Thursday town hall in Milwaukee seeks input on domestic abuse, shootings, reckless driving

Elliot Hughes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
Ribbons, stickers and pins to raise awareness on domestic violence is seen at the Love Without Violence conference hosted by the Milwaukee Office of Community Wellness and Safety on Friday October 20, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wis.
Ribbons, stickers and pins to raise awareness on domestic violence is seen at the Love Without Violence conference hosted by the Milwaukee Office of Community Wellness and Safety on Friday October 20, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wis.

A coalition of culturally specific organizations for domestic violence victims is hosting a town hall event Thursday night in Milwaukee to discuss issues related to domestic abuse and community violence.

The event will run from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet St. It is organized by We Are Here MKE, along with the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services and the city’s Office of Community Wellness and Safety.

In a press release, organizers said they hope to gather input from community members about how to address matters such as homicides, domestic and intimate partner violence, shootings, carjackings, road rage incidents and reckless driving.

“Although crime overall is going down, it remains static in some areas - including violence and death between intimate partners and within families that spills over into the community,” said Antonia Norton, the director of The Asha Project, which provides domestic violence support services.

Homicides in Milwaukee fell 20% in 2023, and so far this year, they are down 28%, with 33 reported through Monday.

However, the city has seen a rash of domestic homicides this spring. So far this year, 13 domestic violence-related homicides – and seven in April alone – have been identified by the Sojourner Family Peace Center, the state’s largest domestic violence prevention service.

The center, which uses a broader definition of domestic homicide than law enforcement to track incidents, recorded 38 in 2023.

We Are Here MKE is a collection of seven culturally specific domestic violence prevention services. The organizations, and the communities they serve, are:

The Asha Project, serving the Black community.

Diverse & Resilient’s Room to be Safe program, serving the LGBTQ+ community.

Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center and the HIR Wellness Institute, serving the Native American community.

Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, serving the Muslim community.

Hmong American Women’s Association, serving the Hmong community.

UMOS Latina Resource Center, serving the Latin American community.

Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's culturally specific domestic abuse shelters plan town hall