YP Profiles: August-Marie Wagner-Richardson

This week we get to know August-Marie Wagner Richardson and a local program that's engaging area youth and conserving our green space!

In case you missed our last profile, .

What is your connection to the South Suburban area? I manage the Milwaukee Conservation Leadership Corps (MCLC), an environmental conservation program which employs up to 100 city of Milwaukee youth every summer. This summer, four of the eight park sites we are doing conservation work in are in South Milwaukee and include Grobschmidt Park, Franklin Savannah Natural State Park, Wehr Nature Center and Greenfield Park.

What is your favorite thing about this area? Two years ago, the MCLC built a youth camp at Bender Park. Program participants camp there every summer and it gives youth the opportunity to experience camping or outdoor recreation that they otherwise would not have. This area is full of beautiful parks that we aim to keep that way for generations to come.

Current employer/position? I am the Program Manager for the Milwaukee Conservation Leadership Corps, which is a product of a nonprofit, private and public sector collaboration between Student Conservation Association, Johnson Controls Inc. and the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board. 

What do you absolutely love about your job? Working with people for the common good. There’s no feeling in the world like being a contributing factor in a youth actualizing their power to serve. Within the six-week summer program, a teenager who has never walked a trail can gain skills and passion for the environmental conservation field.

What would you consider your passions? Youth empowerment and community involvement.

What impact do you hope to leave on this community? I would like to work myself out of a job. I look forward to a day when it is no longer considered a novelty for inner-city minorities to understand and embrace their natural areas, for communities like ours to not only be fully sustainable but thriving.

Who is your mentor? Why did you choose him/her? It’s extremely difficult for me to name just one person, as my life and life decisions have been influenced greatly by numerous individuals and experiences. That being said, the most influential person in my life has been my father. He taught me the importance of being socially aware and the correlation of self-actualization and community empowerment.

What is your favorite local nonprofit/charity group and why? Of course I’m biased when it comes to this. I dared to believe that I could find a job that encompassed my love of youth work with my love of the environment and my dream job manifested itself in the Student Conservation Association (SCA). My employment with this organization has allowed me the opportunity to contribute to the cultivation of the next generation of environmental stewards. SCA partners with various workforce and environmentally relevant organizations in almost every major city in the United States to create internships and employment opportunities for youth in the green career field. Every day this organization changes the face of conservation.

Do you have any special talents? What are they? You mean besides maintaining organization in a sea of chaotic teenagers with sharp tools?! Well, I’ve been singing jazz for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never had a desire to try my luck at taking it any further than performing at weddings and the occasional karaoke night at Amelia’s!

One piece of advice for other young professionals? Don’t be one-dimensional. Take a holistic approach to your career. Identify your passions and find a way to live them out every day, in everything that you do.

Click here for more on the Student Conservations Association.