Milwaukee’s Fight Against Violence: Innovative Solutions and Community Engagement

Good morning. Good morning. What's happening family? Welcome to the show. It is Michelle Brian here. WN O V 8 60 a.m. 106.5 FM. You are listening to say something real. Let me say good morning to my folks on Facebook and YouTube if they have checked in yet.

You're looking to see what's going on. Is the reigning champion back on top? There you go. Zebra! Nothing to it but to do it. Oh my god. You did not put that in the chat. Good morning Zebra S3. Good morning. Nothing to it but to do it.

You know how can you why they ask you man? They are asked to see if we had never said nothing. You would have been maintaining your spot. They are at you. What's up, Al Walters? Good morning fam. How you doing? Where you at? You know the one to be so dope. If you did something like the first person to log on for a week straight.

We're in some type of prize. You don't just have some time. Oh, we can do that. We can do that. I do a gas car. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

20% for all ships going through the airport. Straight. So, so we'll, I'll get a promo kit. Yeah, we got it. But it gotta be a week straight.

Because since you can't miss, if you miss, it start over. You gotta be, okay, so. Oh, that's gonna be a battle, man. Oh, okay. And so, yeah, they get a gas car. And if you live out of state, we'll send you your car out of state, because I know we got some out of state folks out here. We'll send you your car out of state. May it always create work for me, man. Oh my God. Oh, I love you. Look, it was so quiet while you were here yesterday. Well, guess what? Nope. I'm back. Oh, let me see those things.

Oh somebody said it was great to see my childhood friend Jerry Johnson yesterday. You know somebody else was talking to me. I think that was Clark because I was talking about how Jerry Johnson be dressing from JP Morgan Chase. And you said he just liked that in high school or in school. He was clean all the time. He was a preppy guy. Look I understood, understood. So before I, well let me just say good morning to the brudge first. So how you doing Clark? What's going on bro?

Man. Good and great. I slept, you know what? I slept on the time I got out of here at 3 o'clock until 11 o'clock that night. Say what?

I slept. Boy, you needed that. I did. I did. You needed all of that. That's how I'm more like slumber to me. Man, I was like, woo. And then I got up and went right back to get right back to bed. Now I feel a bit of great. I'm working on one of them, Daddy. I promise. I just, I just, you know what? But if I sleep too long, I wake up with a headache and my back be hurting.

It's the worst. I need to lose weight. I need to lose weight. I need to lose weight. I'm like, uh, this is not comfortable. You just sleep in. I know. Anything past six hours. It's, it's not even working for me because I wake up in my bag and be here and I'm like, no. I literally will say that.

I have a headache. I'm like, man, I slept too long. My body don't even know what to do with seven, eight hours of sleep. Like, are we dying? What's happening? Uh, what up, Rod? How are you doing today? You weren't here yesterday, player. Yeah, you know, cell, I was, I was out yesterday. And, uh, and I really missed you guys. I missed you guys, you know, uh, uh, I felt like, uh,

It was very, very hot outside yesterday. It's going to be hot today, too. You know what? Fire. These informative weather announcements. Keep some water with you. Are just, just amazing. Yeah, you know, but I missed you guys, but I'm glad to be back. And I heard something that Keith said yesterday. What did he say? What did he say? They was talking about scratch ice cream.

And Debo said...

He said it, but I heard it. It must be the chair.

We heard it and I want to be clear we knew that But I personally is like it's hiring decisions There's a type everybody has a type when they do hiring and y'all at a time

So yes, um, but other than that, I'm not gonna take them times. I know we got some very bad stuff. We got to get to I got the county coming in this morning. But let me start off right now with, um, where is it? Uh, no, some of my photos. So there was a post on social media yesterday. Uh,

You know One of the things I always talk about is You got people that's out here Working on behalf of the community and frequently they don't take care of themselves Some of their own personal self-falls by the wayside they use their own money, you know, and It's a running joke between me and some of my friends, you know, you'll be broke

and sick messing with the black community because you always in your pocket trying to figure out how to help somebody through a situation and Sometimes you do that to expensive your own stuff because you like you know what I'll get it back. I got a job I got resources, so I'll be able to make it up on the next pay period So yeah, let me go and help somebody with this now Or you know

you rip and run, like I was just telling Clark, I was like, man, if you walk in the house this morning, because me and LaQuisha got so much going on. If you walk in the house this morning, it looked like ain't nobody straight up this house in a hundred years. And I mean, now you heard the difference. So I say, ain't nobody clean this house because the house is always clean. But it ain't straight.

Yeah, so you know like I got piles of files right here and you know, we got the HBCU college tour planning We got the NAACP auction stuff planning and you know stuff coming in, you know Then she got 17 projects for the leaks in a case. I got Delta stuff I mean like it is madness in this house. We just looked at each other yesterday We both sit at the kitchen table computers up

We get down to like 12 30 in the morning and finally was like man I gotta go to bed. I was like, I'll see you later and she was still up when I went to bed. She was still up working and um You know, but we looked around at the house was like man. Ain't nobody about to mess with this house That's how crazy it gets so I said all of that to say that When I think about somebody that is always putting

the community ahead of themselves and sometimes to the point that this brother, you know, can financially be strapped because he given everything, helping people. Now he is having his own crisis or situation. Von Mays.

Vaughn has been in the studio. I don't know how many times over the years Every time he comes it is about a program a lock-in for the kids a program the parks event a you know Security type situation for the community Partnerships before one for life toy giveaways for kids for Christmas. I mean you name it this brother's name is attached to it well

Evidently, Vaughn experienced a fire at his home. And so I don't know how bad things are, but the way it was described, it was devastating. And so there is actually a group of folks that have come together to do a fundraiser now for Vaughn. The person who was normally helping now needs some help. So this group is faith in humanity. We walk by faith, not by sight.

presents a fundraiser for Vaughn Mays and his family after devastating house fire. So today, July 14th, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., they are going to be over at this place called Freight 38, which is 838 South 1st Street, where they will be accepting donations to help Vaughn

you know, get back on his feet after this house fire. And there are a number of folks that are helping out. But if you can't make it, then you can do online donations to Vaughn at Cash App Vaughn, Vaughn, Maze, M-A-Y-E-S, M-K-E. That's his Cash App Vaughn, Maze, M-K-E, Vaughn.

M-A-Y-E-S-M-K-E. He's on Vimo, same thing, Vame's M-K-E. And on PayPal, it's Young, Y-U-N-G, capital L-A-M-K-E. So it is one of those rare times where the person who typically is on the giving end is now in need himself.

I encourage people that, you know, if you can help out in some way to please consider doing so, I will be making sure that I do that. Oh, somebody said put a dollar sign in front of it on Cash App. Even though I found on Cash App, if you just type it in, they'll add the dollar sign. But this is one of those signs that

Again, this is somebody who goes above and beyond, has always done it as long as I've known him, never asked for anything for himself. And I have watched him, you know, when programs fall short, funding does not come through. He goes in his own pocket to make sure that that program is successful or that the people in the community have what they need. And so now here, you know,

this brother finds himself in this in this similar situation. So there's a lot of people know this brother. Yes. And, um, oh, Clark, uh, on the screen, Vaughn's name is, um, V-A-U-N. Thanks for pointing out our family. Uh, but so, yeah, so let's, uh, if we can do anything to help this brother, um,

because God knows he has been there for other folks when they couldn't be there for themselves. I mean, the work that they do in their community group, I have seen somebody say, hey, domestic violence situation, we got a woman and child needs somewhere to go. And they start scrambling and figuring out where this woman is going to go.

And, uh, it's just, it's just crazy work, you know, first on the scene when a lot of, you know, horrific crimes happen in our community. So his brother needs some help just, you know, today. And if there's anything we can do, and I know, I know, I know, I know. Everybody stress stand. I get it. Don't hurt yourself. Um, if you can't, you can't send up prayers for him. Um, you know, uh,

And then I will find out, I'll reach out to him and find out if there's some physical things he needs, because people may not always have money, but they're like, hey, you know, I got some extra this or I got, you know, table set down in my basement. I'm not using it if he needs, you know, a new table and chairs to get him back on his feet. So I'll get in touch with him and figure out what's happening and what he needs. So I just wanted to flag that this morning.

A couple of local things before I try to work in some nationals and I'll give an update on the young sister and her child who, you know, we have been helping here at the station. Let me just say that her situation has not changed a lot. We are still like helping her waiting for, you know, sort of things like her ID to get.

you know, done, because she was from, I had an out of state ID. And so that kind of holds the process in place. But when I tell you that this woman would have still been on the streets, she would have still been on the streets. And I just, you know, you may not always be the most religious person, but boy, you talking about faith and understanding that other powers were at play.

to make sure that you okay? That's what this moment feels like. Listen, I promise you, she told me when she got in the car that she prayed to God for help. She prayed like, God, what am I going to do? I need help. And, you know, just picking her up from that.

You know, because I had asked about her when I came in, you know, I haven't heard anything. So I was like, how was the young lady doing? And when you told me that, I said, what? Yeah, we still we still doing, you know, the exact same things. It's just, you know, the resolution is there. We just got to get, you know, just what you got to have to hold you until you get there because.

like I said, she had an out of state ID and she went to DMV to get the new ID, but you had to have the proof of residence, you know, where you stay, a utility bill, something, and she didn't have any, she doesn't stay any place. So Jess, imagine doing all of that with no phone and you trying to figure out what to do. No phone, no money. Yeah, how you even pay for that. But so, you know, she had to go back and get her employer to

you know redo her paycheck so she could show proof of residence and the thing that's so crazy like now literally her residence is my residence as we are trying to you know navigate this whole thing so yeah when I say yeah yeah because she had no residence it's like you don't even have a shelter residence you have your homeless you have no residence so when people say I need proof of residence for your state ID

Like, unless you know to say, you know, but you're not even affiliated with the shelter for real, because there's no space, there's no room. So what do you put down on the ID when they say I need proof of residence that you, man, when I tell you as well, navigating these systems, if people make you sound like, you know, oh, this is available and that's there and that's that.

But when I tell you, it's not as easy as it sounds. And all you gotta have is the least little, you know, hiccup and it can throw everything else into like high, you know, just you just out. And then I'm gonna just be honest too, it seems like some people are quick to like want to be done with it. And so.

You know, oh, this didn't happen. And so now nobody's calling anymore. Nobody's trying to help anymore. And it's like, man, stop playing. So yeah, I'm very disgusted with the system right now. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm very disgusted. I will say that I did get a call from one of our listeners who works at a facility. And they had openings and she called and said, hey, you know, you may want to tell her to come through.

Um, they didn't have work restrictions on what time she had to be back at the facility. Um, but I told her, I said, um, this apartment thing is right here, you know, like we right there on the apartment. In fact, if I just got to go ahead and, you know, help her get in it, I'm going to do that. Um, and so there may be another sister who does not have anything that's like right there. Right. You know, so leave that spot.

for another sister who has nothing, you know, that we don't know. Like, literally, there is nobody helping. So I just said, no, we almost got her across the finish line. Get that spot to somebody who is in the beginning of this process. Yes. So I got a quick question. Yeah. So if she didn't have an address or anything like that in, you know, because of her situation, right, if she didn't run into us, whatever, what

would then happen. Is there any type of emergency type of something that would have kicked in for her? Not that I have seen um um JC I just saw the cash I've come through for Von forwarded to him right now uh or on the break uh and thank you thank you so much brother um

If you know like I know there's some places that like you could use your address like some of these agencies They'll just tell you use our address So at least you can get the bar rolling on the ID but in terms of emergency services like I said can't imagine Everybody tell you call 211 for help and you call them and 211 say hey, we can't do nothing for you. Call us back in two weeks Why would I call you back call us back in two weeks and that's and that's exactly what happened

But I'm saying, well, why would I call you back in two weeks when I need you now? And I mean, you know, but the sad part is two weeks later, she still could have, like if you hadn't been able to kind of find folks that kind of figure out some things for you, you still need help. You still need to say this. You in the same situation he was two weeks ago. So anyway, let me move on. Let me take my first break. And then when I come back in, I'm going to run like.

I'm gonna try to run like five stories together before Milwaukee County comes in.

We will we will pick up when I get back be right back on WNOV Yeah, welcome back to the show, you know, we read your little comments Facebook and YouTube What is this message about me if? We get a contest with and we get a hundred likes for a straight week on YouTube You'll wear your hair without a hat

You know what, this ain't about me. But okay, if we get 100 straight bikes for a week, I wear my hair every day. I wear what we're had for a whole week. You know what, me too. Me too. Me too.

People don't understand. I wear hats all the time. It's safe for this radio station. I wear hats every day. But OK, challenge accepted. What's going on, Colorado? I see you, fam. How are you doing? OK, so a couple of quick things. Heat advisory today. Heat advisory today. Yesterday was hot, but because it felt it was a little bit of a breeze. It was like a little bit of wind. It wasn't like it didn't seem like it was the end of the world hot.

But it was still hot yesterday. If you were out there for an extended period of time, you understood it's hot out here. Today, 99 degrees. MPS has canceled their rec sites, their summer academy because the weather is ridiculous. So today and tomorrow MPS

has put out something. It should have been on all the news outlets that they have canceled. Summer Academy and the rec sites, they are going to keep the splash pads open. But just understand, don't send your babies out here tomorrow, today and tomorrow. In terms of other closures for the city, I would encourage you to just check with places. If you know there's some places that you go that traditionally can

close down because of weather related issues. Reach out to them before you go to make sure that those places are still open. I will be looking for the list. If I see them before we get off the air, I'll make sure that you are aware of that. Alright, so.

Let me take a second because I've been meaning to get to this. I haven't had an opportunity. But over the last couple of days, there was information that came out regarding one of the Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates, Sarah Rodriguez, that she had to fire her campaign manager quote over serious mismanagement. Okay. So.

uh, the story, Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez terminated her campaign manager over incomplete finance reports just days before a prime time debate and the upcoming August primary election. Uh, and let me just see if there's anything in here really, you know, let me see, let me see. Uh, just hours, uh, from his mansion fighter from his management, leaving the campaign with hundreds of thousands of dollars less than believed.

Did you hear what I just said? So Sarah Rodriguez, the Democratic candidate for governor and sitting lieutenant governor, vowed to stay in the race Monday afternoon, just hours after firing her longtime campaign manager for serious mismanagement and financial inaccuracies, leaving the campaign with hundreds of thousands of dollars.

less than believed. Quote, I am hurt, angry, and deeply disappointed by someone I trusted to run my campaign. Rodriguez said in the afternoon conference, news conference at her headquarters in Madison. Rodriguez said she discovered last week her campaign manager was double counting some contributions, leaving the campaign with about $200,000 cash on hand headed into the final month of the primary. I trusted her to do the job that I hired her to do.

that she had done for her entire career, and I regret putting my trust in that individual. Rodriguez said the campaign have forwarded the information to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission. As the campaign continues its own internal investigation, you know, blah, blah, blah. So this is the thing that is funny to me. Remember when the person working for

Uh, the county messed up on the healthcare contract stuff. Remember that? Remember that? I believe Sarah Rodriguez was one of the first people to question David Crawley's ability to manage because this happened on your watch. Wow. See how you ain't got to do nothing but wait. Yeah. That's all you gotta do.

Because she took that as a opportunity as a shot to question David Crawley's management ability because this failure with the health care contract and whatever, you know, the perceived damage is going to be blah, blah, blah. It happened on his watch. You see how easy it is for something to happen on your watch?

because at the end of the day, she's the campaign manager. It's your campaign. She's the campaign manager. It's your campaign. So if the buck stops with the name on the door for the county, how come the buck doesn't stop with the name on the door for the campaign? And then here is someone who's done this for years, according to your statement.

Has not ever had these problems or I guess I never been caught having problems And then now I trusted her and I I shouldn't have trusted her and I'm gonna forge on hey, hey, hey Be a leader fan Don't don't don't sound sad and crying down be a leader, but look at how stuff works

Because when something happened on DC watch that DC was not in control of directly People it was all kinds of layers of folks that had to report to DC before it made it to DC about what's going on with this health care contract On a campaign this ain't no big staff what you got like 12 people working for you This is not no humongous team

But your campaign manager reports to one person you and You want to be a steward of the state's finances? you only got one direct report in terms that campaign manager and You didn't know what was going on you had no general idea about how much money was coming in

So when you say like she was and I'm saying this as somebody who does campaign finance reports and have done them for years Learned how to do it because of working on Senator Taylor's our campaigns and then location Myers campaigns but I do finance reports and There's one thing that's easy and this is why it's all interesting to me because

The bank statements will tell you what you got in the bank. So while you may do double entries on the finance report, that actual information that you type it into the computer, and you know, it's going to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, or I forgot the name, whatever the agency is, that you know where the reports go.

Your bank statement still got the real number in it. You can't fake the bank statement. You can't double dip or double entry on the bank statement. So stop trying to, you know, make me believe that nobody looked at the bank statement and said, what's on the bank statement? Don't align with what's on the damn furnace reports. Who's watching the bank statements? So no, man. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This don't work for me.

This does not work for me. We not just getting ready to be like, oh my God, the campaign manager is a liar. And, you know, she was incompetent and, ah, no, no, no, no. And we having regular meetings and candidates are getting updates on how much money we got. The one thing most candidates keep up with is how much money do we have? Because that speaks to their ability

to stay in this race. That dictates being able to go up on TV. You know, if you're going to be able to advertise, how long are you going to be able to pay your staff? All of those things are a direct result of understanding that's the most important thing you managing is that finance report. So the lady who wanted to get at David Crawley because the health care contract

You know, laps, you know, whatever you did back then. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, because you ain't, you ain't managing. How many people work at the county? Let me see. How many people work for Milwaukee?

County. Um, oh wait, about 6,000. So David Crawley could at any day be called to the carpet for what one of his many thousands of employees do. Again, I don't know what the exact number of her campaign team is, but if it's over 12 or 15, I would be stunned. I would be stunned. The operations, even for a governor's race, are not that bad.

not in terms of paid positions. I would be stunned. So I gotta go to break, but I just want to say to Sarah Rodriguez.

You can miss me with them. Miss me, baby. If you was monitoring your business, you wouldn't have been in the situation. I'll be right back. All right, family, welcome back to the show. So before I switch gears in these last couple of minutes before our guests arrived, I had to go back and pull what Sarah Rodriguez said about Milwaukee County executive David Crawley.

In February of 2026, Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez criticized Milwaukee County Executive David Crawley's leadership after his administration's benefits director allowed the county employee health insurance contract to lapse. Rodriguez called the incident, quote, a breakdown in leadership, expressing concern for county employees and retirees. So where the hell is your breakdown in leadership? Because you don't even have a big team.

You gotta like to help people. Where's your breakdown in leadership that your campaign manager, and this is a funny thing. So I'm like, so your campaign manager is also the person who does your finance reports. Now this does happen, but on smaller campaigns.

Like I could be the campaign manager and the person entering the finance data even though you do have a treasurer for your campaign but on a gubernatorial campaign you tend to have a campaign manager and a finance director or a person doing your you know that handles your finances and they're not the same people so I'm wondering now about the operation overall because

If you are a well financed organization, you those are not to say the campaign manager is not filling out finance reports. They they're not doing that. And they're not, you know, like double. I don't understand how none of this works. But all I just have to say is just sit and wait, just sit and wait. Why was I my money for a second? Let me just say that my heart goes out today to bootsy bad ass.

So some of you may be familiar with the Baton Rouge rapper Bootsy badass and he is demanding a refund from the Donald Trump administration because he paid a Washington lobbying firm $600,000 to help him seek a pardon from Donald Trump now

I don't think he's asking for the whole 600 back. I think they said he's only asking for 300,000 of it back. But after paying $600,000 in a failed effort and a Trump pardon, Bootsy badass is now taking legal action to demand a refund from, I guess, the lobbying firm. And he has filed arbitration case against Jacob Wall.

and Jack Berkman and their firm J. M. Berkman Associates. So literally, literally, these people out here charging somebody $600,000 telling them that we can help you get your part in from Donald Trump. People have said that the Trump administration is a pay for play, you know, entity. And I guess.

Too much said, Bootsy found out Trump was ratchet. If you know what you think about Bootsy's music, then you'll get that inference. So I just want to say my heart goes out to this brother who spent all his bread and has now not been able to get his money. I'm going to come back to bread in a minute because I want to hit JZ for a second. But I also want to just take a second. So there has been an announcement out of South Carolina.

about who would replace um Lindsey Graham uh in terms of completing his term uh since he has passed away and his sister uh I'm sorry Clark what did you say? I said that this morning I was like what? So Lindsey Clark's sister um

is going to complete his term and the thing that's interesting and you know Some folks who went to HBC use to great joy in telling me is that she is an HBC you graduate So she ever did we graduated from South Carolina and let me see Lindsey Graham sister so I can get the name of the school correctly but

I wonder if she'll be an ally in terms of the attacks on HBCU's. HBCU graduate. I just want to make sure I got school right. Hang on. Yes, Lindsey Graham sister and HBCU graduate. She went to South Carolina State. And some of you all may have been in class with her. Darlene Graham Norden and HBCU graduate is temporarily taking over.

Lindsey Graham's See come on fam get out of here. Okay. I'm not gonna do it that way. So I just thought that that would be Interesting now does she have any experience that prepares her to you know, take his seat? Yeah, pretty much. No, no now. She's been around she's heard, you know all of the issues But huh

She she I don't know what qualified her to get the job. I just I don't I Don't know They said that he was actually her legal guardian at one point and he raised her while Graham was in his early 20s Their life got turned upside down when their mother died

of Hodgkin's lymphoma. And 15 months later, his sister, who was only 13, discovered their father after he suffered a heart attack and his sleeping died. So they lost their parents in a short amount of time. And Lindsey Graham ends up, he was just going to start law school. He ends up becoming his sister's legal guardian.

But so they have, you know, everybody talked about this incredible bond. She was a part of his campaign stuff. But in terms of. Of what qualifies her to actually. Sit in that seat. Yeah. And I know this is a moment when there are a lot of local elected officials. Now, a lot of people, I'm not going to give up my current gig for this brief.

you know, interim gig. But some people would. Some people might. But it is interesting. There are had to be a lot of people sitting there and we see it done all time though. Somebody's spouse will get their seat. Their kids will get their seat. And, you know, is this in the best interest of the public? It's not. It's not. It's a feel good moment. You know, but if you're saying we still have serious policy issues to discuss, Lindsey Graham was, you know, on.

a lot of foreign policy efforts that are currently underway, you know, deals that they were trying to strike that Republicans are saying, no, we gotta strike it in honor of, you know, get this deal done in honor of Lindsey Graham. And it's like, no, we don't get deals done in honor of, we get deals done because they're good deals to do because it makes sense for the country. So this is one of those moments when I disagree strongly with the

sentimental responses to who gets these seats. I need qualified people. The constituency deserves a qualified individual to be able to come in and represent them for the duration of this term. Let me take a break. I'll be right back.

All right, family, welcome back to the show. Before I went to the break, I told you I had some guests coming into the studio, some folks that are here working with Milwaukee County. And, you know, this is the first time I think that all three of the individuals that are joining me in the studio today are with me for the first time. This must be the fly squad that you know. You got the look, the swag. They look like these are my people up in here. What's happening, y'all? How y'all doing?

Good morning. Good morning. I'm talking about fly earrings, fly glasses, the jewelry. I mean, the sleeve on the tattoo, killing the game. Yeah. These are cool people that work for Milwaukee County. It is a pleasure to welcome you to the studio. So first of all, let me do quick introductions for the folks that are watching on YouTube. And brother Amir, I'll start with you. Let folks know who you are, your title, and how long you've been in your role.

My name is Amir Grooms. I'm with, I'm an outreach lead with Fall For Life and I've been in this role for approximately two years. Okay. And I'm a credible messenger. Perfect. Good morning, everyone. I'm Venisha Kendrick. I'm the Community Violence Intervention Program Manager within Milwaukee County. I've been in this role a little bit over a year, but my work within Violence Prevention has been since around 2018. Okay. Supreme Rising. I'm Fabiana Guzman. I am with Advanced Peace. I'm the Strategy Manager and I've been in this position for

a little over two years, but I've been doing this work for over 20. So just real quick. So are these all programs either connected to Milwaukee County, individual programs? Venisha, can I explain that piece for you? Sure. So the programs that I represented today, credible messengers and advanced piece are all connected to Milwaukee County, DHHS, CYFS. I know I'm probably going to say a lot of letters, but Department of Health and Human Services, Children, Youth, and Family.

children, youth and family services. So yes, these two programs fall in that space. So first of all, I'm just going to tell you and I don't know if any of you were familiar with Keon Jackson Malone, but it's hard to have this moment and his name not be floating around in the atmosphere.

He was so proud of the work done by 414 Life. He was proud of his connection, you know, to being a credible messenger viewed in that capacity. And I mean, he had me meet some of the original OGs from Chicago, you know, who had been initiating some of this work on that end. So this is a bitter sweet moment because this was work that this brother, you know, my former colleague and

who stayed at our house eating up our food, even when we weren't there. So this is cool to have you all here. So welcome, welcome. Yesterday, I opened up the show and Clark talked about it was a hit and run. Two people ended up losing their lives. He ended up getting to the scene. He actually knew

family member or you know one of the people that was that lost their lives. I confused it with a double shooting that we had the same around the same time and then I said the day before a couple days before I'm over near like 27th in Congress over near I see the yellow tape dropping the young man off to go to an appointment.

I go back to pick him up. We can't get through. We're navigating. So we ended up leaving. Then his phone pings and he was like, no. And you know, I'm driving. I'm like, what's wrong? He said, uh, this local rapper, 23 years old, that was him. That's, that's, that's what's going on. You know, and so everywhere I termed this week and then the last week, there had been some conversation about violence in the community. So there are a lot of folks that

You know, they're frustrated. They're trying to figure out what are we doing? And you'll hear people say, what's happening, man? Your relationship to community violence intervention, or CVI. A lot of folks have heard that kind of bandied about, but they simply don't understand what that is or what that means. Can you all help us with that? And I'm not sure who wants to fill the question first, but help us with that.

Sure, I'll hop in real quick. So when we talk about CVI or community violence intervention, it's a public health approach that's driven by data. But I do want to say it's not just driven by data. It's also driven by lived experiences. It's also driven by what we see, what we hear, what's taking place in the community. And it helps us to not only understand what's taking place by way of

in regards to violence by way of the perpetrator and the victim, but it also helps us to understand how to gather resources around both parties. So one thing in particular, we pay so much attention to, you know, we see that the victim, you know, there's so much that's happening, someone got shot and, you know, or somebody's been impacted by violence, they're the receiver. But then also, how do we look at it from the lens of...

providing resources, even to the family of the perpetrator or, for example. I've never heard anyone say providing resources to a family or those connected to the perpetrator. But one of the things that we often say in our community, when you go to jail, everybody go to jail with you. Exactly. You know, or when you pass the family.

of that perpetrator is is equally impacted. Exactly. So that's the first time I've ever heard it referenced that way though. Yes, ma'am. And I was just

somewhat deferring to Fabiana and the program that she manages which is advanced peace and I'm pretty sure she'll give some more insight to that program but that program is centered towards youth and young adults or just adults in general who not only have witnessed gun violence but also were perpetrators of violence. And so Fabiana I don't know if you want to give a little insight to AP. Sure but I also want to just go off of what you were saying as well you know we're using

the term credible messengers. So it's people from the community who are trusted that can come in and share the resources that can talk to the people. Nine times out of 10, somebody in the field is connected to the incident itself, whether it be the perpetrator or the victim. So with advanced peace, we deal with those that are at the center of cyclical retaliatory gun violence. So that means either you've been shot.

you've shot someone, you have an open gun case, or you're an influencer, and you have that capacity to be able to tell somebody, A, let's go slide over here. So we jump in before it gets to that point, because we have built those relationships in the community. So we know who's who. We have neighborhood change agents, which are our NCA's, and they carry a case load of about six to seven, we call fellows. And then we welcome them into the fellowship.

Now, it's a process because they're not willingly ready to come in and be like, oh, yeah, let me be a part of your program. Oh, absolutely not. So just because we have a way in, it takes sometimes up to three or four months to reel them in, to show them, to let them understand that there's more to life than what's on the block or what you've been given. So bottom line, we are

dealing with those who are having an impact on the gun violence when it comes to cyclical retaliatory gun violence. So that specifically so we're dealing with the shooters that are having like the active beef in the communities. You know, so just for a second before I get to the next area that you know kind of springs naturally from the conversation. Um, I just gotta go back when you talk about the ability to get them get people to come in.

And you said it could take three or four months. As somebody who has worked in a different iteration of my life, worked in social services. And I dealt with like a lot of the kids that were the throwaway kids, the hardest cases. It can take a year to build that kind of trust. And so I think that when people start to hear these programs out here and this is happening,

but also being willing to give people the time it takes to establish these relationships, to earn that trust, to be able to, you know, use the phrase real men, but to be able to get them to understand why, why be a part of this. And that's some work. Oh, it most definitely is. And it's 24-7. Absolutely. Well, we go by 25-8. 25-3-6-6. To go ahead and be here. I was going to say, it's a thing.

exactly what you said, that change takes time. Community norm change takes time. And we prescribed to it. It could take up 16 months to two years to really see the change that we want to see as a whole. We can see it little steps by little steps. Oh, he going to school three days out the week. Do me a favor. Just for a second. Expound on that, you know, because

I don't know what I mean. I know in reality a lot of people just dealing with your own family because we don't got trifle family. You know, I might be one of but You know But you know, even in our own family members when we try to get them to go to school to be invested to care about something

And it's these baby steps along the way, and we take these small winds, but other folks in the family like, your child's still traveling, or they still, and you like, you just don't know. I got him to clean a room this morning. So when we talk about violence prevention in these spaces, what could some of those baby steps or those steps, incremental steps look like to get me upwards 16 months to two years sometimes? Well, I can give you like an example. It's some young brothers I work with.

Um, age 16, 15, 17, and the teenage young, young adult ages. And when I first started working with them, they used to wear a ski mask consistently. Like you couldn't tell me to take these masks off. It wouldn't take them. I got ops. I got ops everywhere. And what did they mean by I got? Um, beefing with people into it with people probably have fights with people. So let me just say this too, because I don't think I know I've never done this on my show, but we've talked about the ski mask phenomenon.

And people talked about these kids shouldn't be able to wear these masks. They out here doing dirt, they can hide behind the dirt. I've never heard that they also could be wearing them as a form of self-defense. Absolutely. I can expound on it. It's so much wrapped around the ski mask phenomenon, like you said, but these young brothers used to wear these masks consistently.

No matter what the weather was. It didn't matter. Like this outside. It didn't have a mask on. But the little step for me was seeing them taking them off and not wearing them no more. It sounds small. Like you shouldn't wear it anywhere. It's 80, 90 degrees. Right. But that step from building with them, they took their ski mask off. So for me, that's a win. Because you always going around with this mask on and now you're taking it off. Now you can expose your face. Now you feel comfortable sharing what you look like.

So for me, that's a win. They still can be out here on some mess. They still can be out here doing what they're doing. But at the same time, you took that mask off, which was your defense. And you felt comfortable enough to expose yourself and your feelings. Because some of them don't wear the mask to be on BS. Some of them don't have a haircut. I haven't heard that. I ain't got my haircut. That's why I got my skin on. Like, bro, let me cut your hair, man. Let me get you together. If that's what you're doing it for. So it was a situation before.

It was a guy walking down the street, he had his ski mask on. And we out here canvassing, we passing out resources, we passing out pub bed in the community. And it's getting late and I'm looking like, damn, I don't want to give him no pub bed. He got his, I don't know what he owe. And I said, you know what, let me get his brother some pub bed because I don't know what he got going on. So I gave him some information. I talked to him for a minute, I asked him. Like, man, you know, I went in for him to come up on you at first. He was like, no, I ain't got my haircut, big bro. I just want to, you know, I'm just moving around through the community. That's all.

I'm like, oh, okay. But we get that perception that all these masks, all this stuff. And because, yeah, because just think how all that goes wrong because I'm assuming, and this is, you know, I tell people intent versus impact, but your intent is just to, you know, hey, just keep this hair covered because my hair ain't come. But the impact, because we've heard all this, you know, stuff associated with people committing crimes, doing dirt with these masks going on, or they may be about to, I read you completely different. And

will handle you differently. You know, respond differently. And this could go sideways real quick. So I'm so, if nothing else happens out of this conversation this morning, just for our listeners to be able to hear that other piece that this is not always about doing dirt when you see these kids or these young people in these masks. This isn't always about, you know, trying to harm somebody or intimidate somebody. Never would dawn on me.

But I know I work with some young people and they won't have a mask on, but they got these things on their head, you know, like little sleeves. And I'm like, fam, you can't wear that to work today. But my hair ain't cold, man.

Bruh, you should have handled that. You can't walk around. So, okay, so, okay, okay. I'm not fun to act. But I'm just glad, I'm glad. Because, you know, we can sound like some old crunchy people up in here. The college, yeah, they got the mask on out there, nothing no good. He went up right there. Since we screaming, though, people. I'm a screamer, he is. He went up right there. Okay, so the county exit, you know, has talked about...

this initiative you guys have, I want to make sure I get the name right, Destin for Greater. Because it was such an abstract thing for me, you know, you come up with your own images of what that, you know, conjure up, what that could mean. But let me just get it from the folks that's doing the work. What, what is this initiative? Destin for Greater. So Destin for Greater, yeah. Man, if you smile any harder on that, it's gonna be really good. Girl, it's about to be good right here. I'm talking about big show. This work, I love it. I love it. And like,

I'm trying to bring myself down because I'm listening to Amir and real quick I got to give the shout out to both Amir and to Faby and the agencies we work with and work alongside in the community because being those trusted credible messengers is hard that is hard work and then also at the same time the lived experiences that they've had to endure you know whether

is going through something to where they themselves have been incarcerated but have been released from that space and using their experience to help others.

I just think, excuse my language, I know I'm supposed to be professional. I just think that's dope. That's mad dope. Oh, that's a professional word, which we're talking about. Right. You know, I just, I gotta give them a shout out because sometimes they don't get sleep while we're in the bed resting. Exactly. You know, they're out here responding to things and being visible in the community just to make sure that

families and youth and the community in general, like, hey, we're here. We're here before law enforcement has to get involved. And so going into Destin for greater, Destin for greater is an initiative that that is being.

that is being done within DHHS and it houses everything that we're doing under CVI. So that houses credible messengers, that houses advanced peace. It also houses the work that's being done with our state OVP grantees. So some of those grantees include Milwaukee Turners. And OVP Office of Violence Prevention. The state OVP, yes ma'am. These agencies have been granted dollars to do work around what they're doing in regards to violence prevention.

It also it also houses our crisis housing initiative that we have so shout out to

community intervention interventionist intervention specialist Hannah echoes who works alongside families that are dealing or have dealt with some type of retaliatory violence. So the work that she does, she's working with a number of landlords within the community to say, Hey, we need a family that needs to be relocated because this is what this is. This is what's happened. And so the house may have gotten shot up. The house may have been targeted. She's working alongside those community, those landlords to say, Hey, we need to relocate them to another

home or to another place. And so, you know, we're grateful to have funds to even to continue to do that work to get those families out of that space so they can feel safe. So we're destined for greater. I know it sounds corny, but we're destined for greater. And I got to take a break, but I'm going to tell you, I've been talking publicly on air about helping a young sister experience homelessness right now. And one of the things though is when you hear all the competing

situations for housing. So it makes total sense once you said it and I think about it, but that we're talking about all this violence and you keep mentioning that term retaliatory. And so that house did get shot up. Nobody feels safe staying here. But the ability to be able to break my lease, to get out of that place, money to move somewhere different.

in my frustration of dealing with the housing stuff that I'm dealing with to keep in mind all of these competing situations.

for lack of a better term, that are also competing for housing and also are going through, you know, crisis and trying to find money and, okay, yeah, that was a lot. I need to take a quick break. When we come back, we will talk more about the program, what's going on for the summer, hear a little bit more from, from the folks about, you know, what we can do to make make things better and safer in our community. So Michelle Brown, y'all, WNOV 868-106.5 FM, we'll be right back.

Alright folks, welcome back to the show. So we have a stellar lineup of folks in the studio today to help us talk about an issue that many of us You know in passing in the barbershop at home turn TV on like Lord We got to do something about what's going on in our community to address violence and how you know And it's not even sometimes just about addressing violence. You hear people genuinely say

I want better for our children. I want better for our community. This isn't just about stopping crime. I want people to have a good quality of life, you know, and for some of these kids and some of these young people I've talked to, men, the stuff they've seen, it's amazing you still standing and B, I understand to some extent why you see life in the jaded way that you do. And sometimes, you know, like,

not valuing your own life yet along someone else's. Amir, you are out here working with the Credible Messenger program. Can you just take a second and just kind of talk about that, what that means, and to the point that I was making about, you know, somebody being able to say, hey fam, we've been here, did that. This is the conversation to keep you from going down that path. So me, I did, I did an extensive amount of time in prison.

the 18 years in prison when I was a young adult myself. And growing up in the same circumstances, coming home with a different understanding and a little education to understand some change. I wanted to do community work. I wanted to be involved. And the credit measure program specifically is designed to use people with a lived experience like myself that has some credibility still.

in the community to go out there and still work with the people that the police can't work with. The police can't get a hold of the police, um, can't just go into their house and talk to mom, sit on the couch and say, Hey, what's going on with a sis? What's going on with little bro? How can we help? So the credit measure program uses people like that to get in.

and see how we can be of assistance. Because like I say, we went through the same. A lot of us, majority, all of us actually have lived experience in some form or fashion being affected by the criminal justice system. And we get training. We don't just go in and say, hey, because just because you're credible, don't mean you're suitable. We got that saying.

You know, you can be credible, but sometimes you can't be suitable. You might have your own things going on. I swear to God, I'm still in that. And that could apply in any fashion. Oh, my God. That's a t-shirt. Put it on the t-shirt. OK. You won today with that one. And the thing that I think about, though, is

I still run into so many people that don't know these resources and services are out there. So I don't even know how somebody, you know, gets tapped into a 414 live for a credible message or program. Papiana, how, how do people even know about these resources, man? I got to get on the radar first. I mean, like, is there some so our vision? Yep. Well, so the way we work is that our NCA's are tapped into the community. So.

They know all the CVI workers, I give them that credit, you know, know what's going on, you know, because of the work that we've already been doing. So whether it's a prior experience, I worked 16 years at Bradley Tech, supervising Milwaukee Violence Free Zone there. So that for me was my way in. So I could go anywhere and run into any of the youth that I worked with. And I was like, okay, so I saw what you was doing in high school.

and you've carried that on into the community, right? So a lot of these referrals, like it's parents that know the NCAAs, you know, that know people that are in the work, or like I said, have responded to a previous situation where we've seen them once or twice. And so we'll make that approach, having that conversation. And like we were talking about trying to reel them in, not always very successful, but it's the persistence.

you know and that's what gets them right because a lot of our youth have are used to having somebody come in and not or making promises i want to say that part it's making promises that they can't keep so like they're like oh here comes another program but oh we're gonna do this and oh they don't do that or i don't see or they don't make doing uh make good on what they say so

A lot of that comes in from the groundwork that they do, because they're in the community, so they know who's who. But then also, we have a lot of adults who, like you say, they want to see better for our community. So they'll reach out. But our program, definitely, we need to get bigger. Even on top of the cameras, we do when we go out passing out resource information.

our logos on there. Yeah, they see the logo. We're visible all the time, you know, um, so people are going to question like, well, what is that? You know, so

I don't want to trail on and jump ahead, but to talk about the whole last week that we did for the. Yeah, no, I know you already said, so I'm going to do this. I'm going to take a quick break. OK. And when we come back, let's actually talk about that, because I saw there was something like peace week. Yes, ma'am. I'm like, OK, I wasn't familiar with it. So let's get that. And also some of the programs, things that have been done, what you got coming up. So folks, I understand.

You know how to get tapped in. Absolutely. Perfect. All right, family. Let me take a quick break. We'll be right back in OV. All right, y'all. Welcome back. So we're going to be rushing through the last part of this interview because I had to spend time arguing with folks, you know, about they brand on the arm. We got a Zeta up in the building, Brandon up in his keyloid. And so it's all pretty. You know, they're like, man, I got a brand in mind. Faded away. It's the whole girl that she went.

to none other than Alabama State University, the, the, the. Yes. So, okay, let me, let me go back to where we were before we went to the break about the programs, you know, helping people understand what's out there. I mentioned Peace Week. So, what was the nigga that she called you? Did she say Fabi? Fabi, yeah. Oh, I like that. Thank you. So talk a little bit about like what's been done programming-wise and what else is out there.

So for advanced peace, um, we just completed a full week, six days in a row of peace on every piece on every block. Um, and that started last week, Tuesday with a faith in peace panel where we invited who I saw that advertise. That was a great turnout. The conversation was great. Um, we're trying to close the generational gaps here, right? Bring everybody to the table church. Some people be having their feelings about

what the churches role in how they can help, you know, so bringing them, being able to bring them to the to the table. Then on Wednesday, we did the pop up for peace where we went to four different neighborhoods. We did canvassing. We had about 200 young people with us. We took to the streets. We were spray painting on the corners. Our campaign is we want to see you win against gun violence. Okay, so we're pushing that. Thursday, we did a

one of the best job fairs I've ever been to at Washington High School. We had close to 200 people turn out. That was great. Friday night, we had to get a little competitive.

We did a little CVI basketball game for when for life came out. They were a team critical response team. C.R.T. team came out and then we it was at Bradley Tech. So Bradley Tech just get to the important part. Who won? We know we did. Critical response team won in their bracket and then we won in our bracket. We're going to be a little sad over here. We don't want to talk about the score. I believe it was 97 to 40.

That's alright. Disclamer. Nah, nah, nah, nah.

Saturday was citywide. We activated the city by doing the cleanup your block. I saw it. I saw all the kids out there. Yes. Yes. Yeah. That's what that was.

Good job, young people. Good job. That was you. That was me. Okay, okay. And then we wrapped up on Sun, which that was the Sunday part on Fond du Lac and Melvina, which was the prey over MKE. So we opened in prayer and we ended in prayer. That was great.

more to come where advanced piece is not done. We're coming out with a little bit more things. We'll keep y'all in the loop on that. But people can go either to the Milwaukee County website. You want to drop that? Absolutely. So if you go to the Milwaukee County website, just put an advanced piece and you'll be able you'll actually be directed to the advanced piece website. And I do want to also mention when we're talking about Milwaukee County DHHS.

We focus on no wrong door. So any door that you come through, whether it's a housing door, but you need something different, we want to make sure you get to the right room.

when it comes down to the work that we're doing, you know, it is it's essential that if you need access to those resources, be it CVI, be it BHS, be it veteran services, whatever the case may be, we want to make sure that you're directed into the right space. And so very quickly, there's the children's resource and referral line, 41425776. And the crisis line 414277222. So we want to make sure that if you

need those resources, it's there. It's there. Let me let me in here and Jay, I say you let me in here. Amir, if you had to give one message to parents, children, you know, folks listening about this work, you know, what we got to do to kind of turn things around. What would you say? What I was what I would suggest would be more present. Know what know what your young people doing, know what they got going on.

talk to them because some of them just really need to be talked to and need time. And if we ain't given them that time, somebody else will. If we ain't teaching our kids, somebody else gonna teach them. So it's imperative on not only the parents, but the community. Because when I was growing up, that's what it was. It was real community. Neighbors was able to check you without having to worry about your parent coming over there.

Standing on you because you said something to their kid back then it was more It was more a take community. It takes a village. Absolutely. So I'm it's more like Just be aware be present talk to them. Be with them see what they doing see what they like see what they got going on and Invest in them

All right, well folks, that is the show for today. Thank you so much everybody that tuned in. Yeah, for the competition we got going on on YouTube, Facebook, we're gonna get the rules set up for the first people to check in, and you know, you're gonna get a gas card. And yes, if we get 100, what is it, 100 likes, then I'm gonna go a whole week and not wear a baseball cap.

Thank you so much for you all coming in. I appreciate it. The door is always open. If there's a program you need us to, you know, hype up, talk about police doctrine. If there's something going on, we need to know. You don't need an invitation. You ain't got to come on the department. You can just call up and say, Michelle, we need to get on.

All right family that's the show for the day. Thank you to the bros in the studio Clark Kent Man just you cuz Jay was over here throwing shade