Over the past year, the Public Safety Committee has engaged public-sector partners, community violence prevention leaders, justice system stakeholders, and GMC members to listen, learn and build alignment on where public safety work is already happening, where gaps remain, and how GMC can add value without duplicating efforts. While strong violence prevention and intervention work is underway across Milwaukee, stakeholders consistently pointed to the need for stronger coordination, clearer business engagement, and more intentional alignment around prevention, workforce, and community stability.
In response, the Committee is developing a 100-day Community Violence Intervention action plan focused on strengthening connections between Milwaukee’s violence prevention/intervention ecosystem and GMC member/business engagement. The initial priority is to identify workforce development opportunities for at-risk Milwaukee community members. The GMC will reach out to workforce development organizations to identify pathways for its member organizations to support and engage with current systems, that way people can help improve job outcomes for those communities without duplicating existing efforts.
In addition, GMC member organizations Children’s Wisconsin and the Greater Milwaukee Urban League, with planning support from GMC Director of Community Partnerships and Strategy Langston Verdin, are leading a Safe Summer Initiative to connect youth at risk of violence with mentorship, trusted adults, recreation, and other support services. Backed by $1.5 million in public, health care, educational, and philanthropic investment, the initiative expands evening programming at MPS Twilight Centers and offers youth-informed activities such as sports, gaming, music production, creative arts, and career development opportunities.
The GMC, Hoan Group, and Boys & Girls Clubs are also advancing a digital platform to improve coordination and awareness of summer engagement opportunities, including camps, recreation, mentorship, enrichment, and job training. The platform aims to help families access resources while helping youth-serving organizations to better coordinate services and connect more young people to positive, structured opportunities during the summer.
Together, these efforts demonstrate the impact of cross-sector collaboration to support young people, strengthen communities, and advance public safety.
