This series was produced as part of the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism Fellowship with a grant from the Fund for Journalism on Child Well-Being.
Children & Families
While he earned $20 for four hours of weed-pulling and trash-picking, Maleak was there for something else: Support. Guidance. A father figure.
“Everyone from my community has to go to prison," one Jacksonville inmate wrote. "It is the way it is. It is a way of life for us. We didn't know anything else.”
An actor-turned-activist founded the "We Got This" program five years ago. It is aimed squarely at boys like Maleak, who has a father in prison, a mother struggling to make ends meet and, often, lots of pent-up anger.
This project received support from the Center for Health Journalism's California Fellowship and its Fund for Journalism on Child Well-being....
This article and others forthcoming on this topic are being produced as part of a project for the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism’s National Fellowship, in conjunction with the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
The community garden at the center of Andre Lee Ellis' "We Got This" mentoring program is one of dozens in Milwaukee. Many could use help — from raising money to sweat equity.
James E. Causey’s reporting on this project was completed with the support of a USC Annenberg Center for Healt
The 53206 ZIP code is one of the most troubled in the city.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter James E. Causey kept a weekly journal during the summer of 2018, while he was reporting about the "We Got This" summer garden program in one of the city's most troubled neighborhoods. Here he shares some excerpts.
In Milwaukee's poorest ZIP code, fruits and vegetables become powerful weapons for saving young boys
“I try to provide them with the tools to grow, so they can make that decision not to jump in that (stolen car), and not to pick up that gun, because they need to make those decisions when no one else is around.”