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Dontrell Corey Fells Shares the Value of Therapy

For Dontrell Corey Fells, co-founder of Black Space, therapy wasn’t always a pleasant experience. When he was a teenager in late high school, his mother passed away. “After that, there was just a young boy that wanted to be able to find somewhere to live and to figure out life for myself,” says Fells.

His family suggested he see a therapist to cope, but the man they found made Fells uncomfortable. As a young Black man, Fells couldn’t relate to his therapist who was an older white man. He felt the need to use coded language and give additional context to explain where he grew up and the challenges he faced. It wasn’t working.

Val Lopez is a Healer and Mender of Hope

Val Lopez has always been one to take care of others and now as an occupational therapist at the Healing Intergenerational Roots (HIR) Wellness Institute, she truly puts her heart into her work. Lopez helps people who have mental health problems, disabilities, and other impairments participate in their communities by teaching them rehabilitation exercises, job readiness and other everyday life skills. Building a trusted connection with her patients and making them feel safe is her first step in finding a path for healing.

Xavier Smart is Indigenizing Healing

A recent graduate from Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, Xavier Smart is a young counselor and community healer at the Healing Intergenerational Roots (HIR) Wellness Institute, a nonprofit that offers free mental health services to Indigenous groups and communities of color. He describes himself as Afro-Caribbean with roots in the Bahamas and Florida. During his time in school learning psychology, he felt something was off about the lessons he was learning.

“Through my undergrad experience, I realized there was a lot of information out there, but a lot of it, I felt, didn’t apply to myself and my community,” says Smart. Most of what he learned was about how to heal the individual without involving the community they are a part of. “Our communities of color, we are very community based. We’re very for the people, together.”

Lisa Jones Builds Grassroot Power through Community Connections

When Jay Anderson was killed by a Wauwatosa police officer in 2016, it hit home for Lisa Jones, the Executive Director and Lead Organizer of Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH). At the time, she was living down the street from the park where Anderson was shot to death while sitting in his car. “It just disturbed me that I would be driving past this park,” she said. “One day I actually pulled into a parking spot, and I thought, ‘could this be the spot?’”

Noor Jawad is a Healer, Influencer and Supporter for Many

Noor Jawad has been a healer and an integral part of the alternative medicine community in Milwaukee area for over 35 years. As a founding contributor to CORE El Centro, a current member of the Milwaukee-based Share Collaborative, and the owner of her own private practice offering life coaching, she has helped many people discover new methods of healing.

Jilly Gokalgandhi Works for Equity in Education

Newly elected to the Milwaukee Public School Board representing District 5, Jilly Gokalgandhi has big plans for her new role. Committed to following through on her campaign promises, she is determined to make policies centered around equity, which include funding for special education, multilingual education, and working on restorative justice practices. As an immigrant, she brings a unique lived experience to her role and cares deeply about creating an education system that is inclusive for all students.

Rafael Smith is Helping Restore his North Side

“My passion comes from being a Black man born in the city of Milwaukee during a period of time where deindustrialization was destroying all our institutions that we held dear,” says Rafael Smith, the Civic Engagement Program Director at Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Smith is deeply committed to moving Milwaukee forward on climate action and equity by helping his North Side, community understand how climate change impacts their lives.

For Smith, taking action on climate is personal—it’s not just about saving the planet, it’s also about building back an economy and restoring middle class jobs to areas, like the North Side that were left behind when the industrialization boom ended.

Nelson Soler Makes Business Learning Accessible to the Latino Community

For Latino entrepreneurs in Milwaukee and around the state, barriers exist that simply make it harder for them to start a business than it is for their white counterparts. Until Nelson Soler founded his consulting business called the Multicultural Entrepreneurial Institute (MEI), there were no business trainings available in Spanish in the area and no trainings that took into account the cultural values of Latinos.

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Dana World-Patterson Works to Free Victims of Human Trafficking

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January was Human Trafficking Prevention Month, but this is an issue that needs more attention than 31 days can offer. A study released in 2018 shows that in a four-year period, 340 adults and children under the age of 25 were victims of sex trafficking in Milwaukee. And that only includes the people that reached out to the police. There are many individuals in the city who are deeply invested in this issue, but one person who deserves the spotlight is Dana World-Patterson, founder of Foundations for Freedom, Inc. The mantra of the organization says it all: “One less victim in Milwaukee. One less victim in the world.”

MPS’ Linda Langen Connects Native Americans to Their Culture

For many people with Native American heritage, finding a connection to their history and customs is a healing process and an identity that they can carry on from their ancestors. Linda Langen felt this way when she finally discovered her Oneida heritage as an adult. She found a support system in the Milwaukee Native community and made it her life’s work to help children and adolescents do the same. While finishing her master’s degree in School Counseling, she worked at the First Nation’s Studies Program at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), helping students understand the customs and history of their tribes. Now a full-time school counselor in MPS, she continues to work with students to help them develop their identities.