Milwaukee’s Department of Community Wellness and Safety has launched an initiative to take resources to the communities most affected by violence.
It’s leading weekly This Is Our City Community Cluster Walks in those areas to address residents' needs.
The department identified more than 20 high volume incident clusters in the city using police data, "which means that these are neighborhoods or blocks that have seen the most combination of fatal and non-fatal shootings, and non-fatal shootings are ones that got reviewed by the Milwaukee Police Department public safety review," says Julian Phifer, a program manager with the department.
"So those were incidents that rose to the level that they wanted to have further conversation and planning and preparation for handling. So as we planned what we're gonna do in those places, one component that our director thought would be good and was appropriate [was to] get out here, walk the blocks, engage folks," Phifer says.
I met Phifer at 2nd & Burleigh, in the Harambee neighborhood, for the most recent community walk.
Every Monday for the past three weeks, department staff, community partners and neighbors have been in a neighborhood engaging with residents. They’ve walked near 11th & Atkinson, 23rd & Locust, and 24th & Walnut.
Data show that to date, homicides are down 22% in the city, compared to the same time last year. Non-fatal shootings are down 23%. However, there are still neighborhoods where crime is on the rise. Phifer highlighted several examples during a recent Facebook Live presentation. "Unfortunately, so far in 2026 homicides are up 67% in Sherman Park. Non-fatal shootings up 160%," Phifer says.
Phifer says there’s been a notable increase in aggravated assaults. Certain neighborhoods are seeing especially high numbers, "in the Amani neighborhood [there's been a] 100% increase in homicides, 67% increase in things like rape. Even at 133% in things like arson," he added.
Phifer says financial, mental health, and substance use challenges contribute to increases in violence. So does a lack of accessible resources in these neighborhoods. So, community cluster walks are an effort to get resources directly to the people.
On this week’s walk, folks with the Critical Response Team – the people who deal with incidents involving gang-based violence and retaliatory violence — joined DCWS staff. So did the Milwaukee Health Department’s Harm Reduction Community Outreach Specialist.
There’s no strict script for how the walks go. Organizers engage with people they happen to see and ask about their neighborhood. They may do a clean-up. They take stock of overgrown grass and vacant houses. But they always leave folks with information on how to access various resources, like jobs, housing assistance and mental health support.
Phifer says the community appreciates those efforts. He shared an example of an interaction during the walk on Locust. "It was family sitting on a porch watching us, skeptically, curiously. We engaged that resident, walked up to her and shared a brochure. As we browsed through the flyer with some examples with some of the stuff that was on there, I said: 'Hey, appliances — do you need an appliance?' And she lit up. She said, 'My refrigerator just went out. I needed a refrigerator. I’m calling them in the morning.' That’s prevention," Phifer says.
"We’re dealing with years of trauma, disinvestment in certain communities, and so there's a lot that we have before us," says Karin Tyler, the director of the Department of Community Wellness and Safety, "but some of the significant things that we're looking at [are] environmental factors that can impact violence, like overgrown bushes where maybe a perpetrator could hide, or lighting that can make it more conducive for violence."
Tyler has been on every walk and she says she’s enjoyed hearing from residents. "It’s one thing to look at it and make assumptions, but when you come out to these specific neighborhoods, they can tell you what they need in their specific neighborhoods versus us telling them what we feel they should have," Tyler says.
Tyler hopes people see these walks as evidence that the community and the local government care about their concerns. She says the goal is to continue to bring down the count of homicides and non-fatal shootings by the end of the year, then see what worked and do it all over again.
The department invites neighbors, city departments, faith leaders and other community organizations to join the walks and take what they do to neighborhoods that need it the most.
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