Running Rebels expands with 2nd Milwaukee location

• Running Rebels Community Organization is expanding to a second location on Capitol Drive, just east of I-43 in Milwaukee.
• The new location has a gym and will be known as Running Rebels East, while the current building on Fond du Lac Ave. will be Running Rebels Central.
• The youth agency formally will kick-off a $4 million capital campaign next month to pay for and endow the building.
• The Zilber Family Foundation has committed $1 million to the campaign.

When Victor Barnett, founder of the Running Rebels Community Organization, walks through the youth agency's new sprawling location off Capitol Drive, he can imagine the future — and can't help but remember the past.

He thinks back to a time more than 30 years ago when the fledgling nonprofit couldn't pay rent on a small building in Milwaukee and was evicted. One of the young men who participated in programs there learned of the news and began to cry.

"I remember him talking about not having a home, not having a space," Barnett said. "I can't wait to walk in here with him now and ask 'Do you remember when we didn't have a home?'"

Over 36 years, Running Rebels has grown into a force in Milwaukee. The agency works to keep the city's youth safe, connecting them with mentors, athletics, music, tutoring and workforce training. Running Rebels also offers community events, takes part in citywide initiatives and is contracted with Milwaukee County for targeted monitoring of young people on supervision through Children's Court.

"The hope of making it, the hope of turning our city around, I think some of that rides with Running Rebels," Barnett said. "Our slogan is helping the community from within. I think all of that ties into the expansion."

Running Rebels will keep its Fond du Lac Ave. building, which will be known as the Central location. The new building on Capitol Drive, just east of I-43, is the former site of Lad Lake and  Pathfinders Southeastern Education Center. It will be known as Running Rebels East.

The new site offers a full-size gymnasium, locker rooms, large kitchen, cafeteria, computer labs, areas for ping pong and pool tables, activity and weight rooms, and office space. It also could house a charter school, too.

"Running Rebels was born on basketball," said Dawn Barnett, the agency's co-executive director. "How ironic it was that we never had a gym. To be able to have 24-hour access to a gym facility is really huge for us."

The organization will continue its own basketball activities, in addition to operating the historic city-backed summer basketball league, Warning: Project Respect, We Must Respect Each Other. The gym also will be used for volleyball, adult fitness classes and other wellness events.

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Running Rebels serves about 1,500 youth and will be able to add 500 more with the second location.

"They are really expanding on the types of services they are providing to some of the most vulnerable communities in Milwaukee," Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton said. "I think it's the perfect site for them."

The youth agency was able to move quickly on the new building with help from the Zilber Family Foundation and IFF, which bills itself as the largest nonprofit community development financial institution in the Midwest.

$4 million campaign

Running Rebels is undertaking a $4 million capital campaign to acquire and endow its new facility. The Zilber Family Foundation has provided a leading $500,000 gift upfront and will provide another $500,000 as a "challenge grant" to match donations. Running Rebels is responsible for raising $3 million. The capital campaign will formally kick-off next month.

"Some people think you get the building and you're good, but now the work for us begins," Dawn Barnett said. "We're looking for people who see the value in what we do and would like to be part of this exciting time."

The Zilber Family Foundation is not only providing financial resources but also supplying technical assistance to help Running Rebels reach its campaign goal, said Susan Lloyd, the foundation's executive director.

Many of the foundation's board members have visited the Running Rebels Central location in Lindsay Heights and came away with respect and praise for the work of the agency, she said.

But they also saw that building alone "did not meet the needs of an organization who is operating at capacity and could serve many more young people if it had the way to do so," Lloyd added.

Running Rebels will move into the new building over the next four weeks and will begin some programs soon after, Dawn Barnett said. The after-school and summer community programs are expected to begin closer to June and the agency is planning its first ever weeklong robotics camp this summer, she said.

"The people who are part of our organization, we are the community," she said. "It's not where we're coming from other places with a solution. We're using the community's own natural antibodies to really help be a part of the healing process of the community."