Seven years ago, after rehabilitating almost 90 foreclosed houses in Sherman Park, the organization Common Ground set its sights on a fixture in the community.

The Washington High School athletic field was bumpy and unfit for many sports. 

On Thursday, with construction equipment behind them, organizers celebrated the result of their seven years of work: the beginning of a $2.5 million artificial turf athletic field with a 400-meter track and basketball half-courts. 

"This represents hope, renewal, a celebration of our school and our neighborhood," said Alex Hardy, who has lived in Sherman Park for 39 years and helped with the project as part of Common Ground and Community Baptist Church. 

Common Ground — an alliance of 43 faith groups, businesses and other organizations — started working on foreclosed and abandoned homes in Sherman Park after the 2009 predatory lending and subprime mortgage crisis. 

The group convinced five large banks to commit $33 million to help fix up houses, and have them sold at affordable prices. 

They didn't want to stop there. At the neighborhood high school, Washington, sports teams have long been a key point of community pride.

Markesha Hilliard, who graduated from Washington in 2004 and has helped with the campaign for the new field, said playing sports gave her "a sense of family" that she longed for. 

"When we went upstate, the whole community went upstate and it was a packed house," Hilliard said. "It feels good to walk into a space and have all of that energy, and everyone's rooting for purple and gold. It's something electrifying."

But Washington students often can't compete or even practice at their own school. 

Before they started fundraising for the field, Common Ground's lead organizer Jennifer O'Hear said a visiting colleague said of facilities like Washington's, "You don't love your kids enough here." 

"That's what it looks like," O'Hear said. "So that's what this (new) field is. It's: 'We love you, we believe in you, we want you to have everything.'"  

Willie Jude, a retired MPS administrator and member of Common Ground and Community Baptist Church, a key partner in the campaign, said he has seen athletics be the "hook" that kept students in school. 

"The athletes and kids that are involved have a higher graduation rate than the ones that are not involved," Jude said. 

Daniel Martin, 16, said plays football and runs track at the school, said students haven't been able to prepare for track meets “because the real tracks we competed on were so different,” and football players have been injured on the bumpy terrain. A tractor tire has been used to mark the worst pothole on the field.

"Some of the first practices were OK, but only when we stayed in one spot," he said. "The first time we tried to get more intense and have a more serious practice, we ran into so many holes and bumps." 

Organizers said the new field will be open for all residents to gather and exercise. Hardy said his "5 O'Clock Club" of neighborhood walkers is looking forward to it. 

Martin said he never expected the project to actually happen. Organizers said they had heard the same thing from many students. 

Hilliard said she hopes the project sets an example for the students of what can be accomplished with community organizing, even when it doesn't come as easily as in wealthier schools. 

"The number $2.5 million — you put that in front of certain children and it looks impossible. You put that in front of another group of children and it's like, 'Oh, we can get that,'" Hilliard said. 

"For these kids to be able to have seen the number and that there are people who have worked on their behalf to get that," Hilliard continued, "it's giving them that empowerment, like you have a right to demand better." 

There were many points where the project could have folded. 

Common Ground organizers pitched a private-public partnership to MPS, where they would raise half the funding and MPS would match the rest. MPS agreed to it.

In 2019, the group had a December deadline to raise $75,000 for its half of the cost to get architectural designs. They were $20,000 short. Common Ground members contributed personal loans totaling $20,000 to keep the project going. 

Then they had to raise another $735,000 for construction. Many alumni contributed to the project. Bonnie Lund, from the class of 1956, handwrote letters to her classmates. Community organizations and dozens of individuals stepped up. 

"This is home-grown money," said Mabel Lamb, executive director of the Sherman Park Community Association, which administers the local Neighborhood Improvement District that contributed to the project. "This isn't money from big philanthropy. This is neighborhood money."

In the end, Common Ground leaders raised a total of $830,300 from 144 donors, and were able to get commitments from MPS leaders to cover $1.7 million — accomplished in large part by the federal COVID relief dollars flowing to the district. 

The project was also supported by the MPS Foundation, Greater Milwaukee foundation, NFL Foundation, and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, which is implementing a 266,500-gallon storm-water retention system below the field. 

Others interested in supporting the project can contact O'Hear at jennifer.ohear@commongroundwi.org. 

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.