(Photo provided by Safe & Sound)
Safe & Sound, Inc. has awarded $870,000 to 29 organizations that run crime-reduction programs for young people, including Journey House in Clarke Square.
Safe & Sound sponsors Safe Places, sites where youths are taught how to avoid high-risk situations and risky behaviors. The after-school programs, which are in some of the highest-crime neighborhoods in the city, also keep kids off the streets during peak crime hours when they are most at risk.
“Our strategy is to minimize crime by working with youth groups, law enforcement and residents,” said Norma J. Balentine, director of Safe Places.
Competitive grants of $40,000 were awarded to 15 programs that serve higher-risk youths; $20,000 in grants went to the 14 Youth Together Drop-In Centers (YTDIC), which serve as many young people as their sites are able to accommodate.
Organizations that sought Safe & Sound funding went through a three-month process starting last August, according to Balentine. “They have to be a non-profit, they have to have operated a youth program for at least a year, and all their programming has to be free,” Balentine said.
Below is a list of south side Safe Place and Youth Together Drop-In Centers receiving Safe & Sound grants.
$40,000 (S.A.F.E Places)
UCC-United Community Center
1111 S. 6th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53204
(414) 643-8530
Boys & Girls Club-Davis Club
1975 S. 24th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53204
(414) 383-2650
$20,000 (Youth Together Drop-In Centers)
Journey House
2212 W. Greenfield
Milwaukee, WI 53204
(414) 384-8788
Milwaukee Christian Center
2137 W. Greenfield Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53204
(414) 645-1859
Latino Community Center
807 S. 14th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53204
(414) 384-8140
Edgar is a senior staff reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Mendez is a proud graduate of UW-Milwaukee, where he double majored in Journalism and Sociology, and of Marquette University, where he earned a master’s degree in Communication. As an accomplished journalist, Edgar’s awards include a 2018 Regional Edward R. Murrow award, several press club awards and a Society of Professional Journalists’ regional award for columns dealing with issues such as poverty, homelessness and racism.
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