MILWAUKEE — As the school year comes to a close and summer rolls into Milwaukee, there’s a few groups working to keep kids safe starting with a “Safe Summer Assembly” at Townsend Street School.
"It’s hot," Bernard Carpenter said. "You know most of the winter people are hibernating, it’s zero below, all the snow out there."
Carpenter with 414 Life suggests with more people out in the neighborhoods during the summer, there’s a greater chance for conflict, but seventh grader Samaria Byrd said conflict is the very thing she’s trying to avoid while school’s out.
“I know that a lot of violence happens with social media, but I really don’t be on that type of stuff because I don’t really want to deal with all that,” Byrd said.
“We want to encourage them to make positive choices. So, anything we can do to instill that in our young people, that’s what we’re going to do." — Monica Purifoy of Safe & Sound
To date, at least 15 children under age 18 have been the unintended target of gun violence in Milwaukee this year. Monica Purifoy of Safe & Sound said equipping these students with the tools they need to stay safe and resolve conflict is their best defense as summer approaches.
“We want to encourage them to make positive choices," Purifoy said. "So, anything we can do to instill that in our young people, that’s what we’re going to do."
