Mission

The Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of the Milwaukee Area of Concern (AOC) works to ensure Milwaukee residents, especially those underrepresented in/excluded from environmental decision making, play an active role in shaping the decisions made during the Area of Concern delisting process.

Vision

Milwaukeeans participate in making decisions about our shared waters and how the AOC funding will be spent, ensuring the voices and ideas of a broad swath of our community inform and shape this work to the benefit of all people impacted by it.

Goals

History

The Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is called to be the long‐term voice and leader for cleaning up and delisting the Milwaukee Estuary AOC. To this end the CAC provides a structured way for individual citizens to share their opinions and perspectives on cleanup efforts, and on how policies and programs affect citizens who live and work in the watersheds.

The purpose of the CAC is four-fold: 

1. Review and provide comment on the annual Remedial Action Plan (RAP) and participate in the Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI) removal process (BUIs are all the things making our waters unsafe in their current state).

2. Devise and assist in implementation of strategies for building public and community support to enact recommendations contained in the Remedial Action Plan (RAP) for the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern;

3. Provide a forum for meaningful and appropriate resident and local stakeholder input into remediation and restoration efforts, and;

4. Advise state and federal agencies on Milwaukee Estuary AOC remediation and restoration.

Core Values/Guiding Principles of the CAC:

• We lead with racial justice. 

  • We believe racial justice is environmental justice, and this drives our work.

• We ask the community – we seek to understand without making assumptions.

  • At the core of this work is curiosity.

• We’re comfortable with discomfort and recognize meaningful change is often uncomfortable. 

• We value generational input and impact.

• We seek to create strong relationships with the community.

• We know we need to earn the community’s trust so our “hub” of information can be both used and useful.

  • We serve as a conduit/bridge between ideas and outcomes.

• We leverage relationships and partnerships to avoid duplication.

• We have fun.