IMPROVING COMMUNITY SAFETY - Through Public Health Strategies LESSONS FROM ATLANTA AND MILWAUKEE - Annie E. Casey ...
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IMPROVING COMMUNITY SAFETY
Through Public Health Strategies
LESSONS FROM ATLANTA AND MILWAUKEE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Foundation would like to thank the many partners who contributed to this report, including: Alfred Garner II, director of Zone 3 Community Initiatives at CHRIS 180; DeMicha Luster, founder of The Urban Advocate; Reggie Moore, former director of the Milwaukee Office of Violence Prevention in the Department of Health; and Markasa Tucker, executive director of the African-American Roundtable. ABOUT THE ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private philanthropy that creates a brighter future for the nation’s children and youth by developing solutions to strengthen families, build paths to economic opportunity and transform struggling communities into safer and healthier places to live, work and grow. For more information, visit the Foundation’s website at www.aecf.org. © 2021, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland Design and production: Shagas Design / Photography: ©Bari R. Love and Caselove, LLC (cover, pp. 8, 12 and 13); Milwaukee Office of Violence Prevention (pp. 3, 14 and 19); UIC Photo Services (p. 6); ©Chiaki Kawajiri (pp. 7 and 11); ©Joe Brusky / Overpass Light Brigade (p. 16); ©Laura Dierbeck, courtesy of MKELifestyle.com (p. 17)
CONTENTS
2 INTRODUCTION
3 A NEW APPROACH TO COMMUNITY SAFETY AND HEALING
7 CURBING VIOLENCE IN ATLANTA WITH COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
14 A CITY-LED PLAN TO REIMAGINE COMMUNITY SAFETY IN MILWAUKEE
19 EARLY LESSONS AND CONSIDERATIONS
20 CONCLUSION
21 ENDNOTES
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 1
introduction
AMERICA IS A TAPESTRY of storied communities, where children
dream of the best the nation has to offer and take pride in the outstanding leaders
who have come before them. Violence, however, hinders the ability of young people
growing up in these places — especially youth of color — to take advantage of
educational and economic opportunities, and leads to trauma that can have lifelong
consequences. Many communities of color continue to bear the brunt of long-
standing discriminatory policies and disinvestment, creating a vicious cycle of poverty
and crime that is hard to escape.
A
s the nation reckons with community violence prevention safety strategies with the support
these and other deeply programs” as part of the proposed of local nonprofits and other
rooted inequities, calls are American Jobs Plan.2 public and private partners.
growing louder for new violence Their stories highlight the many
prevention and safety approaches.1 This report offers early lessons ways that philanthropic and
Communities across the country and recommendations from work system leaders can help catalyze
are rethinking their investments the Annie E. Casey Foundation alternative public safety models
in neighborhood services and is supporting in Atlanta and and support their development
support, implementing innovative Milwaukee to prevent gun and implementation — including
programs focused on healing and violence. These communities are helping to establish a new
working to reduce the roles that part of a national movement to narrative about what it takes
law enforcement and the justice increase safety and heal trauma to keep communities safe and
system play in addressing violence. by examining root causes and building and sharing evidence
At the federal level, President addressing these issues from a on effective public health
Biden has also urged Congress public health and racial justice interventions.
to commit $5 billion over eight perspective. Residents in both
years to support “evidence-based cities are shaping and leading
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 2
A NEW APPROACH
to Community Safety and Healing
As community leaders across the nation work to improve health, education and housing conditions in their
neighborhoods, the damaging effects that gun violence has on these efforts — and the young people and
families who experience it — cannot be overstated.
Gun violence stifles economic The roots of these disparities are safety still heavily rely on policing
growth, lowers home values and complex. They stem from decades and punitive measures, with
damages social networks and of disinvestment, oppression investments primarily made in law
norms. People who are exposed and discriminatory policies,7 enforcement and justice systems.
to shootings and other violent as well as fraught community- These approaches not only have
incidents often suffer emotional police relationships.8 Despite failed to curb violence but also
and psychological damage and can well-documented inequities, have created additional problems,
experience symptoms of post- including the many killings of including mass incarceration
traumatic stress disorder.3 For unarmed Black men and women and the subsequent ripple
children, that resulting emotional at the hands of police that our effects on children, families and
trauma makes it difficult to learn in nation has witnessed in recent communities.9
school and increases the likelihood years, traditional approaches to
that they will abuse substances
and engage in criminal behavior as
adults.4 As these effects accumulate,
neighborhoods become trapped in
a cycle where violence begets more
violence and crime.
These consequences are not
felt evenly. Black Americans
experience shootings and other
violent deaths at 10 times the rate
of white Americans — a larger
gap than that created by other
health issues such as diabetes,
heart disease and asthma.5 Gun
violence is also the leading cause
of death for Black males ages 15
to 24, according to the Centers for
Seeds of Hope garden mural on Milwaukee’s Southside.
Disease Control and Prevention.6
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 3
KEY PRINCIPLES
In response, the Casey Foundation has invested in a multipronged approach to
safety that is rooted in research and driven by community members. It is grounded
in five key principles:
Gun violence is preventable.
PREVENTION
Healing and restorative practices
are crucial to fostering safety.
HEALING
Communities are safer when children
and families have access to educational
OPPORTUNITY and economic opportunities.
The people and communities most
affected by violence and trauma should
COMMUNITY lead the development and implementation
ENGAGEMENT of solutions.
We must openly acknowledge and address
the historic policies and practices that
have led to disproportionate rates of
POLICIES
violence in communities of color, and the
lasting damage they cause.
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 4
The Foundation’s investments • implementing prevention As the work featured in this
are built on the belief that strategies at hospitals, through report shows, both public and
gun violence is a public health trained staff and community private entities have roles to play
epidemic that must be addressed partners who counsel patients in supporting a public health
with preventive measures. Casey with injuries from violence and approach to safety. Residents in
is supporting approaches that aim to steer them away from Atlanta, with funding and support
incorporate an assessment of retaliation; from Casey and other investors,
both risk and resilience factors established a neighborhood-
at the community level and • c reating opportunities for based advisory group and began
that tackle underlying causes, community members to implementing the Cure Violence
interrupt situations likely to address trauma and atone for model. In Milwaukee, another
result in violence and promote wrongdoing through “healing place where the Foundation is
community-wide healing and circles,” with their peers supporting Cure Violence, the
support. providing emotional support movement to reimagine public
during facilitated meetings; safety is being driven by the city’s
To date, the Foundation’s Office of Violence Prevention.
investments have focused on: • a dvocating for public support
of violence intervention Each community developed
• s upporting efforts, such as and redirecting funds from strategies and programs based
the Cure Violence model (see criminalization and detention to on local goals, needs and
more on page 6), that rely on prevention; and circumstances. One common
citizens with life experience and thread underpinning their
strong community ties, known • r esearching community violence
efforts has been the purposeful
as “credible messengers,” who and developing a base of
engagement and inclusion of
can intervene when violence or evidence that shows what works
people living in the areas directly
retaliation is likely to occur; in promoting safety.
affected by violence.
AS THE WORK FEATURED in this report shows, both public
and private entities have roles to play in supporting a public health approach
to safety. Residents in Atlanta, with funding and support from Casey and
other investors, established a neighborhood-based advisory group and began
implementing the Cure Violence model. In Milwaukee, another place where
the Foundation is supporting Cure Violence, the movement to reimagine
public safety is being driven by the city’s Office of Violence Prevention.
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 5
“Having community members take
the lead in identifying problems,
Physician and epidemiologist Gary Slutkin dedicated years of his career
devising solutions and launching
battling disease outbreaks such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS overseas.
interventions is absolutely critical
Upon returning to the United States, he began to see gun violence in a
to be effective,” says Amoretta
similar light as the epidemics he had been treating.
Morris, former director of National
Community Strategies for the Drawing on his public health background, Slutkin established the Cure
Casey Foundation. Violence model, which employs disease control and behavior change
methods to prevent and reduce gun violence and help neighborhoods
Morris, who helped spearhead
heal.
these efforts before leaving the
Foundation to lead Borealis
Philanthropy, was adamant that
residents be supported to take the
lead: “We must have all interested
stakeholders represented at the
table and involved in decision
making from the start so that
strategies can address local needs,
gain acceptance and effectively
drive change.”
CURE VIOLENCE The model has worked
has three core components:
internationally and in major U.S.
cities such as Chicago, where it
led to a significant reduction in
1 Interrupting the transmission of shootings — up to 73% — within
violence. Workers identify and
the neighborhoods where it was
mediate street-level conflicts to
implemented.10
ensure that individuals wounded
by gun violence do not retaliate. For more information about Cure
Violence, including its inception
2 Mitigating risks. Community
members are trained to identify and founding principles; how
and counsel the individuals in their the model works and is adapted
neighborhoods who are most likely to meet a community’s needs;
to commit violence. and where Cure Violence
intersects with community
3 Establishing new norms. Through policing, visit www.aecf.org/
events, group counseling and blog/meet-the-disease-control-
public education, community expert-who-is-curing-an-
outreach workers also help epidemic-of-gun-violence.
establish new norms that deem
violence as an unacceptable
response to conflicts.
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 6
CURBING VIOLENCE
in Atlanta With Community Engagement
Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit V (NPU-V) — which includes the Adair Park, Capitol Gateway,
Mechanicsville, Peoplestown, Pittsburgh and Summerhill neighborhoods — was once a thriving epicenter
for African Americans. Pittsburgh, for example, was established in 1883 by formerly enslaved people, many
of whom sought stable housing and jobs with the nearby railroad companies. By the turn of the century, the
neighborhood was home to a drugstore, barber shops, restaurants and a funeral parlor — as well as the city’s
first African American orphanage and several educational institutions.11
NPU-V began to change, however, tangible change on the ground as with high levels of gun violence,
in the 1950s and ’60s as residents organizational and political leaders Garner still sees the strengths in
moved to surrounding suburbs and changed and priorities shifted. his community. “Folks [here] care
home values declined. Decades of These realities have caused mistrust about their neighborhoods and
disinvestment and displacement between residents, the city and want to see things happen now and
followed — much of which can be other organizations coming into want services and support now, but
traced to discriminatory policies the community, Garner says. they’re very wary of outsiders and
and practices, including the programs coming through for just
construction of interstates 20, 75 And though he acknowledges a season.”
and 85.12 that NPU-V has long struggled
Growing up in a nearby
neighborhood, Alfred Garner often
visited Mechanicsville as a child to
see a family friend. “Going outside
was not necessarily safe,” he says.
“I couldn’t go far, or leave the
street, because of the drugs and
violence.”
Many of the families who did
choose to stay in NPU-V were
eventually pushed out by large
development projects, including
the installation of a major league
baseball stadium in 1997. Outside
entities often came in to launch
new programs and promote
Healing circles, similar to this one from 2019, enable NPU-V residents to address
revitalization, then failed to effect trauma, atone for wrongdoing and receive emotional support.
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 7
DeMicha Luster, an NPU-V resident
and advocate, conducts door-to-door
visits to check on community members
after incidents of violence.
Building trust, gaining community
buy-in and elevating local
leadership have been a core part of
the community safety investments
Casey has been making in Atlanta
since 2016. The process began
with a scan of existing violence
prevention programs and a
listening tour to determine the
scope of problems, priorities and
solutions. An advisory group,
called the NPU-V Community
Safety Committee, was then
formed with residents, local faith
and nonprofit leaders, health
care providers, law enforcement
agencies, Casey staff and other
Garner has met that desire for empathy in connecting with
stakeholders to develop a plan.
services and support head-on. For community members facing
the past three years, he has been violence as well as financial, mental “We had to center the folks who
leading community safety work at health and education struggles. are most directly affected and
the nonprofit CHRIS 180,13 which co-design the investment strategy
provides behavioral health, housing “When I first started in this role,
with them,” Morris says. “Instead
and youth services in the Atlanta I had to go through a process of
of doing this planning work
area and coordinates Casey’s building trust,” Garner says. “I
ourselves, we did it on the ground,
community safety work in NPU-V. showed up consistently. I was at
with the community.”
Following a career as a graduation all the meetings. I was in constant
coach working with students in communication with stakeholders, After conducting this research and
the alternative education program doing small things like helping to hearing from national experts, the
of the local public school system, set up before meetings and break committee chose to prioritize the
Garner has deep experience and things down afterward.” following activities.
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 8THE TRAUMA RESPONSE NETWORK PROCESS
First responders
address situation and
notify community
leaders from the
trauma response Trauma responders are
network. deployed to conduct family
and community outreach.
TRAGIC TRAUMA RESPONSE
INCIDENT NETWORK
affects NPU-V. Community leaders use rubric to debriefs and completes
determine response and activate necessary reports.
other trauma responders
via a phone tree.
• L
aunching regularly scheduled witnessed the violence and engaging over 400 NPU-V
meetings called healing circles, provide connections to local residents. When the COVID-19
where trained residents facilitate resources for further help. pandemic hit in 2020, the
a safe space for reflecting, sharing gatherings went virtual, enabling
feelings and providing emotional • A
dopting the evidence-based attendees to still find support and
support. Cure Violence model, which has discuss topics such as stress and
successfully lowered the shooting anxiety. CHRIS 180 also began
• E
ducating and deploying rate by over 60% in other delivering food and supplies to
volunteers and staff as part of communities. residents who were struggling to
a trauma response network to run errands or pay bills, as well as
immediately follow up with “The Casey Foundation didn’t
sharing instructions on requesting
neighbors and family members come in with a plan and say,
groceries or accessing health
after incidents of violence. ‘This is what we’re going to do in
services — including mental health
These individuals, called trauma your community,’ ”says Garner.
counseling.
responders, participate in an “Instead, they asked, ‘What do
eight-hour training on topics you want to see happen in terms of Trauma responders also have been
including the effects of trauma, safety in this community? How can deployed over 20 times to follow
safety protocols for responding we address gun violence? How can up with families and neighbors
to violent incidents and strategies we help address trauma?’ All these within 48 hours of violent
to foster and protect their own questions and answers came out incidents in NPU-V. While law
mental well-being. Following of a group of elders, community enforcement officials typically
a shooting, trauma responders leaders and other stakeholders.” focus their efforts on victims and
knock on doors, check in with perpetrators of crime, the trauma
Since January 2019, healing circles
community members who response network focuses attention
have been held twice a month,
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 9on those who may not be directly “Sometimes they’ve seen me for peace, interact with community
involved in an incident but are walking around the neighborhood, members and help interrupt some
affected nonetheless, whether as handing out flyers for Halloween of the violence.”
a neighbor, a family member or events and things like that, so it’s
a bystander. nice to see a familiar face,” she says. These outreach workers helped
“They appreciate someone coming defuse conflicts and connect
“A lot of times, the neighbors around to check on them.” neighbors to resources, while also
experience an extreme amount supporting other community
of trauma and are terrified,” According to Luster, loyalty organizations and leaders to
says DeMicha Luster, a resident and togetherness are two of the channel energy into a peace
leader who has been working in neighborhood’s strongest assets. march, town hall discussion
Mechanicsville for six years and “Our community is very resilient, and the creation of an advocacy
frequently participates in trauma and we are willing to fight and agenda. The team recognizes that
response network visits. “Families stand for what we believe is right. responding with care helps to
often want to transfer to another Even when we disagree, we still can reduce retaliation and a continuing
community or send their kid to focus on the overall well-being of cycle of harm, according to Garner.
live with another relative because the community.” Their efforts, however, are not
their house has been shot up too always enough to prevent further
OUR COMMUNITY is very resilient, and we are willing to fight
and stand for what we believe is right.
many times, and you can see the That commitment to justice was violence — but they believe in the
bullet holes across the home.” on display following the shooting power of them and continue to
death of Rayshard Brooks by an press forward.
Luster, who also founded the Atlanta police officer outside a
grassroots organization The Urban fast-food restaurant in Peoplestown When 8-year-old Secoriea Turner
Advocate, believes engaging with in summer 2020. CHRIS 180 was fatally shot in NPU-V soon
residents directly affected by staff deployed to the parking lot, after Brooks, outreach workers
violence is critically important in where large numbers of residents sprang into action once more,
promoting behavior change and had gathered. “Emotions were providing support to her family
preventing retaliation. When she high, and guns were out there,” and the community. It was a
knocks on doors and checks in on says Garner. “But due to the devastating blow to residents and
residents, the reaction usually is relationship that we have in the underscored the dire need for the
positive. community, our Cure Violence people-focused Cure Violence
program staff were able to go down outreach.
there and help create some space
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 10Alfred Garner hugs a fellow
community member at a
resource fair in 2019.
With their firsthandKNOWLEDGE of what it takes to make
peace, credible messengers are crucial in helping residents understand
the role they can play to prevent violence from the start.
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 11A core element of this on-the- the needs of those at high risk of Along with CHRIS 180, the
ground outreach is the hiring engaging in violence. With their NPU-V advisory group is
and training of community firsthand knowledge of what it partnering with nearby Grady
residents — both men and women takes to make peace, credible Memorial Hospital, which serves
of various ages — as credible messengers are crucial in helping the greatest share of gun violence
messengers to work directly with residents understand the role they victims in Atlanta. Doctors and
people in the midst of street-level can play to prevent violence. social workers there are exploring
conflicts, providing mediation various violence intervention
and counseling individuals most “They can go out and identify approaches, including best
likely to commit violence. These where the trouble is and literally practices from the Health Alliance
full-time staff members often have try to stop it from happening, for Violence Intervention,14 to
backgrounds similar to those of getting ahead of a shooting before help gunshot victims process the
the people they serve — in some it takes place,” Garner says. Often, violence they experienced, connect
cases previously instigating violence this means finding out who has them to resources and try to stem
and in others having survived which problem with whom, then retaliation. Grady staff are seeking
the consequences of violence. confronting both parties separately resources to deepen, expand and
Their experience creates a deep and talking them down from sustain this work, and formally
understanding about the dynamics violence. “It’s not an easy job. We coordinate with the Atlanta Cure
of conflict and retaliation and have people trained to go in, ready Violence team.
to stick their neck in, talk to all
the people involved when tensions Early data on these interventions
are high and make sure residents show that they are making a
remain safe and don’t have a difference, despite the historically
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in
situation with guns shooting back violent year Atlanta has had.
2020, CHRIS 180 began delivering
food and supplies to residents who were and forth.”
struggling to run errands or pay bills.
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 12While the city saw a 58% increase
in homicides during the first
half of 2021, rates in NPU-V THIS WORK has helped residents reimagine
stayed relatively flat compared
to previous years.15 “We believe what safety means. They knew that something
the Cure Violence Atlanta team’s different needed to be done, but they just didn’t
work with residents and partners
is beginning to have an impact know what their options were.
and is preventing violence in a
community that has historically
suffered from too much of it,” says
Natallie Keiser, a senior associate
who oversees neighborhood
transformation strategies for
the Casey Foundation’s Atlanta
Civic Site.
The Foundation and its partners
are advocating for sustained private
investment in approaches like
these and seeking public resources
to expand this type of work in
other neighborhoods with high
rates of gun violence. Casey is also
investing in evaluation and research
efforts to build further evidence of
best practices to share with other
communities and funders. helping residents develop and lead DeMicha Luster distributes fliers for a
safety plans. “This work has helped community safety event.
“We cannot take our foot off the residents reimagine what safety
pedal,” says Ade Oguntoye, who means,” Keiser says. “They knew
oversees Casey’s safety investments that something different needed on education, employment, health
in Atlanta alongside Keiser. to be done, but they just didn’t or otherwise — to gain traction.
“Shootings are still taking place in know what their options were. “When communities are safe, we
NPU-V, and community members The work with CHRIS 180, and are better able to make progress
are losing loved ones in nearby the exposure to other approaches in the other aspects of family
neighborhoods. Residents need from across the country, has well-being.”
continued support from the safety allowed residents to innovate
committee and our Cure Violence and adapt effective models to These efforts are catching the eye
partners to heal and head off future meet the specific needs of their of local policymakers. In March
violence.” neighborhoods.” 2021, Atlanta Mayor Keisha
Lance Bottoms pledged $5 million
Oguntoye and Keiser believe Safety, she underscores, is a to help expand Cure Violence
funders have a unique role to play fundamental requisite for any throughout the city, citing the
in creating those opportunities and other effort — whether focused success of the NPU-V pilot.16
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 13A CITY-LED PLAN
to Reimagine Community Safety in Milwaukee
Casey is supporting efforts in Milwaukee to expand a violence prevention initiative similar to Atlanta’s that
grew out of a reassessment of community safety that has been underway for several years. A key moment
came in 2014, when a Milwaukee police officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, an unarmed 31-year-old man
who had been sleeping in a park. The officer was fired from the force but was not charged with a crime. The
killing led to widespread protests, and the fallout highlighted long-standing tensions between the community
and the police department.
The following year, violence creating more equitable health strategies to advance public safety
in the city soared. Homicides and safety outcomes. The city was and well-being.
increased from 88 to 146,17 and committed to ensuring that the
by 2016, Milwaukee was listed resulting plan was developed and “We believe that violence is
as the fifth most dangerous city owned by the entire community.19 more than a problem for police,
in the country.18 The fractured courts and politicians,” the report
relationship with the community This process resulted in the launch states in an opening section.
and the spiking crime rate led of Milwaukee’s first comprehensive “Preventing violence requires
the city government to expand violence prevention plan, known each and every one of us —
its Office of Violence Prevention, as the Blueprint for Peace,20 in parents, young people, schools,
which is housed within the 2017. It focused on public health businesses, hospitals, faith-based
health department, and launch instead of policing, as well as institutions, cultural groups
an ambitious community safety
planning process in fall 2016.
Over 10 months, more than 1,500
people — including residents,
youth organizers, elected officials,
nonprofit leaders, criminal justice
experts and health officials —
came together to discuss how
to make the community safer.
Mayor Tom Barrett appointed
a steering committee to lead
the effort, and the Office of
Violence Prevention facilitated
the planning process with support
from the Prevention Institute,
Reggie Moore, former director of Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention,
a national nonprofit focused on
speaks at the 414LIFE campaign launch in 2018.
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 14and more — working together Milwaukee’s residents must be at stemming from the COVID-19
to promote the preservation of the forefront of change. “When pandemic 22 — and, in part,
life. We must be willing to do violence spiked in 2015, the challenges faced by violence
everything possible to reduce and community rightfully demanded interveners who have had to
ultimately eliminate the likelihood something different,” says Reggie adjust their outreach to conform
of violence occurring in our homes, Moore, who served as director of to social-distancing requirements.
schools and neighborhoods.” the Office of Violence Prevention Still, Moore sees power in the
from 2016 to 2021. Blueprint in driving lasting
The Blueprint for Peace was built change.
on four key principles: In December 2018, after the
Blueprint’s release, Milwaukee “Milwaukee built a movement and
• C OMMUNITY: Youth and families launched the 414LIFE violence raised the profile of violence as a
hurt most by violence should prevention initiative — a public health issue across the city,”
drive the plan and share in partnership between the city, Moore says. “Instead of people
the responsibility of making a local hospital, philanthropic seeing violence as an unsolvable
Milwaukee safer. groups and other stakeholders. issue we could do nothing about,
Similar to the work in Atlanta’s it became understood that it is
• R ESILIENCE: Despite the
NPU-V, Milwaukee uses the Cure a systemic, learned behavior, for
widespread effects of violence,
Violence model to train people which new approaches can have
Milwaukee’s people have
from the community to work an impact. It has inspired hope.”
assets that can foster change,
hand-in-hand with residents on
including strong community Moore says that having a process
violence interruption. 414LIFE
organizations and resident-led that allowed for true community
also assigns a worker to visit
redevelopment initiatives. engagement on safety issues was
shooting victims in nearby
Froedtert Hospital to try to stem vital. In some ways, he says, the
• E QUITY: Because of institutional
the cycle of retaliatory violence process was more important than
racism, violence falls hardest
and connect them with support the final product.
on specific neighborhoods and
populations, including youth, services in the community. The
While the city of Milwaukee drove
women and people of color. program has received more than
the initial process of reimagining
500 referrals to contact shooting
public safety, community
• A CTION: Practical, measurable victims in the hospital, mostly
activists have continued to
strategies are needed. men ages 18 to 35.
press for additional change. For
The document aims to stem Following the launch of the example, they have been holding
violence and addresses the Blueprint and 414LIFE, community meetings over the
underlying factors that contribute homicides in Milwaukee declined past three years to help residents
to it, with strategies focused on markedly. From 2017 to 2019, understand how the city’s budget
promoting restorative justice, for instance, the number dropped is allocated. Markasa Tucker, a
supporting children and youth, from 119 to 98.21 community organizer who helped
generating economic opportunity, lead this work, would often
building safe and thriving Similar to other cities across the display a large chart contrasting
neighborhoods and better nation, though, Milwaukee has the enormous police budget with
coordinating violence prevention seen a recent spike in murders, the smaller sums allocated to
efforts. It makes clear that which experts link to pressures
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 15LiberateMKE advocates for
greater investment in jobs,
public health, housing and
other community services.
PREVENTING VIOLENCE requires each and every one
of us — parents, young people, schools, businesses, hospitals, faith-
based institutions, cultural groups and more — working together
to promote the preservation of life. We must be willing to do
everything possible to reduce and ultimately eliminate the likelihood
of violence occurring in our homes, schools and neighborhoods.
improving community safety through public health strategies: lessons from atlanta and milwaukee / 16Markasa Tucker has been a crucial these meetings early on. “He said support for a different approach
advocate for a new approach to community
safety and investment in Milwaukee. this is the first time in 30 years that to violence in the city.” In June
he’d been invited to come and talk 2019, about 40 organizations
to the community,” Tucker says. came together to create
health, housing and other public LiberateMKE, a partnership that
services. Tucker and her team developed has sustained the effort to invest
a survey to identify budget more in community services.
“I found it to be very disturbing,” priorities, to which more than Later that year, more than 200
says Tucker, who also serves as 1,000 Milwaukee residents Milwaukee residents testified at
executive director of Milwaukee’s responded. Three priorities rose the city’s annual budget hearings
African-American Roundtable. to the top: housing, employment — compared to a handful who
“This is the taxpayers’ money, and for young people and violence had testified the previous year.
it looks like one department is prevention. “That organizing The organization set a goal of
hoarding the money, but they’re affirmed what we heard in the increasing resources for housing,
unable to solve the problems.” development of the Blueprint for public health and other efforts
Peace,” says Reggie Moore. “It that create safety by reducing
Tucker and her team invited the was good to see there was growing police spending by 25%.
city’s budget director to attend
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 17LiberateMKE and its partners, safety approach. In fall 2020, LiberateMKE says it will
including a local grassroots the city increased funding for continue its fight for additional
organization named Metcalfe Park community programs sought by funding for public health and
Community Bridges, have stayed the organization by approving a housing programs. It is asking
active during the pandemic — small cut in the police budget. for a $5 million reduction from
for example, meeting residents the police budget to support
one-on-one on their porches Engaging the community such efforts. The group is also
and holding a community block through meetings, surveys and advocating for a new model
party — with a goal of educating brainstorming sessions remains a to deal with behavioral health
community members and key part of LiberateMKE’s work. emergencies that relies on
fostering their involvement in city “We try to create and cultivate health professionals rather than
budget decisions. spaces for people to imagine police officers, and for more
how to do things differently,” accountability for police.
The group has made some Tucker says. “We had people
progress in convincing the city’s draw pictures of what a healthy
elected leaders to embrace their community looks like. Nobody
vision for a new community included police.”
LIBERATEMKE SAYS IT WILL CONTINUE ITS FIGHT
for additional funding for public health and housing programs. It is asking
for a $5 million reduction from the police budget to support such efforts.
The group is also advocating for a new model to deal with behavioral health
emergencies that relies on health professionals rather than police officers,
and for more accountability for police.
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 18EARLY LESSONS
and Considerations
The work in Atlanta and Milwaukee has already surfaced important lessons for the Casey Foundation and
other partners interested in supporting community-led safety efforts.
• Engaging local community leaders and residents early and often is key to ensuring
local buy-in and community ownership of chosen solutions.
• Building trust and relationships with community members takes time. Patience
with the process and relationship building helps ensure solutions have roots that
will grow.
• Providing for adaptability and evaluation of what does and does not work will
allow for greater effectiveness and sustainability of strategies. This is especially
important in areas where many pilot projects and innovative ideas have arisen and
then died down quickly when immediate results were not achieved.
• Shifting to community-driven and prevention-focused approaches is not always
easy. Because traditional law-enforcement and punitive approaches are deeply
ingrained and heavily resourced, partners must be willing to go against the tide at
times.
• Providing residents with opportunities to learn from peers in other locations who
have successfully implemented prevention solutions is key.
We Got This, a program
for young men founded by
Milwaukee resident Andre
Lee Ellis, promotes self-
efficacy by pairing youth
with community-based role
models, offering opportunities
to earn money and teaching
gardening skills.conclusion
A
ny effort to improve service providers, business leaders evidence on effective public health
youth and family well- and law-enforcement agencies, interventions.
being cannot fully to reimagine their approaches to
succeed if people are unable to safety and violence prevention. The need for this work has never
go about their daily activities been clearer. As communities
free of violence and harm. When The Foundation also hopes to continue to grapple with the
individuals do feel safe in their inspire other philanthropies effects of the COVID-19
neighborhoods, they are more to support this work in ways pandemic — including spikes
likely to trust public systems and that align with their missions in homicides and other violent
access needed services, engage and goals. This can take many crime — as well as racial
and advocate on behalf of their forms, including developing injustices and the resulting unrest,
communities and pursue life and and strengthening community- public and private entities have
career goals. Community safety based interventions; supporting an important role to play in
increases overall economic activity the efforts of public and private supporting residents to reimagine
and school attendance and reduces partners to develop a shared restorative approaches to safety.
involvement in the child welfare safety agenda; funding models The Foundation is continuing
and juvenile justice systems. that have successfully redirected its investments in Atlanta and
resources from punishment and Milwaukee and has begun
The Casey Foundation hopes confinement to prevention; supporting similar work in
the early lessons and successes helping to establish a new Jackson, Mississippi, and Baton
highlighted in this report can narrative about what it takes Rouge, Louisiana, to address
help public and private entities, to keep communities safe; and gun violence and create safer
including government officials, helping to build and share neighborhoods.
the annie e. casey foundation/www.aecf.org / 20ENDNOTES
1 Brooks, B. (2021, April 13). 8 Giffords Law Center. (2019, 16 Mayor’s Office of
Citizens lead the call for police reform May 1). N.Y. Rifle & Pistol v. Beach: Communications. (2021, March
since George Floyd’s death. Reuters. Supporting Strong Licensing Standards 31). Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
Retrieved from www.reuters.com/ for Concealed Carry (Amicus brief ). delivers 2021 State of the City Address
world/us/protesting-shaping-police- Retrieved from https://giffords.org/ (Press release). Retrieved from www.
reform-citizens-lead-way-since-george- lawcenter/amicus-brief/n-y-rifle-pistol- atlantaga.gov/Home/Components/
floyds-death-2021-04-13 v-beach-defending-strong-licensing- News/News/13655/1338
standards-for-concealed-carry
2 The White House. (2021, March 17 Journal Sentinal. (n.d.). Milwaukee
31). Fact sheet: The American Jobs 9 The Annie E. Casey Foundation. homicides. Retrieved June 21, 2021,
Plan. Retrieved April 15, 2021, from (2016, April 18). A shared sentence: from https://projects.jsonline.com/
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/ The devastating toll of parental apps/Milwaukee-Homicide-Database
statements-releases/2021/03/31/ incarceration on kids, families and
fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan communities (KIDS COUNT policy 18 Sauter, M. B., Stebbins, S., &
report). Baltimore, MD: Author. Frohlich, T. C. (2016, October
3 Pinderhughes, H., Davis, R., Retrieved from www.aecf.org/ 1). The most dangerous cities in
& Williams, M. (2015). Adverse resources/a-shared-sentence America. USA Today. Retrieved from
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framework for addressing and preventing 10 Cure Violence. (n.d.). Evaluation business/2016/10/01/most-dangerous-
community trauma. Oakland, CA: of Cure Violence Chicago. Retrieved cities-america/91227778
Prevention Institute. Retrieved from from https://1vp6u534z5kr2
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default/files/publications/Adverse%20 com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin
Community%20Experiences%20 Skogan-2009-Eval.pdf Endowment at the Medical College
and%20Resilience.pdf of Wisconsin, with support from the
11 Johnston, T. (2012, July 8). Tides Foundation and the federal
4 National Institute of Justice. Preserving Atlanta’s Pittsburgh ReCAST Milwaukee initiative.
(2016, September 21). Children neighborhood against all odds.
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children-exposed-violence preserving-atlantas-pittsburgh- blueprint for peace. Milwaukee,
neighborhood-against-all-odds WI: City of Milwaukee Health
5 Heron, M. (2019). Deaths: Leading Department, Office of Violence
causes for 2017. National Vital 12 Givens, D. (2017, Nov. 18). Prevention. Retrieved from https://
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nvsr68_06-508.pdf Medium. Retrieved from https:// Reports/20171117OVP-Report-
daringivens.medium.com/ MKEBlueprintforPeace-Low-Res.pdf
6 Office of Minority Health & interstates-racial-segregation-and-
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htm#anchor_1571149616 Intervention. (n.d.). Healing systemic Retrieved from www.jsonline.com/
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in the criminal justice system. New York, historically deadly 2020, Atlanta
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