• Home
  • Archive
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us
  • May 9, 2025

The Madison Times

The Paper That's More Than Black and White

  • News
    • Local News
    • National News
    • International News
    • Sports News
    • Education News
  • Columns
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Life Lessons with Alex Gee
  • Events
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Lifestyle
  • Classifieds
  • Community
    • Middle Spread
  • Milwaukee

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Addresses City Gun Violence With New Partnership and Program

August 7, 2015

by Maria Corpus

Mayor Tom Barrett expressed the need for job opportunities among city youth and applauded Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s partnership with Youth Works MKE. Photo by Christopher Graham.

Mayor Tom Barrett expressed the need for job opportunities among city youth and applauded Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s partnership with Youth Works MKE. Photo by Christopher Graham.

A new initiative will seek to address city violence by linking atrisk youth with employment opportunities and support, thanks to Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s renamed charity program, Heart of Canal Street.

Youth Works MKE is a new, pilot program by the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board that will provide the subsidized jobs and mentoring services to youth. The board and its program are the casino’s “Charity of Choice” and partnership for this year.

“After a lot of thoughtful consideration, we selected a program for this inaugural year that we think addresses one of the most critical issues facing the city: violence in the inner city,” said Tom Malloy, assistant general manager and chief marketing officer of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. The casino unveiled the renamed charity and this year’s partnership on Tuesday evening at the PHC Classic presented by the Forest County Potawatomi, which kicked off this week at the Brown Deer Park Golf Course.

Formerly known as Miracle on Canal Street, Heart of Canal Street will donate the first $100,000 that is raised this year to Youth Works MKE. The remaining funds that are raised will be split equally among 30 area charities, according to Potawatomi Spokeswoman Renee Kirnberger.

Youth Works MKE is a program modeled after Chicago’s One Summer Plus, which provides part-time summer jobs and other programming to youth. The Chicago-based program has showed a 51-percent reduction in violent-crime arrests among program participants, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab.

“We’re very inspired and encouraged by the results we’ve heard about out of the One Summer Plus program in Chicago,” Kirnberger said. “We’re excited to make changes and amplify the program in Milwaukee to help youth in the central city.”

Earl Buford, president and CEO of the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board, noted he’s thankful to be the casino’s first “Charity of Choice.” He said he’s also excited to expand the One Summer Plus model in Milwaukee.

“We will be taking that model one step beyond just summer employment and providing year-long support for this investment, giving young people in this community social and emotional support, one-to-one mentoring, along with essential workforce skills,” Buford said at the event. The program is also similar to Mayor Tom Barrett’s Earn and Learn program, which also connects teens to employment opportunities.

At the event, Barrett addressed this summer’s spike in violence and homicides.

“What’s happening in our city and society when these teenagers are losing their lives or are seriously wounded?” said Barrett.

For Barrett, linking teens to jobs is an opportunity that can improve conditions in the city and help reduce violence. “There are kids in our community who don’t have that chance [of a job], and we have to break that cycle and find ways [for youth to] understand that we believe in them,” said Barrett.

“We have to make sure that these kids have a chance. And if we don’t do that, it’s going to cost all of us.” Potawatomi Hotel & Casino will choose a different organization to partner with each year, as part of its new structure for Heart of Canal Street.

The charity program raises about $1 million a year in funds through bingo sessions, beverage specials, special poker tournaments and more. Since 1994, Potawatomi’s charity program has raised more than $14.6 million for area organizations.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Popular Interests In This Article: August 7 2015, Gun Violence, Maria Corpus, Potawatomi Hotel and Casino, Tom Barrett, Vol. 25 No. 30, Youth Works MKE

Read More - Related Articles

  • Vice President Harris Announces Measure for Gun Violence Reduction and Enhanced Background Checks
  • Principals and Educators Across the Nation Participate in White House Safe Firearm Storage Town Hall
  • Vice President Harris Launches the Biden-Harris Administration’s Safer States Initiative
  • Gun Violence Continues to Take a Toll
  • Wisconsin is Receiving More Than $4 Million to Help Reduce Gun Violence


Connect With Us

Become Our Fan On Facebook
Find Us On Facebook


Follow Us On Twitter
Follow Us On Twitter

Editorials

Karma Chavez
Amanda Zhang
Julianne Malveaux
Benjamin Chavis
George Curry

Journalists

Jacklin Bolduan
Brianna Rae
Aarushi Agni
Rob Franklin
Claire Miller

Topics

Brown Girl Green $
Young Gifted & Black
Universally Speaking
Ask Progress
Civil Rights

Topics

Police Shooting
Police Brutality
Black Lives Matter
NAACP
Racism

Politicians

Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
Gwen Moore
Paul Soglin
Scott Walker

Contact Us

Phone:
414-449-4860

Copyright © 2025 Courier Communications. All Rights Reserved.
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.