"Being proactive:" Leaders at one Milwaukee church share success in grass-roots safety program

MILWAUKEE -- Often times after a tragedy or the violence we saw this past weekend near Sherman Park, the community comes together and organizes to prevent something like it from happening again. But what happens to those programs in the years ahead? FOX6 News checked in with a grass-roots neighborhood safety program we first told you about in 2015.

Bill Thao

There was snow on the ground and an urgency for change in the air after 13-month-old Bill Thao was killed by a bullet fired into the home he was in. That was December 2014.

Local churches sprung into action through a program called Adopt-a-Block. The idea was to get the faith community and its leaders to interact with neighbors, get to know them, start conversations that could ultimately lead to change and put an end to violence.

"It's a good starting point. But think about it, what's going to be the after care?" asked Dr. Andrew Calhoun, Pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Milwaukee.

Grace Fellowship Church

Dr. Calhoun said he has seen it time and time again -- it starts out strong but soon loses momentum. That was not the case at Grace Fellowship Church.

Dr. Andrew Calhoun, Pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Milwaukee

"I think when you don't quite have a model like we have here, it starts up for a moment, then it begins to fizzle away," Calhoun said.

They now call it Adopt-a-Neighborhood" -- and it focuses on the Grover and Williamsburg Heights neighborhoods.

"You got to have a forum where people can talk about things and say, 'I'm not alone in this whole journey that's going on,'" Calhoun said.

Calhoun said having this program already in place has helped their community deal with the riots and violence happening in the Sherman Park neighborhood.

"What should we do? What should we be on the look out for? Being proactive. What can we do to be sure it's going to be safe over here versus what's happening over there?" Calhoun said.

Even though the church already has programs in place, it continues to add new elements to keep the conversation going. For example, a talking session is going to be held there between residents, teenagers and police officers in the near future.