This job was facilitated by FirstPathway
Partners Regional Centers
Isaiah Perez
Member Services and
Development Coordinator
for the Water Council
Global Water Center
Milwaukee, Wis.
Deep inside Milwaukee’s historic Walker’s Point neighborhood, near the confluence of the Milwaukee, Menomonee,
and Kinnickinnic rivers, sits the Global Water Center. The
seven-story building is the physical manifestation of the Water
Council, a regional non-profit that drives economic growth in
the city’s budding “blue tech” industry.
Isaiah Perez has seen the effects of that growth first-hand.
Perez is a Milwaukee native that grew up in Walker’s Point and
attended the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Perez is the member services and development coordinator
for the Water Council. He joined the Water Council as an intern before the center officially opened in 2013, and was hired
full-time shortly after.
“Milwaukee has an extensive history with water-related
industries,” Perez told EB5 Investors Magazine. “The main one
that jumps out to most people is brewing, because Milwaukee
was home to several of the country’s largest breweries over the
last century.”
“We also have a long history with the meat packing and tanning industries,” he added. “Because of that there are more than
160 water-related companies and support business that helped
these industries shaped Milwaukee’s economy in the past.”
As a Milwaukee native, Perez knew that he wanted to get
involved with the Global Water Center early on to help facilitate growth within the industry. After graduating from UWM,
he interned at a marketing company. As that internship was
coming to a close, he had expressed interest about the Water
Council to one of his supervisors. The next thing he knew, he
was introduced to several people at the Water Council.
Perez said his position allows him to connect with his community in special and organic ways. His job also affords benefits
that he did not expect so early in his career - like paying off
student loans and purchasing a home.
Even though the blue technology industry is growing because
of the Milwaukee’s deep water-related roots, there are still many
people in the city that are unaware of what is going on.
“Educating people about what is going on in the water industry here in Milwaukee is the most fulfilling thing,” Perez said.
“A lot of people, even here in the city, don’t really understand
the momentum that is going on behind the scenes here in
Milwaukee. Just talking with people about the developments
here is fulfilling, because I’m kind of like a public ambassador
for what is going on in the community.”
Recent redevelopment of the Walker’s Point area has driven
an economic resurgence for southeastern Milwaukee, Perez
said, though the outlook for the neighborhood was not always
this positive.
“There were a lot of empty warehouses, but now they are
finding new life as commercial or residential spaces. It has been
tremendous to see the growth since we’ve been in the building,”
Perez said. “This area has been undergoing a transformation
recently, even before the Global Water Center opened, so we
don’t like to take all the credit for the development that has
been going on around us now, but we have certainly added to
that momentum.”
For Perez, being a part of that growth in his hometown has
been a life-changing experience.
“To see over the last 20 years how the area has gone from
what it used to be to what it is today is pretty tremendous,”
Perez said. “Walker’s Point is my home and I’ve been here for so
long, and to see it taking off again is very exciting.”
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