'We're excited to have good problems': youth gardening group seeks to branch out, citing big turnout

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- An organization dedicated to keeping teens busy through gardening has grown a little too fast. Leaders of 'We Got This' said Friday they're now seeking additional plots of land to keep young people so occupied they stay out of trouble.

'We Got This' offers young people between grades 4-12 the chance to work four hours in a garden each Saturday during the summer. Participants are paid $20 each week. 

The group has been around for a decade, starting with a community garden at the intersection of N. 9th St. and W. Ring St. It was the vision of founder Andre Lee Ellis, who often repeated his message to the city's youth: "Get your fingers off the trigger and into the soil."

The original garden remains active, and the group has since added two more dedicated gardens. Ellis has stepped aside from the day-to-day operations, but board president Alex Bruzan said the mission remains the same.

"I saw the difference that Andre Lee Ellis made through his work," Bruzan said. "I know that it does actually make a difference. This intersection used to be the seventh-most dangerous intersection in terms of gun violence in the city of Milwaukee, and now it's way down on the list."

For young people involved, the hours spent in the garden are a welcomed escape from everyday stress they face at home.

"I just feel like, mad, angry, nervous," 12-year-old Jabria Tate said. "You don't wanna keep getting on the floor just because somebody's out there shooting."

Aniah Credit, 17, said she also appreciates the distraction gardening provides. She described her stress coming from protecting her younger sisters by making sure they perform basic tasks early in the day.

"If we have to walk the dogs, we do it at 10 in the morning or something, so we don't get into any trouble at all," Credit said.

The need for youth-focused programming has never been greater. After three straight years of Milwaukee setting a new homicide record, 2023 has seen an increase in non-fatal shootings involving juveniles. 

As of July 19, the most recent date for which the Milwaukee Police Department has provided data on juvenile violence, there had been 79 juveniles wounded in non-fatal shootings and 11 fatally shot. As of that same date last year, there were 58 non-fatal shooting victims and 12 deadly shootings.

CBS 58 has recorded 15 juveniles who've died as a result of guns so far in 2023, including the July 25 death of 9-year-old Harwinder Singh, who was accidentally shot in a car by his 13-year-old brother. 

Garden's gotten too crowded

Bruzan said he was encouraged to see 80 kids come out last Saturday to work in the garden. At the same time, there just wasn't enough work for that many people to do.

"We're excited to have good problems," he said. "80 kids is a good problem."

Credit says she's already seen this summer how the opportunity to work the gardens can improve young people's attitudes.

"The first time I came, it was a whole bunch of kids that were, like, they weren't nice to each other, they didn't work well together," she said. "But after a couple of days, they were literally planting trees together."

Even good problems need solutions, so Bruzan said he was hoping to get donations and suggestions for vacant lots where the program can establish new gardens.

He said the group wanted to focus on the 53206 zip code on the near north side, which has about 800 vacant lots.

"We'd love to be able to help facilitate growing spaces in those areas," he said.

Young participants said gardening has proven to be especially rewarding because it allows them to see their work pay off.

"I find the flowers very fascinating and mulch and dirt, like how it all comes together to plant a flower," Eveian Bowen Abdul-Salaam, 12, said. "Knowing it's growing makes me feel good because I know I'm growing it right and correctly."

Credit said she was most excited to grow foods because she can enjoy the final product herself, and also share it with others.

"The green tomatoes that we grew are finally ripe," she noted. "So, last Saturday, we all took a whole bunch home, and we took zucchini home, and I made fried tomatoes for my mom because that's what I my nana used to make me all the time when I was younger."

Bruzan said anyone seeking to make a donation to 'We Got This' or suggest a vacant lot that would make for a good garden, or even just needs to be mowed, can send messages directly through the group's website.