A flag to unite Milwaukee

Greater Together and The People’s Flag of Milwaukee are teaming up to change the face of Milwaukee as we know it. Three dedicated individuals are working to give Milwaukee’s flag a long overdue makeover.

The Miwaukee flag was featured on a TED Talk by Roman Mars, where the symbol of our city was ridiculed for its lack of simplistic design.

Steve Kodis, the creative lead at The People’s Flag of Milwaukee, is looking to the future of Milwaukee’s flag. Kodis is teaming up with Greater Together, a nonprofit organization that is working to make the greater Milwaukee’s secret weapon diversity, starting with a new flag.

Catherine Wilson is the associate director of Greater Together, who believes a new flag will hold deeper meaning, raising awareness on important issues in Milwaukee and challenging the current status quo.

After two failed attempts at changing the flag, Wilson is optimistic that a new “flag is one way that we can reimagine our city.”

Like Wilson, Kodis and Dan Wooters, the director of social media for The People’s Flag of Milwaukee, are optimistic about a new flag and are spreading the word through various social media networks, including Facebook and Twitter.

These organizations are calling 414 residents to design and submit up to 5 flag submissions, with over 500 designs already submitted. The deadline is fast approaching on April 14, 2016.

A group of designers and historians will decide the top 50 designs, which will be showcased. There will be five finalists, where the Milwaukee public will get to have a hand in deciding which flag will be named the winner.

The winner will be announced on 88.9 Radio Milwaukee on June 14, 2016.

This is just the beginning to a new future for Milwaukee. A new flag will create a ground where conversations about the major problems in Milwaukee can happen.

As Kodis so simply states it, a new flag will “get down to the ethos of what we believe about this city.”