Sharaka Berry
Meet Sharaka Berry!
Sharaka works for United Methodist Children’s Services as a community organizer. He was one of our primary points of contact in conducting this research. He conducted our first neighborhood walk when we began the field school. His name means sharing in Arabic [musharaka]. He was named after the author of “Our ancestors, Builders of Civilization”. His parents were really into Pan-Africanism. They named him Sharaka because they were looking at the name from the creator/builder perspective, in the Coptic language and culture. Today, Sharaka embodies the ideals of that movement, in his drive to uplift the neighborhood and make a better community for all. Mr. Berry went to school on the westside of Chicago at Westinghouse College Prep. His time at Westinghouse was the beginning of his transformation from not taking his academics seriously to wanting to go to college. He attended Carleton College from 2014-2018. His time at the campus in Northfield, Minnesota was the first time he lived outside of Chicago. It was a challenging time for him. He walked in the ceremony in the graduation ceremony in 2018 with his class, but he didn’t get his degree because he had spent some time in the hospital during his last term. He was missing one graduation requirement for his degree in Political Science- International Relations. He proceeded to take it online, which allowed him to move on to Milwaukee and the next act. He first displayed his love for the community, and first came to Milwaukee, when he took a position through AmeriCorps working for the organization City Year at Rufus King Middle School in Milwaukee out of college, where he worked as a student success coach. After that he floated around with a couple jobs, but then he spent 11 months working with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) on voter outreach. After he left the SEIU he moved to Minneapolis for three months doing voter outreach. Then in mid-September of 2020, he made a return to serving in Milwaukee. One of his actions relating to that is his involvement this past election with Voces de la Frontera Action, an immigrant rights group, and their voting outreach program. After the election he floated through a few jobs before starting at United Methodist Children’s Services, (UMCS) on March 8th 2021. He works at UMCS as a community organizer. Sharaka is relatively new to the Washington Park neighborhood. He started work as a community organizer at United Methodist Children’s Services on March 8th of this year. He listed several positive points about working in the Washington Park neighborhood. He appreciates that some people in the judicial system are a bit more accessible to UMCS so that both sides can better understand each other. This is through things like the community service officer of the local department attending UMCS’s neighborhood events. There is a dialogue between the community organization and the police through those connections. He also appreciates the active streets funding in the neighborhood. This is a city initiative to set up barricades and signage on certain residential streets to limit motor vehicle traffic and encourage using the street for walking and biking. But there were also negative aspects to the local civil services. The wait times to get a response from 911, as well as the non-emergency number can be frustrating in the neighborhood. Also, a noticeable effect of the Milwaukee Buck’s popularity is felt in neighborhoods like Washington Park when police patrol schedules are changed away from small neighborhoods to handle the crowds at Buck’s games. He’s of the opinion that this needs some reform, so small neighborhoods don’t go unprotected to support Buck’s games. Sharaka expressed hope that as the neighborhood became more familiar with him, he would see more success in his drive to build up the neighborhood. Overall, Sharaka’s sense of community service, and drive to uplift the neighborhood is seen in a personable way, when he is going around engaging community residents at their homes, as well as where they are at walking on the street is seen every moment in his job as a community organizer. He engages all residents of the area and seems to have a relationship with every resident of Galena Street. In trying to get a sense of the communities needs, as well as inviting them to events run by UMCS, like the barbeque, he displays his dedication to service as well as just the general desire to make a better neighborhood for all in the Washington Park area. |
Sharaka speaks about the origin of his nameSharaka speaks about his academic journey
Sharaka speaks about his mentor Mrs. Becker
Sharaka speaks about housing injustice in the city of Milwaukee
Sharaka speaks about the need for investment in teachers, pushes back on criticism towards volunteer teachers |