Let’s pull together to help Milwaukee’s kids
I have high hopes for Milwaukee, but I’m realistic: As an African-American living in the Amani neighborhood, I’m familiar with the day-to-day realities of poverty and have seen first-hand the effects of deindustrialization — which devastated what had been stable, aspirational families and neighborhoods.
I’m also well aware of systemic racism and segregation, which we have to recognize and reckon with.
I left Milwaukee in 2002 to attend college in Minnesota on a football scholarship, before becoming a National Football League recruit. After working in Atlanta and New York City, I founded PeppNation, a nonprofit focused on sports training for youth as a path to higher education and other achievements. Concerned about the city’s stark statistics and eager to draw on what I had learned and experienced elsewhere, I decided to bring that program to Milwaukee.
PeppNation has since been serving central city youth since 2012 through training in nontraditional sports, such as rugby and lacrosse, as well as basketball. PeppNation introduces young people to academics and career, including options in science, technology, engineering, arts and math and promotes a commitment to good habits.
Although the program is serving hundreds of young people, it hardly makes a dent in a city with such massive needs.
Greater Milwaukee is blessed with many nonprofit organizations. I’ve even heard we have one of the highest per capita rates of nonprofits in the country. Despite all these dedicated efforts, statistics show we are not having the kind of impact we need to have.
Those seeking to serve Milwaukee’s most-challenged residents too often seem to be competing rather than cooperating. On one level, that’s understandable: Nonprofits must focus on their own bottom lines. But we could be more productive if we are better coordinated.
One recent collaboration happened when America SCORES, a national literacy and soccer program with which the Milwaukee Kickers are affiliated, approached the Milwaukee Bucks about supporting training for “traumainformed coaching.” That’s an approach that considers and thoughtfully address challenging life experiences that sports participants may be facing. The Bucks underwrote the program, which gathered more than 120 local coaches for two days of training. This opportunity for fellowship and learning with peers focused on the future of our community and developing a new generation of adults.
Here’s how we could do more to pull together:
There are several large nonprofits serving Milwaukee that offer outstanding programs, including the Boys & Girls Clubs, Children’s Outing Association and Journey House. As good as these programs are, they cannot serve every young person. They may not cater to a specialized need or may not be convenient for some.
But all children deserve opportunities to reach their fullest potential, and this could be achieved with a strong network of youth service organizations that collaborate, meet regularly, identify strategies and share best practices to ensure continued care. There are conversations involving Milwaukee Public Schools leaders and others about this goal, and I am hopeful those efforts will result in a universal and inclusive approach to coaching embraced by every Greater Milwaukee program serving youth.
Our young people have been conditioned over time to believe that there are few to no options for them. We must take drastic actions — collectively — to help them. I’d like to see increased mentoring of young people and the encouragement of buddy systems that promote positive outcomes. In high school, I had a neighborhood friend equally committed to staying on task with our studies and avoiding unproductive behaviors as we dreamed about the bright future.
That buddy, Ray Nixon, and I remain close to this day.
Let’s build a winning team in Milwaukee — one that includes all of us.
Brandon Culpepper is the founder and CEO of PeppNation Sports Leadership Camps, which was recently honored at the 69th Annual Crime Prevention Awards as “Outstanding Greater Milwaukee Partnership Award Honoree.”