Eco Neighborhoods: Milwaukee Wisconsin’s Sustainability Toolkit

Posted by: Eileen Flynn // Student

Milwaukee Wisconsin has brought teamwork to their sustainability campaign. Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office has developed an Eco-Neighborhoods Toolkit to help make the process of becoming a green city even easier. On the Official website of Milwaukee, the city lists five easy steps a city must take to be listed as an Eco-Neighborhood. 1. Assemble a team of four community members committed to being Sustainability Ambassadors. 2. Complete three neighborhood beautification projects with your neighborhood community (examples include: community garden installation, rain garden installation, tree planting day, rain barrel painting & installation event, etc.). 3. Host two Me2 information sessions and two Me2 house parties in your neighborhood. The Toolkit explains exactly what a Me2 meeting consists of, however, Me2 is an organization that helps make energy-saving more affordable and more simple. 4. Host three sustainable community events 5. Complete these previously listed requirements over the span of a year. Milwaukee has put together an Eco Neighborhood Toolkit to help explain these steps and act as a helpful resource for other cities. The kit is broken down into different sustainability categories: solar energy, home energy efficiency, recycling, land care, rain gardens, water and mobility. The kit provides definitions and also organizations that the city has partnered with for help. Milwaukee is a perfect example of a city working together to achieve their sustainability goals. Is your city next? For more information on this toolkit, visit this link : http://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/BBC/images/ECO_Toolkit_WEB.pdf For more information on Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office, visit this link : https://city.milwaukee.gov/homegrownmilwaukee/ECO-Neighborhoods.htm#.W1vdny2ZM3g