August Ball and Cream City Conservation to receive Field Museum conservation award
Left: August M. Ball, founder of Cream City Conservation. Right: Two Conservation Corps members exploring a Milwaukee natural area. © Cream City Conservation
This April, the Field Museum will honor August Ball and her organization Cream City Conservation & Consulting (C4) for their achievements engaging Milwaukee youth and young adults in hands-on service to the land and creating equitable green career pipelines. Cream City Conservation’s consulting and training have moved the needle on diversity and inclusion in the environmental field. In recognition of these accomplishments, the Field will present them with the Parker/Gentry Award, a prize for outstanding and underrecognized conservation models across the globe.
In 2020, as the world faced successive waves of COVID-19 surges and the murder of George Floyd, many found themselves overwhelmed and unmoored. Swelling social movements issued calls to resolve gaping racial disparities in health, jobs, and justice. With the sudden clarity of the moment, many institutions reflected on the status of diversity, equity, access, and inclusion within their organizations. In the environmental sector, there was a growing awareness that while people of color are impacted first and worst by climate change and environmental degradation, they are woefully underrepresented among the staff of ecologically-focused organizations. Yet, without a compass, some of these organizations struggled to translate their good intentions into action, and in some cases existing divides between the organizations and the communities they serve deepened.
A bright light in this dark moment is August Ball and the organization she founded in 2016, Cream City Conservation & Consulting. Ball’s organization is unique, serving a twofold mission. C4 trains and employs young adults ages 15 to 25 whose social identities are underrepresented in the environmental field. Through partnerships with local and national organizations, this Conservation Corps program has helped engage thousands of Milwaukee youth and young adults in stewardship of their local landscape.
Simultaneously, Ball’s mission-focused consulting and training supports organizations in creating equitable pipelines and policies that promote diversity, inclusion, and retention of people of color in the environmental field. The model is a closed loop system, where the consultancy offsets the cost of its fee-for-service Conservation Corps program and prepares the ground for underrepresented Corps alumni and others to join the environmental sector and grow their leadership over time. Taken together, the pathbreaking model cultivates the next generation of environmental change agents while strengthening environmental and community-based organizations to attract, develop, and retain diverse pools of talent.
“August and Cream City Conservation have done so much to advance equity and diversity in conservation and environmental work here in Wisconsin,” said Wisconsin Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes. “It was an honor to work with her on Governor’s Evers’ Task Force on Climate Change to ensure that our efforts centered environmental justice in an unprecedented way. I know August and the young people involved in Cream City Conservation will continue to lead in efforts to combat the inequitable impact that climate change has on the health and well-being of communities of color and other underrepresented groups.”
In 2020, as many organizations struggled to adapt to intersecting health and racial justice crises, Cream City Conservation intensified their work, reaching more people than ever before. They maintained conservation crews at Milwaukee-area natural areas, urban farms, and public spaces between March and October. At the same time, Ball reworked her in-person consulting and training services in a new dynamic and interactive virtual cohort format. As a result, she was able to deliver effective, action-oriented training to environmental groups around the country right at the moment many of these organizations were becoming aware that they needed it.
“August has a deep knowledge of social issues and environmental history, but she meets everyone where they’re at on these topics with kindness, patience, and empathy,” says Lesley de Souza, chair of the Award Selection Committee at the Field Museum. “In addition to her direct consulting and training, she leads her peers in conservation by powerful example.”
The Parker/Gentry Award is named after late conservationists, Theodore A. Parker III and Alwyn Gentry, who were killed in a helicopter crash while doing conservation in South America; the award is made possible by an anonymous donor. Past awardees represent remarkable achievements in more than a dozen countries and across diverse ecosystems, from the rainforests of South America, Africa, and India to valuable freshwater resources like the Great Lakes in North America, to coastal regions worldwide. Awardees have been recognized for protecting critical species and landscapes, providing training and education, and conducting significant scientific research to advance conservation on the ground. This year the ceremony will take place virtually on April 27 at 4:30 pm CT. To receive an invitation next month, email Steph Moraes at smoraes@fieldmuseum.org.