Photo by Kalda Williams Photograhy
Bridget Whitaker
Bridget Whitaker
According to police crime statistics, Milwaukee experienced historically violent years from 2020 through the first third of 2022. The increase in Milwaukee’s homicide rate was one of the top five highest in the nation. Shootings increased by 25%. Reckless driving is such a hazard that police are stretched thin to control it. According to Shepherd Express interviews with Mayor Johnson, Police Chief Norman, District Attorney John Chisholm and the Public Defender's Office, violence prevention in Milwaukee looms as the most important challenge for 2022.
Enter Safe & Sound, the Milwaukee nonprofit that unites residents, youth, law enforcement and community resources to build safe neighborhoods by fostering partnerships between community and police. For nearly 25 years, Safe & Sound has been a nationally recognized model that strives to improve safety in Milwaukee neighborhoods.
As the newly appointed executive director of Safe & Sound, Bridget Whitaker is positioned to help bring about change.
Let’s start out with your life story, where you grew up, your parents, the neighborhoods you lived in, schools you attended, and how you established your professional career.
I was born and raised in the central city, lived on 12th and Locust for my early years, but we moved around. Ours was a single mom family. My mom sometimes worked two or three jobs to care for my sister and me. I attended Engleburg Elementary School and Webster Middle School. I was also a teen mom, got pregnant at age 14 and had my baby in the eighth grade. My mom helped out with raising my son so I could continue with school. I went to Hamilton High School—an hour commute on the bus. I focused on Hamilton’s business program, data entry. I also worked half days as an intern at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. You might say I grew up fast.
Did you attend college right away after high school?
Yes. I received the Educational Opportunity Program Grant for Marquette University. I had a double major, sociology and human resources management. I liked studying human behavior, why people do what they do. While in college, I met my then-husband and had two more children. By the time I was 21, I had three children. I graduated from college in 2001.
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You were handling huge responsibilities at such a young age. What was your work after you got out of college?
My first job was with Target Stores as an HR professional. Worked there for several years and loved my job, but retail is not conducive to raising young children. I started working in human resources for manufacturing companies, first, Synergy, and later as an HR manager for Capital Returns Genco.
Eventually, you moved out of the corporate world into the nonprofit arena.
I became the HR Director for St Charles Youth & Family Services and had that job for 10 years. I enjoyed the work, but I wanted to make a bigger impact in community issues. In 2019, I joined Safe & Sound as the program director and was able to get involved in youth empowerment and give young people a voice. I also wanted to make neighborhoods safer. I love Milwaukee, and I want the residents to live, work, play here and be safe. During all these working years, I also got my master’s degree in management, and then earned a law degree, and then later a nonprofit management certificate from Alverno College. I’ve only been the Safe & Sound Executive Director for a short time.
As I understand, the Safe & Sound mission is to unite residents, youth, law enforcement and community resources to build safe neighborhoods. How do you go about that?
We use a three-pronged approach to achieve our theory of change. First, we engage our community organizers to hear about what residents need to feel safe in their neighborhoods. In some cases, that might be a call to action to address reckless driving, or to create places in the neighborhood for children to play, or even to highlight concerns about nuisance properties on the block. The second prong involves amplifying the voice of young people. Our youth organizers work to make sure that we connect young people to organizations that serve them so they feel welcomed at those youth centers. Our youth organizers also partner with the centers to offer positive programming. The third prong involves the engagement with law enforcement and community resources. We know we can’t do this work alone, and so we leverage those relationships to further achieve safe neighborhoods.
Our mission has purpose because Milwaukee is not safe. We currently work in 10 neighborhoods across the city, five out of the seven police districts. I can tell you that every neighborhood has the same sentiment, which is “We have to do something about safety.” That task involves repairing harm and building relationships. Sometimes, when folks do not have an outlet to deal with trauma or mental health, they might resort to drug use or criminal activity. Or they don’t know how to handle conflict and resort to violence. We try to help with these issues. This lack of safety problem has to do with harmony and community, people not talking with their neighbors. How do we get people out of their houses to meet each other or resolve conflict and trauma issues?
The Safe & Sound website calls on residents to “connect with your neighbors by getting in touch with your Safe & Sound neighborhood team.” What exactly is the Safe & Sound neighborhood team?
Each of our 10 neighborhoods has a team: a Youth Organizer, a Community Organizer, and a Safety Coordinator. Our neighborhood Safety Coordinator has a seat at the local police district. Residents sometimes would rather talk to the Safety Coordinator if they don’t feel comfortable talking with police. The Safety Coordinator will address nuisances, abandoned housing issues and mobile drug dealing. Our Community Organizers get involved in group activities like block parties or neighborhood cleanups. Our Youth Organizers help young people, giving them something to do after school, group activities. That is our team, three full time, salaried workers per neighborhood
How does Safe & Sound get their information about ongoing stressful situations or violent behavior? Seems like these situations might need immediate responses.
Several ways. Our neighborhood Safety Coordinators all work with a police district, and they can find out right away when there are conflicts or law breaking. We also promote attendance at crime and safety meetings where residents learn about what crimes are trending in their neighborhoods. For instance, are carjackings or home burglaries or reckless driving on the rise? Each police district has a monthly crime and safety meeting, and we like to see residents in attendance. We interact with the youth about their safety concerns including lack of driver education. We also partner with other organizations like the Office of Violence Prevention.
Street leaders like Tory Lowe and Elizabeth Brown try to individually help victims of family and domestic violence. Does Safe & Sound get involved with domestic violence victims?
In domestic violence situations, we don’t get involved directly, but we do try to identify residents involved in domestic disputes and offer the access to resources. We are not direct service providers like therapists. We try to tell victims where to go for help if they don’t feel safe at home, how to talk with the police, or to connect with people like Tory Lowe or Ms. Brown who are doing excellent work.
Influencers on all levels tell me that many silo organizations often work separately. Do you have any thoughts on how silos might interact or come together?
Lots of these organizations are doing great work. Each of them has a mission it’s trying to achieve. I believe in the power of collective impact. Meaning there has to be a space where partners can get together and find a common mission that aligns with what residents need. Safe & Sound has been surveying residents across our neighborhoods to find out what these silos should be focusing on. After we find out their priorities, we’d like to meet with the other nonprofit organizations to explore strategic alignment so that we are not working in silos. At Safe & Sound, we’re looking for natural collaboration. Reckless driving may be an issue in one neighborhood, while drug dealing is more prevalent in another neighborhood. We look for nonprofit partners we can connect with. We are the hooker-uppers—how can we hook up our residents with the experts.
Let’s talk about guns and what can be done to reduce gun violence. You work with the police department, right?
Yes, we do. We try to educate residents on gun safety. Since licensed guns are legal, we talk to gun owners about the proper way to store their guns, or how they can obtain gun locks.
It’s too bad, but sometimes we are preaching to the choir, those who are using guns safely. But the folks who really need to hear are not listening.
You are moving to a new headquarters in Sherman Park in the heart of the central city. Tell me about your plans for that facility.
We will be taking over the old Mormon church a few blocks from Sherman Park, an area that is conducive to the process of community building. We will hold crime and safety meetings at that facility. There should also be a space where young people feel welcome, feel safe, and join in and make it their own. I hope our new building can provide that. But our main mission will always be listening to what the residents want and acting on their needs.
