Reflo Welcomes Delegation from Seattle to Showcase Milwaukee’s Green and Healthy Schools

MILWAUKEE– The nonprofit Reflo and project partners hosted a delegation from Seattle Public Schools and the City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment to share lessons learned from Milwaukee’s growing green and healthy schools movement.

Starting last Tuesday, six (6) delegates from Seattle flew to Milwaukee, led by Mikaela Randolph, Green Schoolyards Technical Assistance Consultant at the Children & Nature National Network. Upon their arrival, the delegation attended the Green Schools Consortium of Milwaukee’s (GSCM) school selection event where approximately 100 local partners gathered to select the next cohort of five (5) green and healthy schoolyard redevelopment projects.

The GSCM is a unique local network of practitioners, funders, and agencies all focused on supporting greener, healthier schools in the Milwaukee area. The five (5) Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) selected will work with Reflo in 2023 under a partnership sponsored in-part by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) to conceptually plan the schoolyard redevelopments that manage stormwater where it falls through green infrastructure, while also supporting environmental education and health and wellness initiatives. The collaborative program finished its 21st redeveloped schoolyard (4th annual cohort) this past October, raising over $4.6 million in 2021 to support the five (5) schoolyards redeveloped this last summer.

The Seattle delegation also traveled to several MPS green and healthy schools to learn first hand their motivations for undertaking the intensive redevelopment process. They met with school Green Teams, Superintendent Dr. Keith Posley, and School Board President Bob Peterson to talk about further increasing the impact of the local green and healthy schools movement.

The visit aligns with the recent draft release of the Climate and Equity Plan with a goal to “reduce community greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050”. One of the city’s strategies to “Protect and Restore Nature in the City” is to double the number of green and healthy schoolyard redevelopment projects per year by 2030. The visit also continues to support the National Geographic article naming Milwaukee as one of the Best places to visit in 2023.

It is only with the support of partners and supporters that Reflo is able to advance initiatives like these that continue to elevate the Milwaukee area as a leader in environmental justice, climate change resilience, and ecoliteracy. Because of this, Reflo is announcing their end of year fundraiser. People who donate between now and the end of the year will receive benefits such as their name on the Reflo Donor Wall, Reflo branded swag, free entry into the 7th Annual Green and Healthy School Conference held in August, and more. The donations will support the Green and Healthy School Program as well as their Environmental Intern Program for MPS high school students, their Innovative Placemaking Initiative, their Rainwater Harvesting Program to support Milwaukee’s urban agriculture community, and their Milwaukee Water Stories program to help share Milwaukee’s water stories in an innovative and engaging light. The organization is also taking part in Giving First, a collection of nonprofits asking people to donate the Tuesday before Black Friday instead of the Tuesday after. To learn more and to donate, visit Reflo’s website at www.refloh2o.com

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.