RFQ for Beerline Trail Project Management Consultant - Download PDF
The Beerline Trail Neighborhood Development Project is a creative placemaking collaboration focused on the development and activation of the Beerline Trail. The collaboration works with partners from public, private, non-profit, and community sectors to strategically shape the physical and social character of the Beerline Trail and surrounding neighborhoods. The Beerline Trail Project works to animate this public trail in order to sustain and enrich the lives of people in Harambee and Riverwest. This project creates a recreational space that promotes health, increases well-being and prosperity through influencing local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together through the circulation of resources, voices, ideas, labor and creativity. The project utilizes the arts throughout to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is a nationally recognized leader in neighborhood development; mobilizing resources for neighborhood revitalization and investing these funds through grants, loans and technical assistance to neighborhood-based community development efforts. On behalf of the Beerline Trail Project Leadership Team, LISC Milwaukee is seeking a Project Management Consultant who will lead the effort to facilitate the regular convening of key stakeholders, create a formalized Equitable Implementation Plan over the next twelve months, and coordinate the implementation of trail-related projects.
This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the City of Milwaukee, and LISC Milwaukee. The project has also received support from ArtPlace America, Fund for Lake Michigan, The Kresge Foundation, and other local and national funders.
The Beerline Trail Project is a creative placemaking collaboration convened by Riverworks Development Corporation, the Riverworks Business Improvement District, the City of Milwaukee, Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC), and MKE<->LAX, (collectively referred to in this RFQ as the Project Leadership Team). Additional collaborators include the Greater Milwaukee Foundation (GMF), Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Rails to Trails, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Cooperation (WWBIC), and our Guiding Lenses Group, including a wide range of cultural leaders from the neighborhoods and city.
Established in 2002, the Beerline Trail runs north to south along the western side of the Milwaukee River. The trail is named 'Beerline' because of its location near where many of the old Milwaukee breweries were located. The trail connects the Riverwest and Harambee neighborhoods, providing access to recreational and green space.
This project builds from the history of the Beerline Trail, and Creational Trails: The artery initiated in 2012. The collaborative, in its’ current form, was launched as the Beerline Trail Project in 2014. Through the leadership of the Project Leadership Team, the Guiding Lenses Group, community residents, and artists there has been tremendous progress in developing the Trail itself. The trail has developed as a “spine” to advance efforts to strengthen connections among the Harambee, Riverwest and nearby neighborhoods, spur equitable development, and reinforce the centrality of artists, makers, and creative entrepreneurs to the past and future identity of the area. In 2016, the Project Leadership Team engaged Hood Design Studio, through a community led process, to serve as the lead designer for the Beerline Trail linear park.
This progress has been informed by significant community planning and engagement and benefited from sustained and intentional neighborhood leadership from residents, business owners, workers and other neighbors, as well as other civic leaders in Milwaukee and nationally. This engagement has resulted in a series of high level, agreed upon project goals, outcomes and “guiding lenses” to shape the project.
Civic Art, Creative Entrepreneurship, Health and Well-Being, Linear Park and Green Space, Neighborhood Safety, Neighbor Engagement, Respecting Identity, Value Properties and Youth Leadership
The Beerline Trail project is at a critical juncture. The neighborhood development planning efforts described above have resulted in significant community input and expectations for advancement on key initiatives. There has been major progress in trail development; however, next steps, responsible parties, funding sources, and priorities need to be determined and a shared and refined vision for the next phase of the Beerline Trail Project is needed. Through this Request for Qualifications (RFQ), the Beerline Trail Project leadership team seeks to engage a consultant to create a formalized Equitable Implementation Plan that would guide the work on the project for the next five to ten years. The plan would forward our core value of equity as we grow this significant public space investment on the trail, so we can avoid displacement of current residents and workers where possible amidst the new growth.
Goal #1: Coordination of key stakeholders for planning and implementation
Goal #2: Develop the Equitable Implementation Plan. It is anticipated that an Equitable Implementation Plan would include the following elements at a minimum:
o Trail extensions and access improvements
o Design and buildout of the linear park
o Trail programming and maintenance
o Determining long-term trail stewardship and governance
o Commercial and residential development projects adjacent to the Beerline Trail with a focus on supporting creative entrepreneurs o Residential rehabilitation and development to improve the housing quality and options for existing residents o Artist and neighbor engagement with the Beerline Trail and related efforts
Community engagement including the presence of intergenerational neighborhood leadership has run throughout and shaped all aspects of the Beerline Trail Project. The results of that community engagement have been memorialized in a number of different formats, which can be provided to the consultant as needed. At this point in the project, there is concern regarding “plan fatigue” and a well-developed desire to translate previous engagement into action and outcomes based in equity for all neighbors. Therefore, the amount of new resident and other neighbor engagement activities expected to occur in conjunction with the development of the Equitable Implementation Plan is limited. Rather, it is anticipated that the primary partners in developing the Equitable Implementation Plan will be the Project Leadership Team, the Guiding Lenses group, and other partners identified as having primary or supporting roles in carrying out the projects and initiatives included in the Equitable Implementation Plan.
The Project Leadership Team plans to allocate $40,000 to facilitate the ongoing convening of key stakeholders, and the development this Equitable Implementation Plan. This stipend includes: consultant fee, travel reimbursements and all support materials, which they may need during the duration of this project. This is a consulting position.
This is a 12 month project and all project goals and achievements must be reached within a 12 month time period starting on date of hire.
Ms. Beth Haskovec
Program Officer, LISC Milwaukee
Please submit a cover letter indicating interest, project understanding, and composition of team; your resume; and the following:
Materials may be submitted to bhaskovec@lisc.org
Subject line - ATTN. Project Management RFQ.
All proposals are due by Friday, August 17, 2018.
Beerline Trail Neighborhood Development - A Creative Placemaking Project
Riverworks Strategic Action Plan (2012)
Beerline Trail Project Leadership MOU (2017)
Beerline Trail Concept Design Draft – Hood Design Studio (2017)