BLACK MALE ACHIEVEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes BLACK MALE ACHIEVEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL MAYOR TOM BARRETT, CO-CHAIR and COMMON COUNCIL PRESIDENT ASHANTI HAMILTON, CO-CHAIR Chris Abele, Joaquin Altoro, Raymond Banks, Robert Cherry, Spencer Coggs, William Olivier, David C. Crowley, Ellen Gilligan, Torre Johnson, Jeanette Kowalik, Robert Randolph, Shannon Reed, Mark Sain, Rashaad Washington, and Ramona Sledge Joanna Polanco, staff assistant, 286-2366; email: jpolan@milwaukee.gov Legislative Liaison, Ted Medhin 286-8681, tmedhi@milwaukee.gov Thursday, May 16, 2019 10:00 AM Ma’ruf Neighborhood Youth Center 2110 W. Hampton Avenue Milwaukee WI 53209 1. Call to Order at 10:12 AM President Hamilton said that the space we are in was formely an ACE Hardware facility. For about 4-5 years the previous owner was looking into going out of business. There were a number of individuals interested in this location that were going to sell alcohol. A lot of the Mar'uf or Young Muslum community that were associated with the Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center and getting feedback from the community, the feeling of wanting to give back to the community something that provided opportunities for youth, gave bith to the Mar'uf Neighborhood Youth Center. 2. Roll Call. Present 12 - Hamilton, Barrett, Sain, Coggs, Altoro, Cherry, Reed, Gilligan, Banks, Johnson, Washington and Olivier Absent 5 - Davidson, Crowley, Gant, Randolph and Kowalik Also present: Cesar Stinson, alternate for Mark Sain Lamont Smith, designee for Ellen Gilligan Ramona Sledge, new member Larry Miller, School Board President 3. Approval of March 21, 2019 meeting minutes. Motion by Mayor Barrett, seconded by Asst. Chief Banks to approve the minutes of the March 21, 2019 meeting. There were no objectionsl City of Milwaukee Page 1 BLACK MALE ACHIEVEMENT Meeting Minutes May 16, 2019 ADVISORY COUNCIL 4. Introduction of new member to the council - Ms. Ramona Sledge Ms. Sledge introduced herself as an advisor with the Cultural Center at UWM. She has been with UWM for 21 years, in addition, she has coordinated the Black Male Youth Summit for the past 4 years. Ms. Sledge is very happy to being part of the council and is looking forward to working with everyone. 5. Recommendations and Report from Subcommittees. Mr. Walter Lanier from the Education and Workforce Development group: MATC, MPS, Employ Milwaukee and UWM met to talk about Boys and Men of Color, collectively institutions that on a day-to-day basis have sustained regular engagement with Boys and Men of Color. These are called the ecosystem, containing the largest number of Boys and Men of Color: MATC, MPS, Employ Milwaukee and UWM contains over 40,000 students. This is the nature of education in an urban area. One of the topics for discussion was how to make this ecosystem more fluid, more effective and more visible. Because that is where most Boys and Men of Color are right now in the state of Wisconsin. Opportunity between ages of 16 to 24 years old who are not working or in school are one of the biggest challenges and how do we find these young brothers. Where ever they are right now, at some point they will become part of this ecosystem. If Employ Milwaukee, UWM, MPS and MATC can come closer, than we can visibly see and make a significant difference on some data points. Mr. Lanier pointed out the three goals from MBK priorities that was centered on K through 12 system, College system and employment system; MPS, MATC and UWM. As he pointed out the graph there is a lot of opportunity for synergy and connectivity. "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" Nelson Mandela. Education is critical. Chair and Co-Chair, Ashanti Hamilton and Mayor Tom Barrett launched My Brother's Keeper with aspirational goals pushed through the pipeline graduating male students of color from high school ready for college and/or the workplace. Accept, retain and graduate males of color from post-secondary education or job training programs. Make workplace attractive and accessible to males of color. Mr. Walter showed a graph of some of the people that are working on the BMAAC Education ecosystem; Dr. Gary Williams, Jim Hill, Ramona Sledge, Dr. Joan Prince, Dr. Monitue Listen, Nikotris Perkins etc and the list keeps growing. This group hosted BMOC week last year. MATC will be hosting BMOC week this year around May 30th along with the Fatherhood Summit. M3 was created couple of years ago by MPS, MATC and UWM to create a collaborative network that is more effective for the 40,0000. To make a clear path to have an impact in this population of students. M3 demographics serves 137,741 students among MPS, MATC and UWM. Mr. Lanier pointed out a 2013 data just to show that students who graduate MPS attend MATC. what resources we can benefit from to create a clearer and better path inside this ecosystem; to get a sense of where are students falling off. looking for more resources to do more research around seeing the flow of students through the system promote to students this pre-existing ecosystem. Recommendations for some research, data evaluation function, process function for City of Milwaukee Page 2 BLACK MALE ACHIEVEMENT Meeting Minutes May 16, 2019 ADVISORY COUNCIL what is already in existance. Mr. Cherry said that these systems are already happening, but we don't know why people move in different directions. Mr. Lanier said that all the educational institutions have pre-existing metrics that can be aligned together to see how they can serve the goals that are articulated in the MBK plan. Mr. Altoro asked given that some of the Higher Education Institutions are chasing the Hispanic Service Institution certification that gives them tax credits from the Federal government that creates positions, departments; has there been conversations were these institutions will be hiring to make sure their numbers are higher. Mr. Lanier said that each of these organizations have some level of commitment to diversity and inclusion in their respective budgets and infrastructure. This body is a great position to influence their increase in their cultural diversity and inclusion. Mr. Peeples presented the recommendations of the Criminal Justice Reform and Violence Reduction group: to make policy and strategy efforts be a part of group 5 (Learning & System Development) to share a calendar to be host on City website; BMAAC/MKB to create some type of system in place to allow referrals to be made to create a common language to distinguish what MPD and Junvwenile Justice Center consider arrest to have all hands On Deck approach along with collective strategies to have community building workshophs to make sure there is accountability and create a based line to create a system of Asset mapping, crime and violence data to have a resource van to have evening discussions with meals, child care and recreational activities for youth Asst. Chief, Banks said that discussion of the work groups was difficult without taking into account the socio economically challenges that our youth is facing today; we have to Impact the process for those reentering the community after breaking the law. Representatives from Youth Justice Milwaukee, Urban Underground, Running Rebels and Safe and Sound were part of the discussion to come up with these recommendations. they expressed a need to for the mobilization of resources to the community instead of having the community to travel to the resources. Other similar models have been successful among the community like the mobile clinics. Mr. Donta Holmes presented from the Running Rebels Community Organization work on Leadership and Civic Engagement (work group 5): They are working on character development by working with youth on developing personal awareness, self-identity, by helping them embrace and develop their talents and potential. By facilitating groups and establishing programs that help youth become productive in the home, school and their communities. Creating mentoring programs with potential future leaders that would allow them to work with veteran leaders to get advice and leadership training. Collaborations with partners that would give training to young people of color to serve on non-profit boards (Pivot City of Milwaukee Page 3 BLACK MALE ACHIEVEMENT Meeting Minutes May 16, 2019 ADVISORY COUNCIL Trainings). Participants are taught civic engagement by promoting positive thinking in their communities, through community service, neighborhood clean-ups and both political and non-political processes. Participants engage in working on ways to make a difference in the civic life of their community; by helping them develop a combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation with the hope that these activities enrich their lives and are socially beneficial to the community. Participation in community events such as Juneteenth Day, Garfield Days, Heal the Hood, Bronzeville Days, Garvey fest. Currently the Summer Basketball league, Rites of Passage and the Pipeline to Promise are some of the programs that have been successful in educating youth, on the path of boys to men and providing jobs and skill training, employment opportunities, scholarships, life skills training and access to community resources in hoped that it will lead to the reduction in crime and poverty. The Learning and Systems Development workgroup was established to be a working committee of Black Male Achievement Advisory Committee (BMAAC) members to plan, prepare, secure resources, and develop administrative processes and protocols to procure and monitor measurement and evaluation services to assist the BMAAC describe the progress, outcomes and results of My Brother Keeper (MBK) plan implementation, and/or BMAAC aligned activity. To that end the Learning and Systems Development (LSD) workgroup will be an information, planning and coordination hub of learning, measurement and evaluation of MBK plan, and/or BMAAC aligned activities, conducted or guided by the BMAAC standing workgroups of Education and Workforce, Criminal Justice Reform and Violence Reduction, Health, Leadership and Civic Engagement and Learning and Systems Development. The BMAAC workgroup members shared their individual backgrounds, perspectives and priorities for participating in the workgroup. The workgroup members discussed and shared their understanding and perspectives on the Black Male Achievement and My Brother Keeper Plan work from a historical perspective. The workgroup members discussed the importance of being able to tell Milwaukee’s story of achieving shared goals through coordinated and networked strategies. The workgroup members discussed the importance of structuring evaluation and measurement activities that will use culturally responsive evaluation methodology. Further, that the evaluation and measurement activities are designed and implemented to demonstrate the impact or effects of using and maintaining fidelity to Dignity informed approaches while implementing the MBK plan goal areas. Andrew Sheisl of Center for Self Sufficiency was invited by Michael Peeples to attend the LSD workgroup to learn more about the work of the BMAAC and its measurement and evaluation needs. Andrew shared some background information on Center for Self-Sufficiency’s experience and capacity to conduct evaluation and measurement activities. City of Milwaukee Page 4 BLACK MALE ACHIEVEMENT Meeting Minutes May 16, 2019 ADVISORY COUNCIL Proposed Next Steps 1. Determine guidelines for non-BMAAC member participation in workgroup activities. 2. Begin preliminary project scoping of BMAAC measurement and evaluation activities. 6. Black Male Achievement Advisory Council funding and disbursement plan. Ald. Hamilton posed two suggestions to give direction to the work groups: 1. To use the CDBG process RFP (Request for Proposal) process and shape it accordingly. 2. To direct current lead partners on how to use and leverage their resources and to encourage them to seek partnership with smaller organizations that are in the community to achieve what is achievable. Council agreed on directing lead partners on how to use and leverage their resources and to encourage them to seek partnership with smaller organizations that are in the community to achieve what is achievable. 7. Announcements. 8. Meeting adjourned at 12:22 Joanna Polanco Staff Assistant In the event that Common Council members who are not members of this committee attend this meeting, this meeting may also simultaneously constitute a meeting of the Common Council or any of the following committees: Community and Economic Development, Finance and Personnel, Judiciary and Legislation, Licenses, Public Safety and Health, Public Works, Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development, and/or Steering and Rules. Whether a simultaneous meeting is occurring depends on whether the presence of one or more of the Common Council member results in a quorum of the Common Council or any of the above committees, and, if there is a quorum of another committee, whether any agenda items listed above involve matters within that committee’s realm of authority. In the event that a simultaneous meeting is occurring, no action other than information gathering will be taken at the simultaneous meeting. Upon reasonable notice, efforts will be made to accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities through sign language interpreters or auxiliary aids. For additional information or to request this service, contact the City Clerk's Office ADA Coordinator at 286-2998, (FAX)286-3456, (TDD)286-2025 or by writing to the Coordinator at Room 205, City Hall, 200 E. Wells Street, Milwaukee, WI 53202. Limited parking for persons attending meetings in City Hall is available at reduced rates (5 hour limit) at the Milwaukee Center on the southwest corner of East Kilbourn and North Water Street. Parking tickets must be validated in the first floor Information Booth in City Hall. City of Milwaukee Page 5 BLACK MALE ACHIEVEMENT Meeting Minutes May 16, 2019 ADVISORY COUNCIL Persons engaged in lobbying as defined in s. 305-43-4 of the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances are required to register with the City Clerk's Office License Division. Registered lobbyists appearing before a Common Council committee are required to identify themselves as such. More information is available at http://city.milwaukee.gov/Lobbying. City of Milwaukee Page 6