NEWS MKE SPEAKS: CONVERSATIONS WITH MILWAUKEEANS
Working Hard to Stop the Shooting
INTERVIEW WITH VIOLENCE PREVENTION DIRECTOR ARNITTA HOLLIMAN BY TOM JENZ
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ccording to police crime statistics, Milwaukee experienced historically violent years in 2020 and 2021. The city’s homicide rate increase was among the top five highest in the nation. Shootings increased by 25%. Reckless driving has been like a creeping cancer. According to Acting Mayor Johnson, Police Chief Jeffrey Norman, District Attorney John Chisholm, Alderman Michael Murphy, 414LIFE head Reggie Moore and grass roots Black leaders, violence prevention looms as Milwaukee’s most important challenge for 2022.
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As director of the city’s Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), Arnitta Holliman is in a position to get things done. She was born and raised in Milwaukee on 12th and Atkinson in zip code 53206. She attended Samuel Morris Middle School and Juneau High School and earned her undergraduate degree at Marquette University, majoring in psychology and minoring in criminology and law studies, before earning her masters degree in clinical psychology. She is a licensed therapist and professional counselor and has worked in private practice, school and community clinics and prisons. She has also done group and individual therapy.
Photo via Facebook / Arnitta R. Holliman, MS, LPC, CPC.
