May 28th, 2008
Safe & Sound and Milwaukee Youth Collaborate to Remove the Signs of Crime and Grime on Milwaukee’s Southside
Together with community stakeholders, we are holding the first annual ‘Basura Bash’ on May 31st from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The Basura (trash) Bash is an effort to build upon our diversity and community pride, while removing the signs of crime and grime from the Southside of Milwaukee.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOCATION: Walker Square Park, 1021 S. 9th Street, Milwaukee
DATE: May 31st
TIME: 10:00 to 2:00 PM
CONTACTS:
Barbara Notestein, Safe & Sound Executive Director
414-220-4799
Joseph Kubisiak, Safe & Sound Community Partners Program Manager
414-221-6701
Safe & Sound, Inc.
801 W. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53233
Sarah Dollhausen, Executive Director
TRUE Skool, Inc., one of Milwaukee’s 36 Safe & Sound funded ‘Safe Places’ for youth
414.445-9079, 414.975.4130 (cell)
Safe & Sound and Milwaukee Youth Collaborate to Remove the Signs of Crime and Grime on Milwaukee’s Southside
(May 28th, 2008, MILWAUKEE) — BASURA BASH PRESS RELEASE
Together with community stakeholders, we are holding the first annual ‘Basura Bash’ on May 31st from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The Basura (trash) Bash is an effort to build upon our diversity and community pride, while removing the signs of crime and grime from the Southside of Milwaukee.
Organized by Safe & Sound and Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful, the Basura Bash will bring together Southside block clubs, law enforcement, Safe & Sound’s Safe Places, businesses, as well as community- and faith-based organizations for neighborhood improvement activities. These activities will take place across the Southside and include: tire and graffiti removal; alley building identification numbering; vacant lot clean ups; recycling information; and a major “basura bash” in our streets and alleys. The event culminates in a fiesta at Walker Square Park, located at 1021 South 9th Street, which will include resource information, free food, games and entertainment for all those who have worked to help keep Milwaukee beautiful!
One participating organization is TRUE Skool, a Safe & Sound funded agency whose mission is to use cultural arts to educate and empower youth from different walks of life to become leaders for positive social change in their communities. TRUE Skool works with juvenile offenders with graffiti related offenses to complete community service hours with residents and beautifying their community in the process.
During the Basura Bash this Saturday, TRUE Skool’s youth participants from their host site Project Excel Safe Place, 1115 S. 7th St., and their other Safe Place location at 4850 W. Fond du Lac will work with Safe & Sound Community Partner Maria Sandoval to mobilize volunteers and conduct graffiti removal in nearby alleys. They will also display examples of graffiti art and hold a graffiti art workshop; painting several murals and Basura Bash banners. Lastly, the TRUE Skool breakdancers will perform sets and provide a workshop for the community. In the process they hope to achieve their Safe & Sound Crime Strategy Initiative goals, clean-up their community, recruit additional youth for Safe Place programs and gain momentum for the painting of planned wall murals at Project Excel and other sites throughout the city this summer.
We have planned with our community stakeholders for an exciting day that will remove the signs of crime and grime from the Southside of Milwaukee, and we hope will lead to better community collaborations and a positive energy for change. ###
