After a year-long strategic planning process and deliberate analysis of Milwaukee's neighborhoods, Safe & Sound is excited to publicly announce its new priority neighborhoods.
The nonprofit organization dedicated to building safe and empowered neighborhoods will still maintain city-wide support, but the move to concentrate resources in eight target neighborhoods increases program delivery, leverages momentum of collective efforts and allows the organization to target strategies more effectively.
"After analyzing crime and housing data, identifying community assets and holding many candid conversations with neighborhood partners, community leaders, residents and Safe & Sound board and staff, we have selected eight neighborhoods where we will focus our community organizing efforts beginning this year," says executive director of Safe & Sound Katie Sanders.
Safe & Sound's priority neighborhoods are:
- District 2: Clarke Square & Layton Boulevard West (near South Side)
- District 3: Metcalfe Park & Midtown (North Side)
- District 5: Amani & Harambee (North Side)
- District 7: Parklawn & Sherman Park (North Side)
Historically, Safe & Sound operated across 21 Milwaukee neighborhoods, but will now align with Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) District boundaries to reflect the collaborative work of Safe & Sound's Community Prosecution Unit coordinators, who serve on teams with MPD, the District Attorney's office and several city departments and other nonprofit partners to coordinate efforts around nuisance properties.
Within each district, Safe & Sound has selected two priority neighborhoods for targeted community safety strategies. In the priority neighborhoods, a community organizer will work with residents to build capacity around community safety, and a youth-focused organizer will connect neighborhood youth with leadership and development opportunities, as well as community improvement projects.
"This new targeted geography and neighborhood team structure enables Safe & Sound to strengthen our ability to unite residents, youth, law enforcement and community resources, relationships which are essential to improving the safety of our neighborhoods," Sanders said.
