Nearby Nature MKE

About

Nearby Nature MKE highlights the intersectional benefits of deepening connections to the ecosystems we inhabit for Black and Brown communities. We are an environmental justice initiative focused on reconnecting Black and Brown communities to nearby nature through community engagement, education, land stewardship, and reclamation.

Categories Program Adults BIPOC Children & Youth Community & Advocacy

Program Details

Nearby Nature MKE is an environmental organization that focuses on connection to nearby Nature through justice, education, community engagement, and land stewardship. We offer representation to the Black community for its excellence in science and art for current and future generations. Nearby Nature MKE began with a vision to reconnect Black and Brown communities to nearby nature, and in pursuit of that vision, we received a grant from The Sierra Club and a fiscal sponsorship from The Milwaukee Environmental Consortium. Since our humble beginnings, we have gained ownership of our vision and are now our own nonprofit.

Nearby Nature MKE supports the development of neighborhood friends groups and volunteer steward teams in the following communities: Harriet Tubman Park, McGovern Park, and Hopkins Hollow Nature Preserve. The Hopkins Hollow Nature Preserve is the unofficial name given to the 18-acre blended ecosystem in the heart of the 30th Street Corridor. We hope to steward a potential inner city micro-oak savannah located on 51st Street and Lincoln Creek Parkway. Nearby Nature MKE stewards these parks and local green spaces through education walks, therapeutic art activities, and health and wellness events. We also host plant identification events and organize winter outdoor activities such as snowshoeing, skiing, and sledding.

Nearby Nature MKE is thankful for continued support from funders and community members. Without interest and participation from the community, we would not exist. We meet the needs of the communities we serve by showing up to where they are and listening to their concerns—we address said concerns when we provide safe, introductory outdoor activities in partnership with local environmental organizations. Furthermore, we developed the African American Environmental Pioneer Awards 5 years ago in an effort to honor overlooked Black environmentalists and deepen connections among organizations within Milwaukee County. So far, we have honored over 50 individuals who are working to improve our understanding of and connection to the spaces we inhabit.

Services Offered

Education — We offer workshops and science lessons for students in grades 1-5, where we work directly with school teachers and administrative staff to implement hands-on learning experiences about nature near them. We offer field trips to green spaces that allow for classroom activities outdoors and a 10-week long Summer Land Stewardship internship for high school and college students. We are currently developing a week-long adult summer camp that will start in Summer 2025.
Community Engagement — We work directly with communities that inhabit the green spaces we steward, which are predominantly red-lined neighborhoods. We support the development of neighborhood friends groups and volunteer steward teams, as we recognize how community voices are central to our mission and provide valuable feedback, guidance, and collaboration.
Land Stewardship — We are privileged to be good stewards of the land we inhabit in partnership with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Northwest Side Community Development Committee, Land Restoration School, the Environmental Youth Collaborative, Urban Ecology Center, ReFlo, and MKE County Parks. We receive permission from our land to carry out research and deepen connections using traditional ecological knowledge. We also utilize ecological restoration methods inspired by the Society of Ecological Restoration in an effort to preserve and honor inner-city endangered ecosystems, such as the Dry Mesic Prairie located in Hopkins Hollow. We hope to pass on this traditional ecological knowledge so these spaces can be enjoyed 150 years from now.

Contact contact@nearbynaturemke.org Website

Population Served
Youth and adults in the Black and Brown communities who live in North and Northwest Milwaukee.

Staff Composition
We are a small family team of four people:

Makayla Cooper - Youth Educator/Curriculum Writer and Intern Manager
Jerica Fehr - Community Engagement Specialist and Lead Project Coordinator
mars - Land Steward Manager

We are a living representation of our Ancestors’ wildest dreams!

Cost to Participate
There is no cost for the community to participate in any of our activities. We humbly accept donations.

A group of participants gather closely to pose for a photo. Some people sit on wooden benches while others stand behind them. The scenery around them is full of green, as there are verdant trees behind them and tall wild grass surrounding them. The participants convey their admiration of the land through wide smiles.

A bright blue and cloudy sky stretches over a wide, open field, which looks like a sea of grass rippling in the breeze. At the far edge of the grassy field is a line of dense trees. A person stands in the distance, facing toward the treeline in the background.

A group of participants hike along a dirt path, which is completely enshrouded by dense, bright green foliage. The canopy of leaves looming above provide the group with plentiful shade as they enjoy the verdant scenery around them.

A group of participants dressed in warm layers pose for a picture in the middle of a park, which they had been working to clean up. Black trash bags are lined up as signs of the participants’ efforts to beautify their community. Behind the group are more people who were part of the cleanup, as well as barren trees in the far background.

Two people in winter clothes enjoy a crisp, snowy day. The person in the foreground is pointing to something in the distance, which the second person is trying to find. Around them are thin, brittle trees that jut out from the snow-covered ground. The sky peeking through the trees is clear and light blue.

Nearby Nature MKE in the Media

WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR
Read or Listen: Nearby Nature Milwaukee helps inspire Black Milwaukeeans to experience outdoor spaces

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read: Nearby Nature creates 'pocket of paradise,' provides environmental education on Milwaukee's north side

Spectrum News 1
Read or Watch: Nearby Nature Milwaukee studying Butler's garter snake population

Recent Case Studies

A group of youth play with a football while other children sit on the berm. Behind them, kids play on the climber dome. The school building in the background is painted with bright colors and artwork.

Place

Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy (formerly Chester Arthur Schoolyard)

Formerly an asphalt-covered space that offered little to engage youth, the renovated schoolyard at the Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy is now an inviting green space for students and community members that elevates hands-on learning, physical activity, and connection to the natural world.

Surrounded by an abundance of green, a participant reaches up to carefully inspect a particular branch of leaves during one of Tremont’s herpetology SANCP classes.

Program

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is a nonprofit field school situated within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It offers immersive, nature-based programs that enhance health and spark curiosity across all ages through profound engagement with the natural world.

Two participants in climbing gear sit on top of stacks of large rocks to celebrate a successful climb in Grand Teton, Wyoming.

Program

City Kids Wilderness Project

City Kids Wilderness Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the development of youth from under-resourced communities in Washington, DC through innovative outdoor experiential education and career readiness programs