Attendees, supporters, and organizers of Milwaukee GLUE weekend.
Milwaukee, WI —Great Lakes Urban Empowerment (GLUE), in partnership with Progressive Baptist Church, the Wisconsin Black Historical Society, and community collaborators, successfully hosted GLUE Weekend on Friday, October 24, and Saturday, October 25. The two-day convening featured national Black Male Achievement leader Shawn Dove and brought together civic, faith, education, and community leaders to advance collective impact efforts across Milwaukee.
Event Highlights
- Friday, October 24 — Civic Salon at Progressive Baptist Church: A multicultural, intergenerational, cross-sector dialogue on coalition building led by Shawn Dove, Managing Partner for Field Building at New Profit and founder of the Corporation for Black Male Achievement. The session focused on strategies for strengthening partnerships and scaling local impact
- Friday afternoon, GLUE members visited Washington High School for an intergenerational dialogue with students and staff from the Black and Latino Male Achievement Department. Shawn Dove, MPS School Board member Darryl Jackson, and other community leaders joined the conversation with students.
- Saturday, October 25 — Black Men Organizing Annual Gathering at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society: Committee report-outs, policy updates, and new engagement pathways were presented within the My Brother’s Keeper framework. Attendees reviewed progress to date and identified priorities for the next phase of collective action.
Outcomes
- Strengthened cross-sector collaboration among civic, faith, education, and community partners.
- Public sharing of committee accomplishments and policy updates that underscore Milwaukee’s role in the national Black Male Achievement movement.
- Identification of next steps to expand community participation and to align local efforts with My Brother’s Keeper Milwaukee, Black Men Organizing (BMO), Project IMPACT Micah 6:8, and the MIRACLE Mental Health Network.
Walter Lanier, president/CEO of Great Lakes Urban Empowerment GLUE (L), with Shawn Dove, founder of the Corporation for Black Male Achievement
Hosting Organizations
GLUE Weekend was hosted by Great Lakes Urban Empowerment, Milwaukee’s backbone organization for cross-sector collaboration, in collaboration with Progressive Baptist Church, the Wisconsin Black Historical Society, and other community partners.
Next Steps
Organizers will continue to convene stakeholders to operationalize the priorities identified during GLUE Weekend and to support implementation of policy and engagement strategies emerging from the convening.
For more information about GLUE Weekend outcomes or upcoming activities, contact Great Lakes Urban Empowerment at https://thegluegroup.org.
ABOUT SHAWN DOVE
Shawn Dove is Managing Partner for Field Building at New Profit and Founder of the Corporation for Black Male Achievement (CBMA), a national membership organization dedicated to improving life outcomes for Black men and boys. He is also the former President and CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, a ten-year initiative that mobilized more than 3,000 cross-sector organizations and leveraged over $320 million to advance the Black male achievement movement. Dove helped launch President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative and co-authored I Too Am America: On Loving and Leading Black Men & Boys. He is a recipient of the Prime Movers Fellowship for Social Impact. Learn more at https://newprofit.org/people/shawn-dove/.
ABOUT GLUE
Great Lakes Urban Empowerment (GLUE) is a regional connector for civic, faith, and educational networks across Milwaukee and the Great Lakes region. GLUE anchors initiatives such as My Brother’s Keeper Milwaukee, Project IMPACT, MIRACLE Mental Health Network, and Black Men Organizing – advancing systems change through connection, alignment, and activation.