Antonio Butts

Antonio Butts is the Executive Director of Walnut Way Conservation Corp. and a lifelong resident of Milwaukee's Lindsay Heights neighborhood. For more than two decades, he has dedicated his career to community-led development, environmental justice, and building resilient, self-sustaining neighborhoods where residents lead the decisions that shape their lives.

Antonio's roots in community service run deep. In 2000, he began his career as a counselor at the Lavarnway Boys & Girls Club, rising to program director. In 2004, he joined the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, where he launched several small businesses — including a landscaping company that created jobs for teens. He went on to create the Mobile Market for SHARE of Southeastern Wisconsin, bringing fresh, nutritious groceries directly into Milwaukee's food deserts. Throughout this early work, a pattern emerged: Antonio has consistently been the person who starts initiatives from scratch, lifts programs off the ground, and carries them forward.

Antonio joined Walnut Way's Board of Directors, serving as Treasurer and helping establish the financial practices that positioned the organization for growth. In 2017, the Board appointed him Executive Director — a homecoming for a leader who grew up in the very neighborhood Walnut Way serves. Under his leadership, Walnut Way has expanded from a neighborhood-focused nonprofit into a recognized force in community development, environmental justice, and climate resilience at the local, state, and national level.

His tenure has been defined by catalytic projects and bold partnerships. Antonio led the completion of Phase II of the Innovations and Wellness Commons, a multi-million dollar commercial development on North 16th and West North Avenue that houses wellness services, small business incubation, and community gathering space. He has overseen the transformation of residential foreclosures into affordable homeownership opportunities, including net-zero energy homes on North 15th Street that demonstrate what equitable, sustainable housing looks like in practice. He grew Blue Skies Landscaping into a social enterprise generating nearly $500,000 in annual revenue while employing neighborhood residents.

A defining achievement of Antonio's leadership was spearheading the establishment of the Lindsay Heights Neighborhood Improvement District (LHNID), approved by the Milwaukee Common Council in November 2022. Antonio led the multi-year advocacy effort, facilitating engagement across residents, businesses, nonprofits, and government partners to build consensus for the district designation. The LHNID created a formal, resident-driven governance structure for sustained investment in infrastructure, housing, economic development, job creation, and public safety — giving the neighborhood an institutional mechanism to direct its own revitalization and ensuring that the people most connected to Lindsay Heights have a permanent seat at the table in decisions about its future.

In 2018, Antonio brought Walnut Way into the Institute for Sustainable Communities' Partnership for Resilient Communities, a national program that supports leaders of color in advancing climate resilience in their communities. Through this partnership, he gained access to national training, peer exchange with organizations from Baltimore to Oakland, and technical expertise in green stormwater infrastructure, energy justice, and resilience hub development. He applied this training to found the Environmental Justice and Infrastructure Initiative (EJII) Wisconsin — a statewide grassroots coalition that has intervened in Public Service Commission proceedings, organized statewide advocacy on energy affordability, and built a coalition of more than 20 community-based organizations fighting for equitable energy, housing, and infrastructure policy.

Antonio has assembled and led a 16-partner coalition for a multi-million dollar EPA Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant proposal, coordinating partners including the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Milwaukee Public Schools, Urban Ecology Center, WE Energies, and grassroots organizations across Lindsay Heights. The initiative integrates community-scale solar, home weatherization, green infrastructure, broadband access, and community governance into a comprehensive resilience framework for the neighborhood.

His advocacy work extends across sectors. He has led legal interventions in utility rate cases before the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, organized press conferences and public hearings on energy burden, championed Percentage of Income Payment Programs for low-income energy customers, and advocated for Healthy Homes policy at the state level. He has engaged with partners ranging from the Energy Foundation and Beyond Carbon Action Fund to Microsoft, building relationships that connect community-level priorities to statewide and national policy.

Antonio has been honored as an African American Environmental Pioneer and nominated for Vote Solar's Energy Justice Award. Walnut Way received the IWC / MADI LISC Cornerstone Award presented by BMO under his leadership. He is a 2024 Energy Justice Award nominee recognized for spearheading renewable energy projects that reduce the community's carbon footprint, enhance energy independence, and create educational opportunities and jobs for local residents.

Throughout all of this work, Antonio remains grounded in the same values that drew him to community service more than 20 years ago: civic responsibility, honest relationships, and the belief that the people who live in a community are the ones best equipped to lead its transformation.

"Not only is the built environment worth investing in — the people who live in this community are worth investing in too."