In this powerful episode, Teig Whaley-Smith, chief alliance executive of the Community Development Alliance (CDA), unveils his mission to advance racial equity by providing quality, affordable homeownership for Black and Latino Milwaukeeans. Join us as we delve into his data-driven approach and collaborative strategies that are reshaping the city's housing landscape.
Whaley-Smith’s passion for making Milwaukee the best place on planet earth stems from his upbringing in a multiracial family and sense of urgency around fighting for housing issues out of what he calls “love, and not white guilt.”
Tune in to learn more about how the CDA is uniting diverse stakeholders, combating predatory landlord practices and empowering homebuyers with down payment assistance.
Episode Highlights:
10:19 - What's really important in a planning process is that you do talk to people to get their stories as a form of data and that qualitative data, and then also matching that with the quantitative data that is out there. So, we use a process called GARE, the Government Alliance on Race and Equity to develop our plan, and they have a tool that prompts you to ask some really important questions because the reality is there's no such thing as a racially neutral policy.
14:29 - There was a sense that we should be building 1500-square foot homes because that's what's being built in the suburbs and otherwise. If you actually talked with residents, they just want a stable place to live that they can call their own. It turns out that the average home in city in Milwaukee is a thousand square feet. If we continue to develop strategies that are building houses that are too big and too expensive, we will never have an impact on racial equity.
23:22 - In the racial equity world, those terms actually mean something different because an ally is somebody that supports you and supports your ideas in theory, as long as it doesn't cost them anything. An accomplice is when you are willing to put something on the line to say, "I'm willing to give something up to do something that you've asked me to do."
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Connect with Teig Whaley-Smith
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Guest Bio:
Teig Whaley-Smith's spassion is building and leading collaborative teams to make Milwaukee the best place on planet earth. He believes that for Milwaukee to achieve its full potential, there needs to be a focus on the people and neighborhoods that have been left out of the larger political, social, and economic systems. Whaley-Smith was raised and continues to live in the Sherman Park neighborhood and is a proud Milwaukee Public Schools alumnus and parent.
In 2022, Whaley-Smith was named the Chief Alliance Executive for the Community Development Alliance (CDA). CDA is an affiliation of community development funders and practitioner in the Milwaukee Area that led Milwaukee’s first Collective Affordable Housing Plan, with the goal of advancing racial equity by providing a quality affordable home for every Milwaukeean. The plan lays out a transformative road map to support 32,000 new Black and Latino homeowners, and 32,000 homes for families making less than $15 per hour. CDA continues to successfully bring together funders and partners to implement the innovative approaches within the plan.
Prior to joining CDA, Whaley-Smith served as the chief operating officer of Milwaukee County where he managed a $1.2 billion annual budget, serving one million residents. He supported the expansion of mental health services, the elimination of chronic homelessness, and was a core member of the leadership team that was the first municipality in the country to declare racism as a public health crisis and develop a strategic plan to combat racism. Whaley-Smith also served as the Economic Development Director of Milwaukee County and led the efforts to develop more than $1 billion in the former Park East corridor, including Fiserv Forum. In his private sector career, he led a community economic development firm that developed $60 million of affordable housing and main street development.
