Milwaukee Panthers assistant women's basketball coach Anya Covington shared her table's conversation on the topic of "Gender, Race and Equity and Sports," ending her summary with some team-building talk: "Let's be change agents, everybody!" (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
The Wisconsin Room at the Student Union was the setting for nearly 170 UWM faculty, staff, alumni and community members who participated in UWM's second annual On the Table partnership with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Simone Ferro, professor and chair of dance in the Peck School of the Arts, discusses collaborative research practices. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Melinda Kavanaugh hosted a table focused on "Healthcare Response to the Opioid Epidemic" with social welfare colleagues and co-researchers Lisa Berger and Tina Freiburger. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Assistant men's basketball coach Paris Parham joined a table sponsored by the Athletics Department that addressed the topic of gender, race and equity in sports. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Shirley Burks, a unit leader in School of Continuing Education, gets into listening mode. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Brian Thompson, director of the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, listens to a discussion about inclusive entrepreneurship. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Jerry Johnson, manager of the UW Credit Union, talks about increasing attendance and recruiting corporate sponsors for the 2019 Black Male Summit at UWM. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Elizabeth Mesrobian, director of college transition at Carmen Schools, talks about ways to keep kids engaged in learning over the summer. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Table One engaged in the search "to truly define what diversity means," noting that the conversation needs to continue. Tarik Moody (center), digital director and music host for 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, contributed to the conversation. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Some 170 people gathered at UWM to discuss some of the biggest issues facing Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin: systemic racism, funding models for public amenities like mass transit and museums, the opioid epidemic, childhood poverty and trauma.
What brought them together was the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s “On the Table” communitywide conversation, which attracted perhaps 10,000 people throughout the region to talk about problems and possible solutions. UWM was a “super host” for the second year.
Organizers hope to turn some of the ideas into action. UWM participants can apply for mini grants through the Office of Global Inclusion & Engagement. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation also will award “Ideas to Action” funds of $500 to $2,500.
