Photo by Tom Jenz
Ashanti Hamilton
Ashanti Hamilton
As with many large American cities, Milwaukee has struggled with troubling violence for the past few years. According to police crime statistics, Milwaukee experienced historically violent years in 2020 and 2021, and the first half of 2022 isn’t much better. As of late September, homicides, shootings, and carjackings are up from 2021, which was a record year for crime. In addition, reckless driving has emerged like a creeping cancer. According to my conversations with Mayor Johnson, Police Chief Norman, District Attorney John Chisholm and several grass roots Black leaders, violence prevention in Milwaukee looms as the most important challenge for the city’s near future.
Enter the OVP, the Office of Violence Prevention, begun in 2018 with a sizable budget. Its mission? To head off violence before it spreads its violent tendrils. Lately, the OVP has been under scrutiny because the mayor fired the director. Not long after, he hired as the new OVP Director, 49-year-old Ashanti Hamilton, the veteran District 1 Alderman and also former Common Council President.
I wanted to hear about Director Hamilton’s plans, and I met him in his small 3rd floor office in the downtown Frank Zeidler Building. He has a firm but gentle way about him, and showed an undertone of sentimentalism, and a range of sensitivity. A veteran of city politics, he was in full command of the issues.
You are a man of many accomplishments. Tell me about your background, your parents, neighborhoods you grew up in, and schools you attended. Then, take me through your career journey and how you ended up as Director of OVP.
I grew up on Milwaukee’s East Side in the East Auer Street area—A three-block section called Achilles Street. Mostly Black residents. That whole neighborhood was my village, my playground. We took care of each other, kids playing together, sometimes sharing family dinners. My mother was 16 when she had me. My grandparents were my primary caretakers, but my mother often lived with us. I went to Victor Berger Elementary School, now renamed Martin Luther King Elementary. Then, I attended Riverside High School. Awesome school that encouraged students to be socially aware and active. I had two important mentor teachers at Riverside—Thomas Wilde, a Psychology teacher, and my football and track coach, Myron Cane. I might not have finished high school were it not for those two men.
After high school, what did you do? Were you interested in a career in the law at that point in your life?
I was part of the Upward Bound program which got me into Marquette University. Spent a lot of time on the Marquette campus, joined a fraternity, wrote articles for the Marquette Tribune, got involved with student activities. After college, I began teaching in the MPS system, first at an elementary school, then at Custer High School, and finally at my alma mater, Riverside High School. In 2000-20001, I went to the Thurgood Marshall Law School at Texas Southern University in Houston. Moved my whole family down there. It was an eye-opening experience to be at an historically Black college. Motivated me.
What brought you back to Milwaukee after you graduated from law school?
I was in law school with Marvin Pratt’s son, my good friend, Michael Pratt. Marvin Pratt served as Milwaukee’s first Black mayor, actually acting mayor, but he lost the election to Tom Barrett in 2004. After law school, I worked as legislative assistant for Marvin Pratt, who was then Common Council President. Eventually, I ran for office and won the alderman seat for District 1. Later on, I became Common Council President myself. I’ve gone into politics as a career because it allows me to have an impact on the community, help improve conditions.
I’ve had inner city residents ask me about the Office of Violence Prevention. Can you briefly describe the responsibilities of the OVP?
I can put those responsibilities very simply. The goal and purpose of the OVP is to reduce the negative impact of violence on communities, neighborhoods and people—and also reduce the number of perpetrators and transmitters of violence.
About OVP, you said, and I paraphrase, “One of the things we need to readjust is how we are measured, for instance, whether we are strengthening communities where there’s been the most violence. We need to take a stronger inventory straight from the people who live in those communities.” Based on my interactions with street leaders and community organizers, they say that in the past there was a lack of communication from the OVP. They feel that neighborhood leaders should be included in regular discussions with the OVP. Do you agree?
I do agree with that, and I’d even take it a step further. Some of those grassroots leaders are very close to the needs of their neighborhood residents. They are right there on the ground. They need to be included in what OVP activities should be invested in so we all can have a positive impact. Often, city leaders take a high-level approach on how resources should be invested because we need to be accountable on how we spend the public’s money. But this high-level approach needs to be balanced with what is happening on the ground. In other words, how we can build capacity for the on-the-ground organizations that are sometimes doing very specific and unique work. We need to help those grassroots leaders with resources.
You said you intend to create a platform for residents of troubled neighborhoods to voice their concerns and have roles to play. Would it make sense to have a public or private meeting with these neighborhood residents and community leaders?
Yes. We are putting one of our OVP staff on that very task. We intend to build a platform infrastructure residents can rely on. A community standard for neighborhoods to be aware of.
Regarding your OVP staff members, you said, and I paraphrase, “You would be amazed at the level of work that the people are doing who work for the OVP or those being funded by the OVP.” You also said you wanted to show these OVP workers to the public because they do the leg work. As a journalist, I’ve had trouble accessing people who work for the OVP. I’d like to get access to one or two of your employees and hear their stories about the impact of their work. Is that possible?
Yes, absolutely. I would love to have the community have a better understanding of what our OVP staff members are actually doing. In the future, we are planning to do a community tour with our team.
It’s unclear to me how many on-the-ground staff members work for the OVP office. When I interviewed former OVP Director Arnitta Holliman last March, she told me there were six salaried positions filled and her goal was to achieve nine total positions. But recently, you stated that you currently have only four positions filled but intend to expand to 12 positions by the end of the year. What will be their job roles?
We will be hiring Youth Violence Prevention Specialists, Community OVP specialists, a family specialist, a domestic violence specialist, and also a Grant Compliance Manager to watch over how our resources are being spent so we can report to city council members and the mayor’s office. Right now, the Department of Employee Relations is doing productive work to find potential candidates for our staff openings. In the next couple, weeks, we will be doing interviews.
Mayor Johnson said the Office of Violence Prevention needs to provide metrics on the OVP’s progress. As you know as a former alderman, in the past, the OVP has not communicated well with common council members. What exactly are these metrics you need to provide the council?
I want the council members to hear about how we spend our budget and about our accomplishments, but also to hear if we have problems. This needs to be a public conversation. I was in the city council for a long time. I want to build a bridge of radical transparency between the OVP, the council, and the public. Our main purpose will be to achieve the goals we set out to do and report on them. Ultimately, the long-term goal is to create a safer community.
How does the OVP get their information about ongoing stressful situations or violent behavior? Seems like these incidents need immediate responses.
We have a direct relationship with the police and get referrals about violent incidents from them. We also get referrals direct from residents and our nonprofit grant partners.
Not long ago, I interviewed Police Chief Norman, and he seemed eager to partner with the OVP. How do you go about working with the police?
The police department is our most important partner. None of our work can be successful without a strong relationship with Chief Norman and the police.
Clear this up for me. Currently, the OVP has a yearly budget of $3.7 million. The City of Milwaukee has provided the OVP an additional $8.4 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) through the governor’s office. This $8.4 million funding is to be spread out over five years. Is this correct?
That is correct. And some of our new staff position salaries will be paid by the ARPA money.
Mayor Johnson referenced the Blueprint for Peace started in 2018 by Reggie Moore when he was Director of the OVP. This Blueprint identifies six goals to address violence. I won’t list all six goals, but I am interested in Goal #1: Stop the Shooting, Stop the Violence. What are your plans to achieve Goal Number one, which is currently very crucial?
It’s important to understand our role in the Blueprint. The Blueprint for Peace was supported by my aldermanic office. We were doing Promise zones back then.
Note: In 2017, the Milwaukee Promise Zone Initiative was rolled out by Alderman Ashanti Hamilton and other council members as a multi-purpose approach to encourage positive change in four designated Promise Zones. Community partners, city agencies and Common Council representatives focused on improving economic activity, creating jobs, increasing educational opportunities, and enhancing healthy neighborhoods through those four Promise Zones.
At OVP, we will take ownership of Goal Number 6, which is building the capacity of our nonprofit partners. This kind of nonprofit partnering will help achieve Goal Number one, Stopping the Shooting, Stopping the Violence.
I know you were a part of helping get the huge building complex on 33rd and Center underway, with Que El Almin’s development company shepherding the project. That complex is located right in the heart of the inner city. I’ve always felt that the number one way to lift up the inner city economically and culturally is through infrastructure development, which provides housing, businesses, stores, jobs, entertainment, neighborhood improvement, and even better attitudes.
You’re exactly right. Developments help satisfy community needs. A large development becomes not just a series of buildings but part of a functional neighborhood.
A lot of the inner-city residents who have lived around violent incidents do not know about Blueprint For Peace goals or the OVP strategies. They also don’t seem to hear about all the meetings you have, or even about the nonprofits you fund. They just want to stop the violence right now, an immediate need. As the new director, is there a way you can better communicate your efforts to the average citizen?
There is, and that is part of our effort. We are working internally with our own media people to be better at communication. We also need to provide earlier alternatives to police responses and supplement the work many residents are doing on the community side. Our goal is to provide less police responses to violence. Create a platform for residents and our community partners to play their role in preventing violence.
