MILWAUKEE — Since 2020, the number of kids under 18 years old being shot or killed is skyrocketing. The plans and strategies to make an impact are plenty but two men have their own thoughts on what should be done.
“Something good,” Jerrad Houston said. “Something good in the community. That’s what we aiming to do.”
In this brick-and-mortar building at 47th & Fond du Lac, Houston and Dennis Walton want to make an impact on the lives of youth in Milwaukee. They want to increase knowledge on how to live healthy lives while also giving kids an outlet so they’re not out running in the streets like they did.
They don’t want kids to make the same mistakes they did.
“I come from that,” Houston said. “I was a troubled youth. I understand what that life is like because I come from that life. I reformed myself to be a positive person now. I know, if I can do it, they can do it too.”
It’s grassroots efforts like this that couldn’t come at a better time. Through July 25, 14 kids have been killed in Milwaukee, according to the Medical Examiner. With five more months in the year, there’s a good chance the City will eclipse 20 youth homicides for the fourth straight year.
Since 2017, 132 kids have been murdered. Almost three-quarters of those deaths, 96, have occurred since 2020.
“When I see children that are dying in the street as a father, my heart aches,” Walton said.
Walton works as a community organizer and works with youth. While the increases in homicides and non-fatal shootings are shocking to him, he’s even more troubled by who is being killed.
Over 84 percent of those youth killed since 2017 are African American.
“We see Black children dying every single day and there's no sense of urgency to stop the problem or prevent that from happening,” Walton said.
By and large, those kids being killed are gunned down. Out of the 132 youth homicides since 2017, 94 involved a firearm.
“A child can't get a laptop to go to school and do his homework,” Walton said. “He can get a gun that's bigger than his whole body and run around here, and shoot up people.”
“We've seen an extreme increase in the number of youth that are being referred to, an increase in the number of families that we're supporting,” Brooke Cheaton, Manager at Project Ujima said.
Through Project Ujima at Children’s Hospital, Cheaton says they have seen the number of kids double since 2018. Their program hopes to break the cycle of violence to provide services to families in need.
“Really validating what the child and family is going through, and acknowledging that experience and listening for what their needs are, and how we can respond to that,” Cheaton said.
It’s a multi-faceted approach to try and make a positive impact on the startling number of kids being shot and killed. Whether it’s under the roof of Project Ujima or under the roof of Something Good Juice Lounge, Walton says it boils down to one thing.
“Kids are walking around with anger, walking around with hurt,” Walton said. “They're walking around with despair. When you have a child who is hopeless and doesn't feel like someone loves them, these are the results that you get.”
If you’d like more information on Project Ujima, you can call 414-266-2557 or visit their website.
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