Fostering the Spirit of Community
Last night I left my office about 8:30pm. On this particular late October evening the wind was howling, and it was cold and dark. As I made my way to the car I noticed a man walking on the sidewalk who was quite bundled up; I couldn’t see him very well. We passed each other and offered greetings. The first thing the man said to me was, “Nice property!” This man’s words were music to my ears, and they reinforced that our central philosophy at Hennessy Group is to “Foster the Spirit of Community”.
While our overall direction is to have a positive influence on the revitalization of our neighborhoods (Milwaukee’s Near West Side and the Westown Neighborhood in Downtown Milwaukee), the day to day emphasis of everyone on the Hennessy Group team is to foster the spirit of community in any way we can. This approach carries over to our tenants, our customers, our vendors, our neighbors, and even people walking along on the sidewalk.
What does fostering the spirit of community mean? It means “really caring” that a tenant is inconvenienced by something that needs fixing and taking the steps to fix it in an expeditious fashion. It means having BBQ’s with our tenants and our neighbors at each building. Further, in every case the spirit of community caries over to our tenants and our neighbors; this occurs at Kilbourn Knoll, Saint James, and the SoHi Building. We see the spirit of community it when our residents get to know their neighbors in the building and next door or across the street. Or when a group of guys who live at Tim’s Place having a dance contest with the girls who live in the apartment across the hall. And isn’t it the spirit of community when we help each other in some simple way like at Saint James when we hold the front door for each other on a cold windy day? What about when a couple of residents at The Nicole moved to Kilbourn Knoll upon graduation from Marquette because they want to stay in and be a part of the community? And doesn’t the spirit of community make an appearance at our BBQ’s? At Kilbourn Knoll we had a BBQ’s each fall which are attended not only by our Kilbourn Knoll residents but also by the neighbors who own homes next door and down the street. Incidentally, I have known some of these neighbors for well over 20 years; I met them when Kilbourn Knoll was boarded up and abandoned, and we were just starting to think about bringing it back to life.
It’s exciting that the spirit of community is alive and growing within Hennessy Group and within our neighborhoods; further, it’s even more exciting that those with whom we interact (our tenants, customers, vendors, contractors, people walking along the sidewalk, etc.) are with us playing leading roles in “Fostering the Spirit of Community”.
This section introduces our team at Hennessy Group who independently and together do everything in their power, every day to foster the spirit of community.
-John Hennessy
Staff
Staff
John Hennessy
Andrew and Nou Freda
Chris DeLa Rosa
