Safe & Sound Ongoing Professional Development and Community Resource Education
Safe & Sound Community Partners have participated in a variety of professional development activities, some specifically oriented to their work in the community while others are directed at learning new skills to implement special projects at Safe Places. Partners work reaches city-wide, collaborating extensively and utilizing each others interests, experience and expertise to solve neighborhood specific issues. Although only one Partner may receive a specific training, the rest of the Partners can still benefit through project initiatives replicated at multiple Safe Places or through simple collaborative interaction in day-to-day work.
One method of staff learning about programs of potential interest to residents is by holding bi-weekly staff meetings at neighborhood based agencies, for example one of our December staff meetings was conducted at Community Advocates, a local agency which primarily addresses resident rights and access to programs related to poverty. Each program manager presented briefly to the Partners what services they offered and how residents could access them. Another means of acquiring information about Milwaukee resources and initiatives is having guest speakers attend our staff meetings, for example Big Brothers Big Sisters children of incarcerated parents or the LGBT Center’s ‘Project Q.’ These ongoing learning opportunities make Partners more knowledgeable and thus effective door-to-door working with residents.
Other professional development opportunities enable Community Partners to operate in a safe manner in high-crime neighborhoods. All staff recently received a training tailored to reducing the risks of aggressive animals conducted by professionals at the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission. Additionally, Milwaukee HIDTA is organizing trainings for Community Partners that will enable them to identify potentially dangerous situations before they step into them unknowingly, such as identifying individuals carrying concealed weapons, deceptive behavior or those under the influence of illegal substances. Most of the staff has completed the Milwaukee Police Department Citizen Academy, providing a hands-on experience to learn about the realities of law-enforcement.
Lastly, Community Partners receive training that enables them to implement anti-crime initiatives at Safe Places. For example, all staff completed a two day training that will allow them to use restorative justice techniques to facilitate actual criminal cases through the District Attorneys Community Conferencing program. Conferences involve offenders, victims and community members, which may consist of trained residents or Safe Place youth, to listen to the facts of the crime, discuss the harm done and how that harm may be repaired. Other trainings involve ‘shadowing’ City employees addressing blight or deteriorated housing issues or week long experiential trainings, such as conducting Peace Making Circles, that enable Partners to bring the experience to Safe Places and community residents in the work they do.
Reenacting a fall by their supervisor, Community Partner’s Rose Pritchett and Aaron Edwards demonstrate how not paying attention on slippery winter steps during winter outreach can be a hazard.
