Mapping our power: AART’s Asset Map enters a new chapter

Milwaukee’s Northwest Side is full of people, organizations, businesses, and spaces that create connection, opportunity, care, and power. AART’s Northwest Side Asset Map helps make those resources visible, while creating a way for us to build stronger relationships with the people and organizations that make our communities thrive.

This year, AART’s canvass team has begun taking a larger role in the ongoing work of maintaining and growing the asset map. That work has included reviewing existing information, adding vetted assets, and updating or removing assets that are no longer in service. This maintenance is an important part of keeping the map accurate, relevant, and useful to the community.

But we’re not stopping there.

We’re entering a new chapter focused on building relationships.

We’re sustaining the Northwest Side Asset Map not only as a resource for the community, but also as a tool for building relationships with food-providing assets and other community assets that want to support our Feed the Change MKE campaign. This work is part of AART’s broader strategy to build a strong, connected base of community members and organizations on Milwaukee’s far Northwest Side.

We’re beginning to vet new submissions and deepen our relationships with the assets already represented on the map. Rather than simply collecting information, we want the asset map to become a tool for connection and one that helps us know who is doing what, where resources exist, and how we can strengthen the networks that already exist in our communities.

To kick off this next phase, AART will launch an asset map canvass on August 15. Our canvass team will be out in the community welcoming existing and new assets, learning more about their work, and beginning to build relationships that can grow over time.

We’ll also be holding trainings to support this work and prepare community members to participate in maintaining and expanding the map.

And in September, we expect to begin accepting new submissions to the asset map. That will give residents, organizations, businesses, and other community assets an opportunity to make sure their work is represented.

The asset map is more than a collection of pins. It’s a reflection of the power already present in our communities. By keeping it current, connecting with the people behind each asset, and continuing to expand it, we can better understand and build upon the resources we have to create thriving, liberated communities.