Milwaukee Peace Week begins with focus on youth amid declining gun deaths

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The fourth year of Milwaukee's "Peace Week" launched Friday at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, a sign city leaders are hoping to reach more young people and continue a trend of declining violent crime numbers.

Violent crimes, consisting of homicides, non-fatal shootings and aggravated assaults -- have all declined from their totals at this point last year. Compared to this time in 2024, homicides have increased, at 37 now compared to 33 two years ago, but down from the 41 last year.

According to Milwaukee Public Schools, 25 students died in incidents involving guns between July 2024 and June 2025. From July 2025 through the present, there have been 12 gun deaths involving students.

"Well, first, 12 is too many, and we want to get to zero," Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said. "But we are encouraged by the work that we're doing with Children's Hospital, with the Urban League and the City of Milwaukee."

Cassellius and Mayor Cavalier Johnson noted the need for young people to play a hands-on role with their peers. Johnson also renewed his call for stricter gun laws at the state and federal levels, noting Canada's biggest city, Toronto, had 42 homicides in all of 2025 despite having more than five times as many residents as Milwaukee.

Cassellius also called on parents to be involved on a day-to-day basis with their kids, suggesting they ask their child every day to share the highest and lowest point of their day at school.

Still, much of the event revolved around how young people can play an important role, themselves.

Izzy Grob Polewski, a senior, said there must be an approach that recognized the reality of some students' lives -- that some teens get guns because they feel a need to protect themselves.

"Educating how to use a gun, how to properly store a gun, how to properly protect your mental health," Polewski said. "How to properly talk about your anger and talk about your feelings is what we really need."

Polewski added another solution is working with youth in high crime neighborhoods to connect them with resources in more well-to-do parts of the metro area.

"If you are born somewhere that has a violent neighborhood, you're going to be more violent than someone who doesn't have to deal with that on a daily basis," they said. "You grow up differently, you grow up faster, and so, I think it starts by connecting our community more."

Another area of emphasis is working with young people to get betting at handling conflict and controlling their emotions.

"Which is a normal part of growing up, that you're gonna have conflict," Cassellius said. "So, it's teaching them how to navigate those conflicts in a peaceful way."

At Milwaukee High School of the Arts, that happens through a group called "Circle Keepers." Juniors and seniors serve as mentors and sounding boards for freshmen and sophomores.

"There's been a lot of times where we've seen someone starting to get angry," Adasia Ward, a junior, said. "But we can just pull them aside, try to talk them down."

Ward and junior Khali Williams said the group's members will work with counselors to reach younger students who are showing behavioral problems.

The peers try to show how they can relate and get those younger students to see the bigger picture.

"I've gone through stuff like this," Ward said. "I've been irritated. I've been upset at school, but we cannot let that derail our future."

Funding fight isn't ending

At Friday's event, Cassellius discussed state lawmakers' late-night vote Wednesday to reject a $1.8 billion school funding and tax relief plan negotiated by Gov. Tony Evers and GOP legislative leaders.

The plan included more than $300 million in additional special education funding. MPS would've received more than $33 million.

Cassellius joined the superintendents in Wisconsin's five biggest districts to call on lawmakers to return to the Capitol and take up the school funding as a standalone item.

"We have got to increase the amount of aid coming to our district and make sure our students with disabilities have the full services they need to be able to thrive in school," Cassellius said. "We would love for lawmakers to get back to the table, work out the deal, even if they work out the deal for one year only and sunset the law at the end of the year, that's still real money to kids this year."