Project Grant NH28CE003314

WESTCARE WISCONSIN, INC. COMPREHENSIVE ADDICTION AND RECOVERY ACT (CARA) - THE WESTCARE WISCONSIN, INC. / HARAMBEE 53212?PULLING TOGETHER FOR A DRUG FREE COMMUNITY COALITION (WC-WI COALITION) OPERATES FROM THE WESTCARE WISCONSIN HARAMBEE COMMUNITY CENTER. HARAMBEE IS THE SWAHILI WORD FOR ?PULLING TOGETHER?. ITS NAME SIGNIFIES TWO THINGS: THE AFRICAN HERITAGE OF MOST RESIDENTS AND THE SPIRIT OF UNITY THAT HAS TAKEN ROOT IN AN OLD NEIGHBORHOOD. DRAPED ACROSS A STEEP RIDGE OVERLOOKING DOWNTOWN, THE HARAMBEE AREA IS A COMMUNITY OF HISTORIC HOMES AND STRONG CHURCHES. THIS URBAN MILWAUKEE NEIGHBORHOOD IS LOCATED AND DEFINED AS: 7TH STREET TO HUMBOLDT BLVD (WEST-EAST) & WALNUT/PLEASANT STREET TO CAPITOL DRIVE (SOUTH TO NORTH) AND CURRENTLY HOLDS A POPULATION OF 9,787. THE RACE AND ETHNICITY IN HARAMBEE INDICATE THAT IT IS MUCH LESS ETHNICALLY DIVERSE THAN THE REST OF MILWAUKEE, BEING PRIMARILY AFRICAN AMERICAN (81%) WITH A LOW PERCENTAGE OF WHITES (6.4%), MIXED RACE (4%) AND HISPANICS (7.5%). APPROXIMATELY 50% OF THIS POPULATION IS UNDER THE AGE 24. ACCORDING TO CITY DATA, 53.6% OF RESIDENTS DO NOT CLAIM ANY RELIGION; 21.9% ARE EVANGELICAL, MAINLINE OR BLACK PROTESTANT; 21% ARE CATHOLIC; 2.5% CLAIM OTHER AND 1% ARE ORTHODOX.THE TARGET AREA, WHILE IN THE HEART OF A HISTORIC CULTURAL AREA, HAS SOME DISPARAGING STATISTICS. ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY, 45% OF HARAMBEE RESIDENTS LIVE BELOW THE POVERTY LEVEL COMPARED TO 29% CITYWIDE, AND MORE THAN 71% OF CHILDREN LIVE IN POVERTY. IN WISCONSIN, BLACKS ARE SIX TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE CHARGED WITH POSSESSION OF DRUGS THAN WHITES AND HAS THE FOURTH HIGHEST DISPARITY IN THE NATION. IN MILWAUKEE COUNTY WHERE NEARLY 70% OF THE STATE?S AFRICAN AMERICANS LIVE, 4.7% OF BLACKS ARE ARRESTED FOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION FOR EVERY 1 WHITE, ACCORDING TO THE ACLU. RACIAL DISPARITY IN MARIJUANA ARRESTS IS A KEY CONTRIBUTOR TO RACIAL DISPARITY IN INCARCERATION. THE STATE?S 12.8% INCARCERATION RATE FOR BLACK MALES IS ALMOST DOUBLE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE AND 3% HIGHER THAN THE STATE. MOST OF THE OFFENSES ARE DRUG-RELATED, AND TWO-THIRDS OF THE PRISONERS ARE FROM 6 ZIP CODES REPRESENTING THE POOREST NEIGHBORHOODS IN MILWAUKEE (INCLUDING HARAMBEE 53212), MAKING IT AN ?EXPECTED? PART OF LIFE FOR YOUNG RESIDENTS. ACCORDING TO THE MOST RECENTLY AVAILABLE CITY DATA, BLACK YOUTH COMPRISE ONLY 10% OF THE OVERALL YOUTH POPULATION IN MILWAUKEE BUT 92% OF THOSE INCARCERATED AND 61% RELEASED FROM INCARCERATION IN WISCONSIN COMMITTED A NEW CRIMINAL OFFENSE WITHIN THREE YEARS. THE OVERALL CRIME RATE IN HARAMBEE IS 159% HIGHER THAN THE NATIONAL AVERAGE. ?MORE THAN FOUR OUT OF FIVE CHILDREN (82%) IN MPS ARE ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED. THAT?S MORE THAN 50,000 KIDS GOING WITHOUT SOME OF LIFE?S BASIC NEEDS, EVERY SINGLE DAY, AND A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF THOSE KIDS HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO A POTENTIALLY TRAUMATIC EVENT,? SAYS MELISSA A. TEMKE, WHO TAUGHT FOR 10 YEARS BEFORE TRANSITIONING TO A STAFF POSITION WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT?S VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAM. TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 781:1 STUDENTS PER COUNSELOR COMPARED TO 391:1 IN THE STATE.ACCORDING TO THE WISCONSIN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE, LICIT AND ILLICIT DRUGS AND ALCOHOL ARE AVAILABLE READILY AND EASILY OBTAINED ON THE STREETS OF HARAMBEE REGARDLESS OF AGE. THE PREFERRED OPIOID CHOICE AMONG YOUTH IS THE STREET DRUG ?LEAN,? (A CONCOCTION OF SODA OR SOME SORT OF SWEETENER AND LARGE AMOUNTS OF PRESCRIPTION COUGH SYRUP WITH CODEINE) VERY PREVALENT IN POPULAR HIP-HOP/RAP MUSIC AND PILLS CRUSHED IN MARIJUANA. 2020 SET A RECORD HIGH OF 473 DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS IN MILWAUKEE COUNTY. IN RESPONSE TO THE GROWING LOCAL DRUG CRISIS IN THE HARAMBEE AREA, THE WC-WI COALITION IS WORKING TO PREVENT OPIOID, METHAMPHETAMINE AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG USE AMONG YOUTH AGES 12-18 IN HARAMBEE WITH A CONTINUUM OF CARE AND PARTNERSHIPS WITH COMPREHENSIVE ADDICTION TREATMENT AND RECOVERY PARTNERS.