Safe & Sound organizer Adrian Spencer talks with Harambee resident Josephine Key (left) at her home on North Buffum St. (Photo by Sue Vliet) Editor’s note: This article is one of an occasional series profiling the 15 finalists for the Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDIs). Safe & Sound is a finalist for the BMO Harris Cornerstone Award, which recognizes an organization for its commitment and effectiveness over time. When drivers sped through her block of North Buffum Street or tossed bottles and all manner of trash out their car windows, resident Josephine Key wanted to do something. “I would go outside and look at things that would go on in the neighborhood and I would think, ‘OK Josephine, are you going to get out and say something or do anything?’” said Key, who has lived there for almost 40 years. She and other longtime residents would shake their heads and say that something needed to be done. At that time, Key lacked the skills and confidence to stand up and take charge. That changed last year when she met Adrian Spencer, a community organizer working for Safe & Sound. Spencer encouraged Key to form a block club and work with her neighbors to tackle such problems. “Adrian has confidence in me and is always telling me, ‘you can do this,’” Key said. Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! Helping city residents like Key work with neighbors to solve problems is an important part of Safe & Sound’s vision to achieve a safe neighborhood for everyone in Milwaukee. Spencer and other organizers knock on doors, develop relationships with residents and connect them with resources, directly and behind the scenes. The organization’s theory is that improvements in public safety require a combination of community organizing, youth development and law enforcement, according to Katie Sanders, Safe & Sound executive director. Field manager Markevin Brown holds the football at the 2012 opening of Fox Field, a vacant lot transformed by Safe & Sound and residents of the 2000 block of North 41st Street. (Photo by Andrea Waxman) “We focus on encouraging residents to get to know each other, to develop a sense of familiarity with who lives and works on their blocks and what is normal. We also work to enable them to intervene when they see something unusual,” Sanders said. The dynamics of neighborhoods are complex, Sanders noted. Getting to the heart of residents’ concerns and supporting them in solving problems is critical to Safe & Sound. “The most important thing to me is ensuring that residents are a part of the solution,” Sanders added. One of the organization’s youth programs is Barbershop Mondays, which offers teen boys free haircuts and mentoring by volunteer barbers. Aaron Blather, owner of Rock Steady Barbershop, 1743 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, has children of his own but relishes the role of father figure to poor youth struggling with a lack of guidance and support. “I’ve learned that kids love discipline and structure,” said Blather, who never met his father and had a significant run-in with the law as a young man. Many of the youth have serious challenges at home, in school and in their neighborhoods, he explained. “A lot of kids do not want to go home because they don’t like the situation they’re in. A lot of them are scared.” Blather tries to help educate them, show them how to “turn the other cheek,” and find better role models. “Safe & Sound is about keeping them safe, raising them and giving them a chance,” he said. Safe & Sound works with law enforcement in city neighborhoods through a Community Prosecution Unit model that brings staff members together with representatives from the District Attorney of Milwaukee County, Milwaukee Police Department, community-based organizations, Office of the City Attorney, Department of Neighborhood Services, Wisconsin Department of Corrections and Sojourner Family Peace Center. “At the heart of that partnership is a civilian coordinator from Safe & Sound who represents the interests of residents,” Sanders explained. “There’s a lot that Safe & Sound can do that we can’t do without them, said MPD Assistant Chief James Harpole of the Neighborhood Policing Bureau. Harpole noted that historical distrust of police in certain neighborhoods, especially neighborhoods of color, is a challenge for police. It’s something MPD works hard to overcome, he said. “Our Safe & Sound partners don’t have that same history … so they become a bridge for us to the communities that we are so desperately in need of (connecting with).” Capt.