The importance of relationships in community-based peacemaking projects
Three years ago, Brian Martindale was among the first students we hired to help implement a survey of residents in Milwaukee’s Near West Side.
Having grown up in what he described as an isolated, suburban neighborhood, Brian found himself experiencing community in a new way once he moved to Milwaukee. Joining the survey team provided a unique opportunity to meet residents in all seven neighborhoods in the Near West Side.
Working with a team of students, Brian was part of an ambitious, year-long effort to collect resident input. Through this process, the students learned what residents identify as the most pressing needs in the neighborhood. They also became familiar with many of the nonprofits and community organizations in the neighborhood.
One day, while meeting with fellow students Elizabeth Killian and Elli Pointner, they saw an opportunity for Marquette students to get involved. Brian said, “As Marquette students and Near West Side Residents, we have a stake in how needs are met in the community.” They decided to create CAMPus Impact, a student organization focused on human-to-human interaction between Marquette students and other Near West Side residents through encounter, service, and immersion.
More than 65 students have become involved in CAMPus Impact. Students meet residents through volunteering at events like the Messmer Schools Pancake Breakfast, Neighborhood House Valentine’s Day Fashion Show, and ACTS Housing.
They also organize a Fall Break immersion experience, where students volunteer with various nonprofits in the Near West Side. For CAMPus Impact, service is merely a medium. Their purpose is to build relationships with residents and to be active participants in their community. For their efforts, CAMPus Impact received the 2018 New Organization of the Year award from Marquette University.
The resident survey is still a staple of student participation with the organization. This year students have again knocked on every door in the seven Near West Side Neighborhoods to gather resident input on pressing community needs.
While out surveying before Thanksgiving, an elderly woman invited Brian into her house so they could sit down while she took the survey. Between answering questions on the survey, Brian said, “she shared some of her history with me, including that her family has lived in Milwaukee for six generations.”
“I shared a little bit about being a Marquette student and getting to meet people throughout the Near West Side.”
Brian said they had been talking for almost 30 minutes by the time she asked him where he was from. When she realized that Brian’s family lives far away, she invited him to come back to her house to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family. Brian said, “This is one of my favorite stories about the neighborhood because it captures the way that our neighbors care for each other.”
Through his involvement with the Center for Peacemaking, Brian discovered that relationships are at the heart of any peacemaking work. He also realizes as he finishes his senior year that he might be moving to another city soon. Brian said, “Wherever I end up, I want to be in a community and be involved in it. I want to know my neighbors and volunteer in organizations in my neighborhood.”
