Jon Anne Willow

This is Fearless

By - Jan 1st, 2009 02:52 pm

By Amy Elliott, Brian Jacobson, Erin Petersen, Erin Wolf

Introduction by Jon Anne Willow, photograph by Erin Landry

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The idea of leadership has been receiving a lot of play lately, not only in the media but also in the conversations of everyday people. Too often, in the last several years in particular, the term “leadership” is modified by adjectives like “vacuum,” “lack of” and “inadequate.” When we at VITAL began planning these awards in early 2008, it was in response to a general feeling that our community and our nation were in the grips of a collective malaise brought on in part by the sinking sensation that things were spinning out of control and nobody was stepping up to do anything meaningful about the country’s direction.

We could relate, and there wasn’t much good news coming from the top. Nevertheless, we could all think of individual citizens who apparently missed the memo to abandon all hope and continued to work within their communities for positive change, keeping their chins up, chests out and heads down but not bowed. In fact, we thought of so many that we realized there must be hundreds more right here in Milwaukee. So instead of picking people we knew in a closed-door staff meeting, we put the vote to the people of our city. And over 3,000 of you weighed in. That’s democracy in action, and we thank each of you sincerely for taking the time to recognize the efforts of all our nominees and award winners.

Most of you who read this will be familiar with the larger concept of leadership, though you may not have thought about it much until the recent presidential election brought the idea back into vogue. The term has since gained momentum, first as a campaign slogan and now as a very real expectation of our next president, who takes the helm in such troubling times.

Leadership is not about being in charge – some of the best leaders are peers, not bosses – nor is it about being the face connected with a name or cause. Leadership comes from within, and very often lies dormant until required. After all, what sane person grows up wanting to go down with the ship, lead the charge to battle or otherwise commit to exposing themselves to all sorts of hopelessness and unpleasantness on a daily basis?

The answer is that nobody sane would think this is a good idea. But as William Shakespeare famously wrote: “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” The latter circumstance, I believe, is how most greatness is uncovered. It is human nature to follow, to fit in and to believe that doing no harm is doing enough. It’s how most of us are wired, so if this is you, you’re in good company with most of the human race.
But in your heart, don’t you ever yearn to hear a call that you can’t resist, a resonance that pulls you inexorably to a higher cause? Don’t most people desire on some level to live a life filled with that ever-elusive “meaning” we hear so much about?

In truth, the scratch for that itch can’t be found in a self-help book, through meditation, self-medication or idle talk. And rarely does the seeker find. Leadership, meaning, greatness – these are all elegant terms, but the reality of living them is mostly very pedestrian. The winners of VITAL Source’s 2009 Fearless Leader Awards do not seek recognition, but simply wish to continue the work to which they’re dedicated, and which they each believe is their higher calling. Most of them stumbled into their situations through a life-changing experience that created the path to purpose and the opportunity to be part of a solution. None of the Leaders we interviewed consider themselves fearless, per se, just busy, focused and sometimes afraid. And that is exactly what makes them so amazing.
We hope you’ll join us on January 22nd at the Eisner Museum as we present the 2008 Fearless Leader Awards. Ceremony information is on page 11. And in the coming year, think about someone you know who’s fearless. We’ll open nominations for the 2010 awards in the fall.

Congratulations to all our nominees:
Sharon Adams
Biko Baker
Victor & Dawn Barnet
Joe Bartolotta
Renee Simone Bebeau
Shari Comstock
Tom Crawford
Genyne Edwards
Jennifer ‘Kya’
Espenschied
James Godsil
Anita Gulotta-Connelly
Lloyd Levin
Jeanette Mitchell
Michelle Sieg
Br. Bob Smith
Dale R. Smith
Julia Taylor

Kari Behling

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by Brian Jacobson

While Kari Behling is excited to have been chosen for VITAL’s Fearless Leader Awards, she isn’t sure she fits the profile.

“It’s something I struggle with. I’m often afraid,” she says. “But I guess I don’t let it stop me. I have a bigger fear of giving up.”

In October 2007, she became the National Director of the Milwaukee-headquartered American Association of Children’s Residential Centers. This came at age 39 after a lifetime of advocacy, volunteering and being a foster parent to dozens of infants, adolescents and teens.

What’s extraordinary about her new organization is its focus on dealing with foster children who have challenging behavioral health issues. This means advising foster agencies and parents on how to cope with children who have experienced trauma and now might act out by setting fires, being sexually active or abusive or becoming physically violent. The AACRC also researches and sets policies on handling genetic-based behavioral issues such as Asperger Syndrome, ADD/ADHD, autism, dyslexia or bipolar disorder, to help provide the most innovative care possible.

Behling’s work would make most people crumble under the often-intense pressure. But whether she’s traveling to different cities for conferences or taking phone calls from troubled caregivers at her Lake Drive office, she never loses the individual and tactile need to care. As an adopted child herself, she feels strongly about giving children safe shelter and “a really good support system.” Kari is currently a single mom living in Riverwest with two biological children (Brady, 13, and Ariel, 11), one adopted child (Jaida, 7) and now another foster child (who is 8).
It was her oldest kids who persuaded her to take in one more.

“You know, I’m 40 now – I’m tired. But it’s kind of like you practice what you preach. [Brady would say] ‘It’s what we do, and we do it well.’ He even offered up the extra space in his room for a bed.”

Behling believes that her experiences in Milwaukee, specifically, gave her a real, usable perspective when looking at other places and how they deal with behavioral issues. She says that although she went to college, it was on the streets and in communities that she gained a real knowledge of racial disparity issues as well as positive aspects.

Along with championing foster parenting issues, Behling works as a tutor for new refugee families from countries like Myanmar and is involved with the ‘soccer-for-all-kids’ club called Milwaukee Kickers.

Listening to her, you can feel the enthusiasm and kindness in her voice. She peppers the conversation with truisms like, “You know it’s the right thing to do, but you want to do it right.”

Behling strongly believes that honesty and kindness lay the foundation for all of her relationships. She doesn’t expect the parents or children she meets to be perfect, but she does desire that they strive for sincerity, generosity of spirit and personality. And while she herself may not claim to be fearless, others see a brave face and follow her lead.

MacCanon Brown

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By Amy Elliott

In 1990, MacCanon Brown was floundering – she had no job, little money and a room in an attic that she thought she was going to lose.

“My world had just completely shattered,” she says.

But while she was waiting in a meal program line at St. Ben’s, she met a priest who changed the direction of her life – and subsequently, the lives of countless others.
The priest introduced MacCanon to the landscape of Milwaukee’s homeless-serving organizations and the people who led and administered them.

“I could just tell,” she says, “that was what I was going to do. I became emotionally healed.” In 1992, MacCanon joined Repairers of the Breach and within months was elected president of the board.

Repairers of the Breach began in 1989 as a community movement that would give a voice and public presence to homeless and formerly homeless people. Repairers created the first newspaper produced by and for the homeless, founded a speaker’s bureau and produced and distributed videos. But the group lacked a headquarters – a place for board members to meet and plan, and a center for homeless people to come together to help each other.

One of the group’s founders, Tony Lee, had advocated a center for the group from the start.

“Tony was a homeless Vietnam veteran who came back from the war addicted to heroin and in a rage,” MacCanon says. “Another homeless person showed compassion on him – [and] it changed him so much that he got into recovery, got back with his family and organized his life.

“He carried that message about the power of what happens when a person in a plight reaches out to another person in that plight.”

Due in part to MacCanon’s efforts, Tony’s vision was realized in 1994 when Milwaukee’s first daytime homeless shelter – which took the name Repairers of the Breach from the publication the group had founded – opened its doors. Tony died in 1996, but Repairers still builds on the two main tenets of his mission: that homeless people have a place to govern, and that homeless people are enabled and encouraged to reach out and help each other.

Repairers offers a constellation of over 50 programs and services, and the shelter helps over 150 people a day. They provide a mailing address and a phone and message system for homeless job seekers, as well as showers and toiletries, clothing, food, computer and email access – even haircuts. And most notably, everyone who uses the shelter participates in the governing, maintenance and operations of the shelter and abides by the rules they create.

“Everyone is moving forward,” she says. “We don’t allow people to stay stuck.”

MacCanon works about 70 hours a week – “I don’t even think of it as work,” she says – and finds her greatest rewards in the moments where she can “bear witness to a homeless individual who owns our unique vision, to the extent that he or she leads and mentors out of a commitment that is pure and genuine.” Among her most gratifying encounters was with a woman who had been on the streets for almost 20 years. She came to Repairers because she heard there were free donuts and coffee.

“She was an addict – she had been rejected by her family and came to our center as someone without any resources,” says MacCanon. “At the bottom of the barrel.”

But as Pamela returned to Repairers, her life turned around. She received health care, restored her self-esteem and began to look for transitional living. “She bloomed,” says MacCanon.
In 2004, Pamela was honored as Volunteer of the Year by the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee. Today she works for several volunteer organizations throughout the city.

MacCanon can’t say what path her life will take in the future, but for now, she feels like she’s living the dream, unglamorous though it is sometimes.

“I think we’re dreaming for the wrong thing. What I’m doing is the American Dream – to be in the service of people who are the most rejected, [and] probably offer the most to unify our very broken and divided society. The love in that little place on 14th and Vliet – it’s an ingredient. If you really mix it in, it could unify Milwaukee. To me, that’s the dream.”

Sarah Exley

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By Erin Lee Petersen

A little over two years ago, Sarah Exley, a communications specialist at Northwestern Mutual, and her husband, Ryan, were living a peaceful life in Germantown as they looked forward to the arrival of their first child. In April of 2006, Sarah gave birth to a lovely little girl named Avery. At first everything seemed fine, but within about three months Sarah and Ryan noticed that Avery’s right hand was always in an increasingly tight fist. Several doctors over repeated visits assured the couple that their little girl was fine, but the parents persisted in looking for answers. After almost a year, Sarah and her husband received the startling news that Avery had suffered a stroke in utero.

“I was shocked,” Sarah says. “That was the last thing that had crossed my mind.”

Immediately after her daughter’s diagnosis, Sarah started researching pediatric stroke, hoping to find support and helpful information. She was dismayed to learn that very few resources were readily available, even though, while rare, pediatric stroke is as common in children as leukemia or brain tumors, affecting about 2.3 per 100,000 children. So Sarah took it upon herself to raise awareness of the condition, networking with other affected families, joining support groups and telling Avery’s story to anyone who would listen. She even lobbied Capitol Hill for research funding. In 2007, Sarah started working with the American Heart Association’s annual Start! Heart Walk, and along with friends and family has helped raise over $14,000 to fund research for pediatric stroke in the past two years.

“It’s my passion to get the word out,” she says.

Because the Exleys recognized Avery’s condition relatively early, they’ve been able to make a significant difference in Avery’s development with the assistance of occupational, speech and physical therapy. Now Avery’s right hand is functional and she’s able to do most of the things other children her age can. “She’s a normal kid,” Sarah says, “and she’s incredibly bright.”

Though they have had success with Avery’s therapy, when she starts preschool next fall she’ll no longer be covered by Wisconsin’s Birth to 3 program and will have to rely on the school system for her therapy needs. Sarah says this is one of the biggest obstacles facing her family in the upcoming year, but she remains optimistic and is already in discussion with Pupil Services in the Germantown school district about the possibility of broadening the Early Education program to make services more accessible for children with different needs. She hopes that one day more government funding will be available to ensure that survivors of pediatric stroke don’t slip through the cracks and are able to get the services they need.

In the meantime, she’ll continue to fight.

“You have to keep pushing,” she says. “You are your child’s best advocate.”

Mary Lou LaMonda

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By Erin Wolf

“Did you know that there is more ant mass on the planet than human mass? That’s an astounding fact,” says Mary Lou LaMonda. “Ants are not causing global climate change and the devastation of species.”

Arguably one of Milwaukee’s foremost experts on green living, Mary Lou LaMonda is teaching folks in our city to live more environmentally sustainable lives. LaMonda has worked as a leader of the Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network (MUAN) and has contributed to many projects and causes, including the first Green Roof Symposium in Milwaukee (focusing on green jobs and growing edible market crops), the Michael Fields Agriculture Institute, Slow Food WiSE, the Kane Commons project (organizing the first straw bale building workshops in Milwaukee), the Oz Biodiesel Cooperative, Riverwest’s Yogashala, Conocer (a fair trade cultural exchange program to Michoacan, Mexico) and Elaine’s Project (for healthy inner city kids).

LaMonda says the key to community organizing is a positive mindset. “In the words of Howard Zinn,” she says, “‘Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world’ … If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times, places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction … to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is wrong around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

LaMonda says that her work with the Milwaukee community is symbiotic – building sustainability on a community level, and building personal relationships brick by brick. “Everyone is a unique expression of the life force and has something to offer to the world that no one else does, and it’s important that I listen and learn from anyone that shows up in my life.”

LaMonda’s goals are widespread, and considering her track record, the results of her actions could ultimately be wide-reaching. She envisions a world of true sustainability and thoughtful lifestyle design, creating and celebrating stronger communities, developing renewable energy and engineered renewability and decreasing the amount of waste that we produce, reintroducing art and music into school systems, promoting equal rights and a viable health care system … just to name a few.

“We have always been ‘the change we are waiting for,’” she affirms. “We are standing on the shoulders of the many that came before us, so we have a broader view. [We] see how much more needs to be done in our communities, in our country and around the planet. We never really know the full impact of what we do, and whatever acknowledgment or success we receive is only because of those shoulders and the folks we are now walking with arm in arm, who are doing the same as we are. We are preparing the earth and planting the seeds for whatever will grow in the future.”

Matt Nelson

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By Erin Wolf

“I believe that the People have the responsibility, ability and right to organize themselves, and I will fight for the right to self-determination and the right to organize, and defend human rights for all.”
So says Matt Nelson, who has been called a “watchdog for social injustice” for very good reasons – he has tirelessly promoted change through innovation and awareness. As owner of Brewing Grounds for Change (est. 2004), Milwaukee’s first 100% fair trade coffee shop; he has organized campaigns with the Mitchell Street Farmers Market Coalition; worked with the Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition and the Milwaukee Transit Riders Union; is co-founder of the Freedom Now! Collaborative in Milwaukee, and writes and teaches.
Nelson realizes the importance to act upon words as a public ambassador. While he supports many movements in which he sees value, his core causes revolve around access to the basic necessities for all people in Milwaukee: transportation, safety, food and free trade.

“High quality, accessible public transportation will positively impact the economic development in our city and has the power to bridge gaps in social and economic mobility, improve our environment, reduce traffic congestion and lower the costs of many public services,” he says of Milwaukee’s public transit needs.

Nelson also advocates for higher standards in police accountability in Milwaukee, through his work with The Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition (MPAC).

“MPAC unites the many voices of families and individuals who have been victimized by police violence into effectively addressing Milwaukee’s police brutality crisis. We expect Chief Edward Flynn to show leadership and publicly acknowledge systemic issues within the MPD and officially commit to profoundly changing the culture of the department that allows for police misconduct and brutality to continue. We want a professional police force in Milwaukee that protects civil rights and protects neighborhoods. No one is above the law.”

Nelson’s work for “food justice” has focused around the Mitchell Street Farmer’s Coalition and its efforts to find a permanent home. In 2006, the Mitchell Street Market was the only local market serving Milwaukee’s Latino community. Commercial development plans for a city-owned property threatened its existence. He led an organizing effort that brought together local residents, patrons and city officials and resulted in an annual sublease agreement with the city for the market.

“Our community must have the right to define our own food future and to be able to feed our community healthy, locally grown food that benefits local farmers and builds economic growth in our community,” affirms Nelson. “A way to reduce poverty and improve neighborhood stability is through local economic development, preserving green space, and economic security.”

Nelson believes it all starts from the ground up, fighting for the basic human rights to food, clothing, shelter, health and safety. Unfortunately, these basic rights don’t come for free. Nelson realizes the tireless effort that the Milwaukee community must collectively make for positive change.

“We as community organizers and civic participants must offer more than dry meetings with patronizing leadership, pandering liberals and arrogant conservatives who attempt to contain real transformation,” he says. “I believe it is important for the City of Milwaukee to improve and sustain high-quality health and safety-net programs. Accordingly, we should resist budget cuts that come at the expense of such programs, and seek reforms promoting greater community participation in their design, effectiveness and administration. We need to invest in public works projects that hire community residents at family-supporting wages; improve and expand job training; offer child care assistance for families, assistance to neighborhood organizations and services and accommodations for people with disabilities; provide domestic violence prevention, public health and legal services and education for everyone; maintain our libraries, parks and public areas for meetings, assembly and art. Our Milwaukee must stand up for the health, safety and comfort of workers and the general public and support local laws that restore the public involvement and trust back into local government.”

“I value efforts based in integrity, a commitment to justice for all … I feel great respect and solidarity with all of the fearless leaders that have come before me who have taught me to listen and to give back.”

Deon Young

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By Erin Lee Petersen

Deon Young has some interesting ideas regarding what it means to be fearless in today’s society. To him, fearless means having the courage to tell your story and fight against stereotypes, dedicating yourself to your passions even when you’re met with opposition, and working to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Deon works as a Community Organizer with the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Milwaukee. Deon started volunteering at the center in 2001 and has been a full time staff member since 2005. Working for a non-profit often requires a lot of volunteer hours and doesn’t come with a particularly glamorous salary, but that’s of little concern to Deon.

“There’s a reason why you do this job … even when it could be easier to do less work for more pay,” he says.

For Deon, that reason is simple: to educate people in the LGBT community about legal, social and personal issues, and to give them a voice so they can educate others. He most recently worked with the OutVote program, designed to engage LGBT voters in a nonpartisan manner and increase LGBT turnout at the polls, a program Deon says also helped build bridges to other minority communities and mobilize voters in those areas. Deon also works with LGBT youth outreach programs and was active with Fair Wisconsin, organizing and participating in door-to-door campaigns prior to the gay marriage referendum vote in 2006.

Now that the presidential election is over, Deon says that he’s “ecstatic” about the outcome but that there is still much more work to be done. While the LGBT Center has what Deon calls “natural allies” in Milwaukee like Planned Parenthood and ACORN, he would like to see the LGBT community branch out into other areas and perhaps partner with organizations like the NAACP or the Milwaukee Urban League. The LGBT Center is already making progress toward this goal by participating in the Wisconsin Civic Engagement Program, a coalition of progressive non-profits who represent vastly different interests, yet still work together to address public concerns and social issues.

Inspired by the election, Deon hopes that confidence in the grassroots movement will be restored in 2009 and that under-represented groups will be more willing to collaborate with one another to achieve common goals.

“It’s a new day,” he says. “I look forward to what these new leaders will bring.” VS

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