Precious Lives

Stories about kids, guns and how to stop the violence. Precious Lives, created by 371 Productions, is a 2-year, 100-part weekly radio series about gun violence and young people in the Milwaukee area. The series applies a public health lens to each story to help listeners understand the full scope of the problem: who are the victims and the shooters; how are the weapons obtained; and what can we change about the environment that contributes to violence in Milwaukee?

#086 Precious Lives: Programming Sherman Park

WUWM 89.7 FM

Published September 6, 2016 at 11:31 AM CDT

Vaun Mayes-Bey (center) discusses the Sherman Park curfew with a Sheriff’s officer over Labor Day weekend -- three weeks a 6pm curfew went into effect. ";

On August 13th, all eyes turned to Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood. Protesters jumped on police cars and set buildings on fire, outraged over the police shooting of Sylville Smith.

VaunMayes-Bey and a group of organizers had been in the area all summer, long before the news crews came. Vaun works with Program the Parks to provide activities and food to the teenagers who congregate in Sherman Park, outside of the Boys & Girls Club.

Vaun says the work they’re doing is not only fun for the teens, it’s also making the park safer and keeping kids out of the grip of law enforcement.

But after the unrest, a 6 pm park curfew made it harder to do their job.