Dora Drake
Chairwoman of the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus
The Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus (WLBC) stands with community residents and leaders as they work on solutions in response to the wave of grocery store and pharmacy closures across Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
These closures are a tragedy for our community. The loss of local pharmacies and grocery stores strips residents of basic access to food and medication. While families are already stretching their budgets, the cost of groceries, medication, housing, and transportation continues to climb.
Businesses in our community must address the challenges their sudden departure creates. It is unconscionable that a corporation our community supported for years would fail to engage in community transition planning, fail to maintain public transparency, and fail to make direct investments to address the gaps they leave behind.
The people of Wisconsin deserve better. We are proud of the residents and neighborhood organizations that have stepped up to address these losses and have tried to ensure our neighborhoods are not left behind. As elected officials, it is our highest priority that the needs of our constituents are met. Our neighbors cannot go forward without access to essential services, and our families cannot be left without options. Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, the Hunger Task Force, and so many others are putting in the work to ease the community through this challenging transition. Their efforts are laudable and deserve better treatment than corporate abandonment.
Ordinary people are bearing the brunt of these decisions, while corporations walk away from the communities that built their profits. We demand better for Wisconsin, and we are tired of seeing corporations profit off our neighborhoods, only to then abandon them when our residents can least afford it.