This February, we joined community leaders and partners in celebrating the seventh annual African American Environmental Pioneer Awards (AAEPA). Held during Black History Month, the AAEPA honors Milwaukee’s African American leaders who are advancing environmental stewardship, community health, and neighborhood resilience.
At Clean Wisconsin, our Resilient Communities Program work is shaped and defined by the partners who lead within communities. The AAEPA is a powerful reflection of that reality. Environmental Pioneer and Rising Star honorees are not only advancing sustainability and conservation; they are setting the direction for what meaningful, community-centered environmental work looks like in Milwaukee.
We are especially proud to celebrate partners we have the privilege of working alongside. Yvonne McCaskill of the Century City Triangle Neighborhood Association is a cornerstone of environmental leadership, grounding efforts in trust, consistency, and deep neighborhood knowledge. Mabel Lamb, Executive Director of the Sherman Park Community Association, is a dedicated community leader whose steady commitment to supporting her neighbors reflects the kind of everyday leadership that sustains and strengthens community-driven environmental work. And lastly, Ifeoluwapo Tolorunju of the Sherman Park Community Association represents a rising generation of leaders, connecting environmental action with community empowerment in ways that are both innovative and rooted in lived experience.
These leaders, and many others honored this year, are not just contributors to this work; they are its foundation. Their leadership challenges us to show up as better partners: to listen first, to align resources with community priorities, and to support solutions that are driven by those most impacted.
Clean Wisconsin is proud to support the AAEPA and to be in partnership with the leaders who continue to define and move this work forward. Their impact is not only worth celebrating; it is what makes this work possible.
