Photo credit: Christopher Hyler
August M. Ball
While emphasizing that she does not accomplish anything alone, founder and CEO of Cream City Conservation August Ball thinks social justice takes a whole community. “Movements don’t happen with one person,” says Ball. “We all have a place to play in this.”
After attending meetings for the parks department as the community engagement manager, Ball noticed she was one of the few, or only, women of color in the room. Ball would sometimes work for free because of her identity. “I wanted to change that,” she says.
Believing that things could truly change, Ball founded Cream City Conservation (3628 W. Pierce St.). Through workshops, coaching and other methods, Cream City Conservation addresses social biases for environmental and community service organizations. Ball also noticed there was a disconnect between youth of color and the environment—not because of lack of interest but the design of the industry. Using the profits from consultations, the company also trains and employs young adults in the environmental industry. “[Social bias is] not a good person-bad person binary,” she says. “It’s a lack of awareness.”
Not noticing it at the time, Ball was able to retain many of her students while working in conservation. Her colleagues frequently asked how, and eventually Ball realized she could create Cream City Conservation. “It was by complete accident,” she says. When working with clients, she creates a culture to welcome underrepresented workers in the environmental industry instead of just encouraging companies to find new hires. “A lot of internal work...needs to happen before bringing in new staff of color,” says Ball.
Her passion for social justice stems from the death of her birth mom when Ball was 3 years old. After her mom was killed, Ball noticed that justice “can go unchecked for people who look like me.” Ball spent most of her childhood in the Philippines and returned to Racine, Wis., to finish school. She attended UW-Parkside and UW-Milwaukee studying sociology, community education and non-profit management.
Ball worked for the Student Conservation Association, a national environmental non-profit, for nine years and served in the AmeriCorps, holding other positions along the way. Throughout her career, she has enjoyed watching people learn something for the first time, whether it is watching a 16-year-old getting excited about berries, or a 60-year-old man understanding social bias. “[I love] seeing the light bulb go on,” says Ball.
Now with her own business, Ball has hired former AmeriCorps members to run her programs at Cream City Conservation—something she says was always her dream. “It’s an honor to see students...now running their own programs,” she says.
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Ball believes that perfection can sometimes get in the way of progress for social justice and that having hope can change the question from “What if?” to “How?”
For more information about Cream City Conservation, call 414-322-8482 or visit creamcityconservation.org.
