On Friday, February 24, 2017 MILWAUKEE 53206 was screened at the Louisville Black Church Studies Consultation Conference on Mass Incarceration and Restorative Justice. Over 100 faith leaders from across the country attended the 2-day conference. Right before the screening Reverend Harold Dean Trulear the National Director of Healing Communities and social impact campaign partner gave a Keynote speech on “Release, Reentry, and Redemption” where he featured clips from MILWAUKEE 53206 focusing on Beverly’s story into his lecture.
Sixty faith leaders attended the screening of MILWAUKEE 53206. Prior to the screening Dr. Scott Williamson, Professor of Theological Ethics at Louisville Seminary introduced Anne Faustin of Odyssey Impact®, who spoke about the film and the social impact campaign. Anne also answered questions from the audience immediately following the screening. Dr. Felicia LaBoy the Associate Dean of Black Church Studies and Advance Learning at Louisville Seminary said she was glad they were able to screen the film at the conference and she felt it truly complemented the program. Dr. Scott Williamson said he could not have imagined the conference without MILWAUKEE 53206. Faith leaders from across the country voiced their interest in using the film and social impact campaign as a training and advocacy tool and plan on bringing MILWAUKEE 53206 to their communities in Atlanta, Chicago, Michigan, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and bring it back to Louisville.
“A screening of Odyssey’s ‘Milwaukee 53206’ film lent experiential weight to our decision to apply for an ATS grant, which we received, that funded a Restorative Justice program. In that grant, we began to experiment with a hybrid field education placement, which brought together an LPTS student, a local congregation, LPTS faculty members, an expert in Restorative Justice from another local university, and a program that created a Circles of Support and Accountability for a returning citizen. We continued this experimentation through a hybrid summer field education placement between an Indianapolis congregation and the Indianapolis organization Westminster Neighborhood services. In both of these experiments, we noticed rich engagement from all involved, with benefits for both the students and the organizations. We’re ready to dive into deeper waters, to discover how our students and our collaborating partner agencies can benefit from a hub city strategy like that proposed by Odyssey.”
Marcus Hong, Louisville Seminary Field Education Director & Prof. of Practical Theology
