Bishop Walter Harvey served as the senior pastor for the Parklawn Assembly of God in Sherman Park for over 30 years until his retirement in 2020. He is deeply rooted in biblical teachings about manifesting the presence of God in our everyday life. He’s also the creator of Prism Economic Development, an initiative that empowers entrepreneurs in underserved communities to experience “economic flourishing.”
I’m a son of the city of Milwaukee. I grew up in the 53206 ZIP code, which today has some notorious statistics of pain. Some see themselves as buried in this place, but I consider myself planted. We come from the same location, but that which is planted is here to give forth life.
My faith mandates works that disrupt the pain of people and places, and in 2016, I experienced that in a new way. I wept over Sylville Smith’s death, as I watched buildings around our church go up in flames. As I led our congregation through the streets, we encountered a large crowd of protestors. People recognized me as a faith leader and asked me an important question: Where has the church been? They were right. It was time for us to be with the community in a new way.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
That transformed our church budget and strategy. We began to really be with people, transforming our community through mentoring and using business as a tool of justice. That’s why we created Prism, and out of that, UpStart Kitchen, an incubator for entrepreneurs who want to start or grow their food-oriented businesses. We also unleashed ordinary people to do the same where they live and work. One of our members launched Sherman Park Grocery Store, a place where people can buy healthy food at an affordable price in a food desert.
People say if you teach a person to fish, they’ll eat for a lifetime. But that’s not true. If there are systems and structures on their path, people can’t feed themselves. In communities where there are systems and structures in place that keep people from thriving, we aim to love our neighbors by creating an ecosystem that allows people to overcome obstacles so they can manufacture and multiply dreams that bring about generational wealth.
– Bishop Walter Harvey
A fresh perspective on … PEACE
People think peace is just the absence of problems or conflict, but it’s so much more than that. The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, means well-being and flourishing. To have true peace, we have to have an increase of human flourishing.
