Community Event Highlights: 3rd Annual “No Community without UNITY” Resource Fair, Milwaukee

The 3rd Annual “No Community without UNITY” Resource Fair took place June 29th in memory of Shanica Adkins. Shanica was a University of Wisconsin‐Madison Senior, majoring in social work, who was killed December 27, 2009 when the car she was in was struck by an SUV fleeing Milwaukee police during a high speed chase.

Sponsored by Remembering Shanica Adkins and in part by the Impact Coalition for Families, the event is meant to encourage collaboration among community organizations, help develop and maintain community capacity, and to promote advocacy, healing and positive community engagement following a death or tragedy within a community. The event is also meant to encourage healthy conversations about the way that crime is addressed in the City of Milwaukee as well as to work towards building more positive relationships between the Milwaukee community and law enforcement.

Rev. Dr. Alice Belcher, B.A.|M.S.|D.D. of the Impact Coalition for Families (ICF) answered a few questions about the event:

How do you believe it helped sexual assault survivors?

At this event, survivors often approach ICF personnel and share their stories of survival; some ask to continue the conversation. ICF is reaching one its major goals by their comfort level to “talk‐about‐it” in a culturally relevant way, which is a part of the ICF system of approach in reaching our community through our “each one, reach one, teach one” methodology.

What did participants learn as a result of this event?

ICF provided a non‐intimidating and family fun approach to the sensitive topics of sexual assault and domestic violence, through its specially designed ICF Trivia game and the ICF I.Q. Test, which are both child and adult appropriate. Children and adults had the opportunity to learn and be empowered in a non‐threatening, age‐appropriate manner, have fun, win prizes and receive free giveaways. Thecommunity and its service providers ‐ the Milwaukee Police and Fire Departments ‐ participated and took the ICF I.Q. Test as well. They had an opportunity to assess what they knew about sexual assault and domestic violence and gained factual information for prevention and referrals for continued care and other resources. Many were surprised at what they thought they knew and were glad they participated and learned more.

What did you learn as an organizer (or one of the organizers)?

What continues to be confirmed for ICF as we continue to reach into our community is that our community is ready to be educated and informed about sexual and domestic violence prevention. They are willing and quite capable (once given the information, knowledge, and educational know how) to empower and advocate for violence prevention and sustainable social justice change in our community.

What are similar upcoming events readers might be interested in?

Impact Coalition for Families just completed another Community Health Fair on Saturday, July 20th in collaboration with some of its faith‐community at God’s Glory Church. Impact Coalition for Families also provides for FREE community seminars, trainings and workshops through the year. Our next free community seminar is Court Responsiveness to Abused Women Experiences, held Saturday, July 27, 2013, 10:00am‐12:00pm and presented by Rev. Dr. Alice Belcher, B.A.|M.S.|D.D. For more information, see the Impact Coalition for Families, Inc. website: www.icfamilies.org.

Thank you to Rev. Dr. Alice Belcher, B.A.|M.S.|D.D. for the background on this article.

See http://www.rememberingshanicaadkins.org/ for more information.