Blooming Connections: Cultivating Youth Leadership Through Community Partnerships

PEAK is most commonly known for centering youth leadership development, and our focus on connecting youth to community assets and organizations is critical to fostering the next generation of Milwaukee leaders. While there are a variety of examples of how PEAK introduces our young people to different Milwaukee resources, one of the well-established partnerships we have is with Bloom MKE.

Bloom MKE began in 2019 in an effort to maintain the Cherry Street Garden, which is only a few blocks away from the PEAK Program Center. Today, it's one of the pillars during the summer for our 1st and 2nd graders in Pathfinder Camp. Rick Roszkowski, the President of the Board of Directors for Bloom, describes the history of the partnership between PEAK and Bloom MKE as spontaneous at first. What started as a chance encounter with a few PEAK employees walking past the garden turned into teaching opportunities and is now a blossoming summer program for our Pathfinders led by Rick and his partner Lisa.

Rick and Lisa are now seeing first hand the impact of their continued partnership with PEAK and our young campers. “We’ve had kids who are very shy, very timid, come back as second graders and they know the answers,” said Maggie Kellogg, Youth Programs Manager. “They are more confident, they like to show their knowledge, and you see them developing in a way that I’m not sure they would’ve had the opportunity to.”

Bloom’s proximity to PEAK also plays a big role in the success of the program, as it makes accessibility much more manageable, while also creating a deeper impact on participants. Most recently, the program grew when our Leaders in Training began working with Rick and Lisa to become gardening instructors themselves out at Lake Valley Camp.

Moving forward, PEAK is hoping to expand the partnership with Bloom MKE by offering service days in the garden with our third through fifth grade pioneers. The future of our partnership with Bloom MKE is budding, and collaboration will continue to be the key in its growth. Rick said it best, “we’re supporting each other’s programs, so we have a vested interest to figure out how we make this even more meaningful, more impactful, and more sustainable.”