“It just it hits home. Because like I said my siblings have never left the area and I have never… my heart has never left the area. So we’re very much involved in our community so when things happen we know them.”

Milwaukee ZIP code 53206 comes with a lot of labels: mass incarceration, poverty, violence. Underneath those labels there’s a lot of pain, but there’s also a lot of love. Kimberley Zulkowski love her community. She is from 53206 and says it’s hard to shake the labels. She’s seen many people she knows leave in caskets. And when homicides picked up in 2015, her connection grew deeper.

Kimberley Zulkowski (right) hugs Destiny Boone, 9 year old Za'Layia Jenkins mom (center), at Za'Layia's funeral.

Credit is Mike De Sisti | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Kimberley Zulkowski has helped bury many homicide victims over the past several years.

Credit is Pat Robertson | For the Journal Sentinel