{"id":3809,"date":"2020-04-22T15:42:28","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T20:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/icfw\/?p=3809"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:30:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:30:35","slug":"authentic-community-engagement-made-in-milwaukee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/icfw\/authentic-community-engagement-made-in-milwaukee\/","title":{"rendered":"Authentic Community Engagement: Made in Milwaukee"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Community engagement, or \u201cthe intentional process of co-creating solutions in partnership with people who know best, through their own experiences,\u201d[1]<\/sup> requires the creation of authentic, collaborative relationships between context and content experts. Complex social problems such as gun violence, children\u2019s mental health, and living through a global pandemic require solutions that are developed in collaboration with the children, families and communities that are most impacted by them. Through meaningful collaboration between service providers, government agencies and our community members with lived experience, we build reciprocal empowerment and education that may lead to co-creation of solutions that will more directly benefit the community and be sustained over time. The greatest challenges to authentic community engagement stem from forced or indifferent collaboration that often results in fraudulent inclusivity and tokenism. In a time of uncertainty and COVID-19, it becomes even more critical that we turn to the people that have lived through these challenges to learn how we might overcome them as a broader community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Institute for Child and Family Well-Being was proud to host the webinar \u201cAuthentic Community Engagement: Made in Milwaukee\u201d with Leah Jepson and Blake Tierney, Project Director and Manager of the\u00a0Milwaukee Coalition for Children\u2019s Mental Health<\/a>, and\u00a0Reggie Moore, Director of the\u00a0City of Milwaukee\u2019s Office of Violence Prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this webinar, Luke Waldo discussed the following with Leah, Reggie and Blake:<\/p>\n\n\n\n