MILWAUKEE — Every neighborhood needs its guardian angel or patron saint. For one Franklin Heights neighborhood, that person is Yolande 'Ms. Anne' Johnson.
Ms. Anne has been living in the same Franklin Heights neighborhood since 1978. She knows all her neighbor’s names by heart like Ms. Yvonne, Ms. Ida, Ms. Jamie, and so many more. It’s a tight knit community in the heart of the 53206 zip code.
In this episode of My Block, TODAY’S TMJ4 follows Ms. Anne through her neighborhood. We asked her to be honest and vulnerable. The places we went, things we saw, and topics talked about, were all up to her. This is Ms. Anne’s neighborhood according to her.
It’s a neighborhood that has been labeled as the ZIP code with the highest incarceration rate in the state. However, articles by Politifact Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee reveal that the data is complicated, and it depends how you spin the numbers.
“That the 53206 zip code is the worst zip code there is in the city of Milwaukee. Now, that is a tremendous misconception, and that needs to be cleared up,” Johnson said.
Which is why she showed us her neighborhood is really like one big family and is making real change.
Watch our conversation with Ms. Anne in the video above.
If you want to nominate your neighborhood contact James Groh at james.groh@tmj4.com or at his facebook account JamesGrohTV.
