Showcasing Successful Youth-Adult Partnerships in Action
“I want to welcome you guys to a good place, a safe place, an awesome space where you guys can cooperate.”
That’s how 2022 Youth Forward MKE Ambassador Deh Nee opened the partnership’s final meeting of the year on December 14, setting the stage for an open and honest discussion about youth-adult relationships and collaboration.
Specifically, Youth Forward MKE highlighted two local organizations who are currently demonstrating what it looks like to authentically partner with youth: Youth Justice Milwaukee and the United Way Community Schools Partnership. They also unveiled their new data-driven tool, the Youth Adult Equity Assessment, and looked forward into 2023 with a hope of deeper cooperation and shared support.
Youth Justice Milwaukee
Urban Underground, the social justice organization from which Youth Justice Milwaukee stemmed, was founded in 2000 with the goal of rallying young people to advocate on the issues that most affect them. In 2016, following a lawsuit regarding abuse at two local prisons, Youth Justice Milwaukee took shape.
“We started Youth Justice Milwaukee to say we have to do better,” said Sharlen Moore, co-founder and executive director of both organizations. “We have to advocate for young people, especially those that are most vulnerable, and just do better in our youth justice system.”
Moore and Assistant Executive Director Darrin Madison grounded their presentation in some stark statistics. Currently, Milwaukee ranks fourth among major cities in terms of children living in poverty, with communities of color disproportionally affected, and Black youth are 15 times more likely than their white counterparts to be incarcerated.
The solution lies not in creating more prisons, they said, but in investing in our youth – in after-school programs, summer and year-round job opportunities, development services and mental health options – in order to reduce the root causes of youth incarceration.
“It costs $420,000 a year to incarcerate one – not two, not three. One young person,” said Moore. “You can absolutely imagine what we can do with $420,000. We have to use those support services not when young people get incarcerated, but before a young person gets into the youth justice system.”
For those that are currently in the system, Youth Justice Milwaukee is advocating for a smaller space within the city, with a maximum of 32 beds, where incarcerated youth can receive the supports they need from professionals, their families and the surrounding community.
“As we think about the ability to ensure that young people are able to have an impact and be their best selves,” said Madison, “if we're not protecting them at this critical period in their lives, we are failing them, and we see the impacts of these failures on our society today.”
United Way Community Schools Partnership
Community Schools is a national model that aims to go beyond the typical system by catering to the whole student and connecting them to learning experiences across the community. Milwaukee’s 16 Community Schools not only provide a variety of opportunities and resources, but they also ensure students have a seat at the table and ownership over their own education. They approach this collaboration with three core practices in mind: shared leadership, equity and cultural relevance.
“It’s really necessary for us to actually partner with our young people in an equitable way to be able to create the learning environments that are necessary for them to be successful,” said Dom Portis, Community Schools’ high school manager.
Creating the right type of learning environment begins with bringing youth in on the ground floor, giving them a part in selecting each school’s priorities and involving them in the implementation. Community Schools’ Youth Councils provide a unique opportunity for youth to lead – showcasing their talents, gifts and advocacy skills – while also ensuring continuous improvement across their school experience.
One prime example of the power of these Youth Councils is their work to improve school lunches through the $25,000 Violence Prevention Grant, funded by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and awarded by Youth Forward MKE Ambassadors. The school lunch subcommittee at James Madison Academic Campus (JMAC) is actively working on ways to improve the quality of their food, which has a direct effect on student behavior and energy levels throughout the day.
“We want to encourage [youth] to find their own leadership voices and awake their confidence within themselves to be the next generation of problem solvers,” said Portis.
New Youth Adult Equity Assessment
Milwaukee Succeeds and Youth Forward MKE are committed to utilizing data to drive these efforts forward. In 2022, we launched a new series called Success Stories, with each installment exploring a different program or event through quotes, survey results and opportunities for growth. This series will continue in 2023 with reports evaluating the success of each youth-directed Violence Prevention Grant.
Additionally, a new report titled the State of High School Success in Milwaukee is currently in development. The document will provide data and tools that explore what high school success means and how Milwaukee stacks up, helping partners, leaders and the larger community learn about the state of high school education and how they can advocate for change.
To learn more about the state of youth/adult equity in Milwaukee and to help organizations learn where they are on the Youth Adult Equity Ladder, Milwaukee Succeeds and Youth Forward MKE are piloting the Youth Adult Equity Assessment. This brief online evaluation, which is intended to be completed as a team, assesses organizations based on a variety of different metrics and gives them a look into where they rank on the road to full equity. It also provides information and examples to help these partners plan strategies to move themselves up the ladder.
(Those interested in lending a hand to Youth Forward MKE’s data efforts are encouraged to join our Data Workgroup! Contact Kristin Kappelman, director of research, for more information.)
Looking Ahead
The meeting concluded with a hopeful look forward into 2023.
“I’m hoping for some deeper collaboration in 2023,” said Portis. “Milwaukee is a city that has a ton of resources. We have a ton of leaders at the table. I think we are just missing one component. And I think that is how to collaborate on a deeper level.”
Kyle Ashley, community engagement manager at Unite Us, seconded that. “It all boils down to just being able to talk to one another,” he said. “Being able to empathize with another situation.”
Building a bigger, better coalition of like-minded partners and youth also rose to the forefront.
“The one goal I have…is being able to recruit more young people to these conversations and get them to be more active in decision-making seats,” said Clintel Hasan, Milwaukee Succeeds’ strategic initiatives manager. “And to ensure other organizations are opening their tables to young people.”
In the new year, Youth Forward MKE will be recruiting additional Ambassadors to support the work in various ways – so keep an eye out for those application cycles! The current Ambassadors also weighed in with their own goals for the new year, each expressing the hope of continuing this work in their own ways.
“I want to get involved in my community more, and when I’m older I want to go into urban planning…because it affects the community and education and everything we spoke about,” said Ambassador Amaya Bauldwin.
“I want to continue with Youth Forward MKE and see the success of the proposals that we made during the Design Your Future Fellowship,” said Deh Nee. “I also want to advocate for youth, as well.”
For those interested in getting more involved in Youth Forward MKE and its work, there will be even more opportunities in 2023! The partnership will be launching three workgroups – Strategic Planning, Data and Youth Engagement – which will meet every 6-8 weeks to help push the work forward. If you want to join, contact Clintel Hasan to learn more. And stay tuned for our 2023 meeting dates so you can keep up-to-date on how we’re advancing education equity in Milwaukee!
