Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson looks at Jay McKenna and Alfredo Martin while speaking at the Mitchell Street branch ribbon cutting.

After postponing the ceremony for a week due to weather, our new Mitchell Street branch celebrated its opening on Milwaukee’s South Side with a ribbon cutting last Thursday, March 2, attended by Mayor Cavalier Johnson, North Shore Bank executives, and community leaders.

The new branch, off Mitchell and South 13th streets, replaces the branch inside the nearby El Rey Foodmart. The El Rey branch opened in 2004 as part of an active effort to court and serve the area’s growing Latino community. As local NBC affiliate WMTJ noted, the new location is well suited to offer even more resources to the neighborhood.

Manager Alfredo Martin’s bilingual staff moved with the branch from El Rey to Mitchell Street — and grew, as well. In addition to standard features like private offices, a larger lobby, and a coin-counting machine, the new location also houses a workspace for some of our video tellers.

In the video teller space at Mitchell Street: Maria Baumer, Maria Navarro, and Estefania Rios.

“North Shore Bank has been a consistent partner in the city of Milwaukee, and today that partnership takes another important step forward,” Mayor Johnson said in a speech at the event.

As at El Rey, the Mitchell Street branch will focus on offering not just banking services but also financial education to customers and area residents.

Alfredo, Mitchell Street assistant branch manager Maria Castro, tellers Heidy Campos-Cueto, Vanessa Reyes, and Jennifer Morris, personal banker Claudia Rubio, and universal banker Jorge Guel.

“We’ve been part of the neighborhood for almost 20 years, but we’ve moved more than once during that time,” said North Shore Bank president and CEO Jay McKenna, who also spoke at the ribbon cutting, along with Alfredo. “After all that time, it’s nice to settle into this new space. We’re looking forward to continuing to serve a community that obviously means a lot to us.”