The team was formed as a branch of the Milwaukee Promise Keepers through the Department of Community Wellness and Safety. It focuses on crime prevention in areas with a high rate of shootings, bringing in trusted members of the community to provide support resources and mediate disputes among neighbors, said Pastor Marty Calderon, leader of Team Unified.
Formed in 2023, Team Unified is the only branch of the Promise Keepers on the south side, bringing events like monthly prayer walks, pop-up food pantries and street cleanups to neighborhoods that need it most, Calderon said.
After traumatic events, like shootings, members of Team Unified go directly to the areas impacted to learn more about the incident and liaise with the police. The group acts as a bridge between community members and law enforcement so that those with negative experiences with the police have trusted neighbors to talk to, Calderon said.
“People need to build trust, and if they see that there are people out there doing the work, the ones that have accomplishments and have been able to help them achieve their goals, that’s what people are looking for,” Calderon said. “The community needs somebody dependable.”
Meet the members of Team Unified and how they got involved with crime prevention and community support on Milwaukee’s south side.
Pastor Marty Calderon: Team Lead
Calderon has been volunteering and preaching as a street minister in neighborhoods with heavy gang activity for over 20 years.
Growing up on the south side, Calderon saw firsthand the issues that were most heavily impacting the community.
Through the Promise Keepers initiative, Calderon said he met his goal of creating a group of trusted community members who focus on crime prevention and outreach on the south side.
“When I was growing up, and I was going through certain things, there were those people I could call and rely on to help me,” Calderon said. “I wanted to be that. I saw those that did it for me, so I wanted to do that for other people.”
In addition to focusing on crime prevention, Calderon said he felt called to pray over the communities he served, blending spirituality with service.
Each month, Calderon rounds up groups of faith-motivated volunteers to host community prayer walks where volunteers clean the streets and pray over those who request it.
The prayer walks focus primarily on the south side but have expanded to other parts of the city, Calderon said.
“It’s great to see that group of people being able to come as one and really making a positive change in these neighborhoods that need it,” Calderon said.
“Those are the relationships we need to have and build on to better our community.”
Alex De La Garza: Team Unified member
When Calderon was working as a street minister, nearly 18 years ago, he visited Alex De La Garza’s class at Hamilton High School.
“At that time, I was in as deep as you can get. I didn’t care for the law, I was filled with so much anger and hatred, and I’m coming from a broken home,” De La Garza said.
De La Garza said he heard about Calderon’s work through his older friends who had listened to him speak, and when the two met, Calderon quickly became his mentor. He would often volunteer with Calderon and hoped to dedicate his life to serving his community full-time.
Because of Calderon’s mentorship in his youth, De La Garza said he sees his story as a “prime example of the work actually working.”
In 2023, when Calderon asked De La Garza to join Team Unified and mentor others in his community, De La Garza said he “jumped right on board without any question.”
Through Team Unified, De La Garza said he helps coordinate volunteers for its food pantry and street clean-ups, encouraging others in his neighborhood to get involved.
He also supports Team Unified’s youth development programs, aiming to bring positive male role models into the lives of young men in his community.
“It’s my passion, and I don’t ever see myself doing anything else,” De La Garza said. “Team Unified will continue to do the work.”
Travis Hope: Team Unified member
In addition to being a neighborhood organizer for the nonprofit Safe and Sound, which works to unite residents and law enforcement to build better neighborhoods, Team Unified member Travis Hope dedicates nearly all his spare time to improving the south side neighborhoods he grew up in, he said.
Through Team Unified, Hope organizes street cleanups and community events, volunteers at food pantries and participates in countless other activities.
He said his work is aimed at building trust with community members, improving relationships between neighbors and law enforcement, and increasing the quality of life for residents across the south side.
“Consistency is one of the most important things for an organizer – for anybody. People see you; they’re going to talk to you eventually – that’s the biggest thing,” Hope said.
Priscilla Herrera: Team Unified member
Priscilla Herrera has been a lifelong volunteer, primarily with Milwaukee Community Crossroads, a nonprofit that focuses on meeting residents’ basic needs.
Herrera said she would volunteer after school and in the summers when she was a child. The mentorship she received when she was young through her volunteer work led her to continue those efforts in her neighborhood as an adult, after beginning her career in education administration.
When she was given the opportunity to join Team Unified, she jumped at the chance to directly connect with neighbors, providing that same mentorship she received to others and bringing critical resources to those who need it most, Herrera said.
Team United’s focus on uniting the south side with other neighborhoods across the city was one of Herrera’s main motivations for joining, she said.
“If you want to see change in the community, you have to be willing to be a part of it,” Herrera said.
Alyssa Salcedo covers Silver City, Layton Park and Burnham Park for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact her at asalcedo@usatodayco.com.
Neighborhood Dispatch reporting is supported by Zilber Family Foundation, Bader Philanthropies, Journal Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meet the members of this south side violence prevention group
Reporting by Alyssa N. Salcedo, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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