Milwaukee’s Office of Community Wellness & Safety — formerly known as the Office of Violence Prevention — is seeking a new director.
The office coordinates a multi-agency and multidisciplinary approach to influence social, behavioral and environmental factors that contribute to violence.
Earlier this week, the candidates looking to fill the position were face-to-face with community members.
More than 90 people applied to direct the Office of Community Wellness & Safety in a national search. The three finalists recently participated in community forums at South Division and North Division high schools.
Milwaukee native Karin Tyler, who is currently serving as the office’s interim director, talked to the crowd about her more than 30 years of experience addressing violence in Milwaukee. She says the work is personal to her because she lost her father and son to violent crime in the city.
Paul Callanan from Louisville, Kentucky, shared his more than 30 years of experience addressing community violence. He’s the former director of the Office for Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods in Louisville.
Abraham Morris of Orlando, Florida, discussed his background in welfare management and public policy. He’s currently the manager of Orlando’s Children, Youth and Families Division.
I asked people who attended the forums for their thoughts on violence and the action they want to see from the new director.
At South Division High School, I met Julian Phifer, Babbette Reed and Cheryl Blue.
"One of the issues that concerns me is the recent uptick in violence involving youth," Phifer says. "These youth come from households where they have seen and experienced a lot. There's a lot of conversation where people are saying that, you know, kids are getting a slap on the wrist and that there needs to be a tougher approach in handling those youth. But I think that that attitude fails to take into consideration those household experiences that those children are coming from," he added.
Babbette Reed does violence prevention work in Milwaukee and says she's looking for a director who incentivizes and acknowledges the extent of the work being done by others like her. "I'm part of the Promise Keepers," Reed says, "and so being the incentives of our hard work is going to be a great change. I'm looking for change. I'm looking for someone to actually get out there and be amongst our group."
Cheryl Blue says she heard some good ideas from candidates. "... and honestly I think that it may be a good idea to have someone from an outside view to kind of look at things and shake things up a little bit, just to bring some fresh ideas and things to the community — to this important office," she says.
At the community forum at North Division High School, I caught up with Mary Mazang, Londyn Randle and Samuel Alford.
Twenty-year-old Mazang says she appreciates the opportunity the community had to meet and question the candidates for the OCWS director. "Oh, I think having the community being here is like a very powerful message," she says. "I think if we want to make the change, we have to hear from the people who live here — and that's the community. We need to hear from the youth. We need to hear from the elderly, like many of the candidates were saying. So I think just having the community be a part of this process is really important because they're the voice — they're truly the voice."
For 15-year-old Londyn Randle, she's looking for a director who has a connection to what's happening to people in Milwaukee. "Someone who actually experience what happens in walking and who actually have the fears that the community have. Just because they could — they actually understand. Like me being a young person, actually knowing what us young people go through, it's like as far as being scared of going out places," Randle says. "Somebody knowing how to handle it and actually experiencing it, because a lot of people could hear about it and stuff and, you know, come up with different solutions. But actually experiencing, you know, something that put fear in you — you know how to help it differently and protect it."
Samuel Alford says he thinks the community and whoever the director is need to be in partnership. "And since they're getting tax dollars, they should listen to us and they should treat it like coalition building," Alford says. He adds that the community also has to trust the director to try new things. "I don't want this new occupant in this space to be so intimidated by the community that they're scared to turn left or right or do this or that," he says. "... and if we don't agree with them, we need to hold they hand and instruct them a little bit and give them a probationary period."
Alford thinks that in Milwaukee, "it's too easy to just throw rocks and talk crazy and be obstinate and be critical. But if everybody sits in their community or silo and stay critical and just complain and cry and only come out for crisis and then go back to their regular life, we all hypocritical because it's injust. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and it's — it's complicit."
Now that the forums have wrapped, the next step is for Mayor Cavalier Johnson to choose the new director of the Office of Community Wellness & Safety.
His decision is expected in the coming days.
