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Joe Davis, Sr. was elected to his first term as 2nd District Alderman during a special election on April 29, 2003 after having previously served on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. He won re-election to a full term during the spring general election on April 6, 2004.
Alderman Davis serves as chair of the Common Council's Community and Economic Development Committee and the Sister Cities Committee, spearheading efforts by the latter body to forge new international ties with cities across the globe, especially in Africa. Alderman Davis is the Honorary Consulate Designee of the State of Wisconsin for the Republic of South Africa.
He also serves as a member of the Milwaukee Economic Development Corporation's Board of Directors. In 2007 he was named chair of the National League of Cities' Community and Economic Development Policy and Advocacy Steering Committee for the year 2008. He has also served as a member of a select focus group of local government leaders asked to help assess an implementation plan for the National City Network, an initiative that connects websites, print communications, government access television, conferences, meetings and other communications offered by the National League of Cities, state municipal leagues and individual cities across the United States. He has served as a member of the Community and Economic Development Policy and Advocacy Steering Committee since 2004, including as Vice Chair during 2006 and 2007.
Working closely with the NLC, in 2005 Ald. Davis fought successfully to maintain Milwaukee's more than $27 million federal allocation of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, which were threatened with cuts.
Legislatively, Ald. Davis was instrumental in helping bring a $12 million retail development to Milwaukee's northwest side in 2004. That development, which transformed an aging shopping center into a thriving retail destination, was sold recently for $55 million. He has also worked to reduce the spread of predatory payday loan businesses, helping to create Milwaukee's Convenient Lending Task Force in 2005. Ald. Davis has sponsored CDBG program reform measures, and he has sought to limit the spread of storefront day care operations and residential group homes to avoid depreciating property values.
After listening to young people who said they wanted to have more of a stake in youth activities and other critical community issues in the City of Milwaukee, in 2004 Ald. Davis became the primary sponsor of the Common Council legislation that created the City of Milwaukee Youth Council. Comprised of 15 high school students ages 18 and under, with one from each aldermanic district, the Youth Council is assessing and evaluating community needs and resources in order to improve conditions for young people in Milwaukee and promote wholesome youth activities in the city. That body marked an historical first in 2006 when members traveled to Washington, D.C. to take part in the NLC's Congressional Cities Conference. In 2005 Ald. Davis helped create the city's Summer Youth Internship Program, an initiative that provided hundreds of paid summer internships in various city departments for young people.
Alderman Davis is a graduate of Custer High School, Michigan State University/United
Association Instructor Program and the State of Wisconsin Building Trades
Apprenticeship Program. For nearly 27 years, he has been a member of the Steamfitters Local 601, has his credentials as a certified international instructor of the United Association and is a past member of the Milwaukee Joint Apprenticeship Committee of the Pipefitting Industry.
Active in his community, Alderman Davis is president of Afro World Enterprise, LTD and founder of the annual youth Blacktop Basketball League at McGovern Park. |