NEWS MKE SPEAKS: CONVERSATIONS WITH MILWAUKEEANS
Safe & Sound Executive Director Bridget Whitaker WORKING TO KEEP NEIGHBORHOODS SAFE BY TOM JENZ
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ccording to police crime statistics, Milwaukee experienced historically violent years from 2020 through the first third of 2022. The increase in Milwaukee’s homicide rate was one of the top five highest in the nation. Shootings increased by 25%. Reckless driving is such a hazard that police are stretched thin to control it. According to Shepherd Express interviews with Mayor Johnson, Police Chief Norman, District Attorney John Chisholm and the Public Defender's Office, violence prevention in Milwaukee looms as the most important challenge for 2022. Enter Safe & Sound, the Milwaukee nonprofit that unites residents, youth, law enforcement and community resources to build safe neighborhoods by fostering partnerships between community and police. For nearly 25 years, Safe & Sound has been a nationally recognized model that strives to improve safety in Milwaukee neighborhoods. As the newly appointed executive director of Safe & Sound, Bridget Whitaker is positioned to help bring about change.
Let’s start out with your life story, where you grew up, your parents, the neighborhoods you lived in, schools you attended, and how you established your professional career. I was born and raised in the central city, lived on 12th and Locust for my early years, but we moved around. Ours was a single mom family. My mom sometimes worked two or three jobs to care for my sister and me. I attended Engleburg Elementary School and Webster Middle School. I was also a teen mom, got pregnant at age 14 and had my baby in the eighth grade. My mom helped out with raising my son so I could continue with school. I went to Hamilton High School—an hour commute on the bus. I focused on Hamilton’s business program, data entry. I also worked half days as an intern at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. You might say I grew up fast.
Did you attend college right away after high school? Yes. I received the Educational Opportunity Program Grant for Marquette University. I had a double major, sociology and human resources management. I liked studying human behavior, why people do what they do. While in college, I met my then-husband and had two more children. By the time I was 21, I had three children. I graduated from college in 2001. 18 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
Photo by Kalda Williams Photography.
