WestCare Wisconsin, Inc., (WC-WI) is leading grant efforts to adequately fund programming in the Harambee community of Milwaukee. High rates of crime, poverty, unemployment, poor health, struggling schools, and inadequate housing keep many residents and local businesses from reaching their full potential.

The Harambee area, a community full of historic homes and antique churches, encompasses a radius of approximately 160 blocks. Its name signifies two things: the abundant presence of African American residents and a spirit of community that remains rooted in the old neighborhood. "Harambee" is a Swahili word that means "pulling together." The name was adopted by a project of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Extension in 1974. UWM Extension staff taught courses on political awareness and developed a pilot ombudsman project that supported block leaders and responded to resident complaints, which later became the Harambee Ombudsman Project, Inc. In 2012, Dr. James G. White, a prominent community leader and formerly elected Milwaukee County supervisor, established WC-WI. The WC-WI initiative continued the mission of the Harambee Ombudsman Project., Inc., building on the foundation of 37 years of community outreach experience.

Since 2012, WC-WI and the Milwaukee Police Department have been fighting violence in their city by utilizing available resources and community partnerships. The target area, while in the heart of a historic cultural district, has some disparaging statistics. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 45 percent of residents live below the poverty level, and 25 percent of the working-age population is unemployed, twice the city's unemployment rate (12 percent).

The lack of employment and economic opportunities in Milwaukee are the leading factors contributing to the risk of structural violence at the community level. Community members indicate that diminished access to essential resources such as health services, food, childcare, transportation, after-school programming, and recreation increases the risk of violence. Racial segregation from opportunities and concentrated disadvantage within the city were identified as prominent risk factors and examples of structural violence. In fact, Milwaukee's zip code area 53206, which is adjacent to the Harambee district, has the highest rate of incarcerated African American men in the United States. In addition, Milwaukee is ranked as one of the most segregated cities in the country, and Wisconsin is ranked as one of the most segregated states.

The program goals of WC-WI's Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) initiative are to reduce crime, increase mutual trust, and improve community safety as part of a comprehensive strategy to rebuild Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) neighborhoods and spur revitalization. WC-WI President Travis Landry will lead the management team to formalize cross-sector collaboration. Collectively, the management team will target focus areas of crime and employ data-driven strategies to accomplish this goal. The future vision for the target QOZs is to reverse the trend of violent crime by providing a safe place to live and work.

At the beginning of the Planning Phase, WC-WI hired Kevin Brown to serve as the BCJI program director. The Planning Phase included training and orientation of decision-making processes, conflict resolution, and the development of memorandums of understanding (MOU) and safety partnership agreements within the cross-sector team. The cross-sector management team discussed violence prevention research strategies and identified diverse primary data collection and distribution sources. This will begin regular data exchanges to address specific crime drivers.

The goals of the project are to bridge the relationship between the police and the community, reduce crime, increase property value, increase economic vitality, improve the quality of life, and increase the number of youths educated about the benefits of making better choices to increase their chance of becoming productive citizens. To achieve these goals, the grantee site, and its project partners, will implement the following strategies: 

• Youth Services: Establish a credible messenger program to connect all young people to healthy homes and supportive communities and provide preventative support.
• Neighborhood Improvement: work with low-income owner occupants to help resolve municipal building and safety code violations and reduce lead-based paint hazards so residents can remain in their homes.
• Family Crisis Prevention: empower families and individuals by providing collaborative strength-based services, domestic violence prevention or child abuse and neglect prevention services to families or family advocates to improve their quality of life.
• Skilled Trades Preparation: Offer a training program to integrate work-based learning with vocational and academic skills training for youth and young adults in the target areas.

Milwaukee Police Department District 5, Grace Fellowship Church of Milwaukee