Winnie Okello
As a young girl growing up in Kenya, Winnie Okello was forever curious, always asking questions. Her mother called her “kimbelembele,” a Swahili term for someone who’s quick to talk, spunky, tenacious.
She played with Barbie dolls, but was mostly interested in building them houses. She was a problem solver.
All of those qualities carried with her into her teenage years, when she immigrated to the United States, and into her adult life as she became interested in engineering, getting a degree in civil and environmental engineering.
“Growing up, it was seen as a negative thing,” she said of the “kimbelembele” term bestowed upon her. “As I grew up, I realized, no, this is a skillset.”
In May, Okello is transitioning into a new role as the Parks and Recreation Equity Program specialist for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). The job combines her strengths of program coordination and environmental work with her passion for people and equity.
But her new position is by no means her first time combining all of these areas of expertise. Okello is just wrapping up her time as the statewide strategic coordinator for the Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) within the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). She has also worked for PennDOT as a senior civil engineer and as a professor at HACC, among other jobs.
Okello has also done work in her Harrisburg-area community, founding the Harassment and Assault Reporting Platform (H.A.R.P) for increasing awareness of the issue and holding events to advocate for change at the Dauphin County Prison.
She loves the numbers, the technical side of what she does, but it’s the community that keeps her going.
“I think a lot in African proverbs,” Okello said. “My favorite says, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ I’ve always had that mentality. For me, the thing that kept me stuck in engineering and actually really interested in environmental stuff was how it impacted people.”
Really Intentional
In her position with DCNR, Okello will work to make the department’s grant administration more equitable and inclusive. The department’s grants go to projects like public parks and recreation area development and rehabbing, as well as trail and river conservation and forestry projects, among others.
For too long, there have been barriers in the application process, making it harder for underserved organizations to successfully apply and receive funding, she explained. Much of the time, the same applicants have won grant funding simply because they have the resources to put together acceptable grant packages.
To determine how to improve the application process, Okello will conduct outreach to hear from the community and work to educate people on the process.
“We are actually finally looking to have greater representation and accessibility for everybody who should’ve been invited to the party,” she said. “It’s all about fairness.”
Okello also will work to prioritize environmental justice-focused projects, continuing the work she did in her previous role with the OEJ.
She understands the effects that issues like illegal dumping and pollution have on underserved communities and how those things impact health and quality of life.
That’s a topic that clicked for her as a student, when she began learning about endocrine disrupting chemicals and how they affect women, as well as legacy pollutants.
“As a woman in this space I was like, ‘why is this not a bigger deal?’” she said.
And while Okello is just getting started in her new role, she’s hopeful about the opportunity to make change and further equity in the commonwealth.
“We have to be really intentional about how we achieve that outcome, and I’m actually really glad that DCNR is doing that because they’re very proactive,” she said. “We fund what we care about.”
Okello is a big-picture thinker and sees how everything from engineering to health to the environment to social justice intertwine. It’s why she does the work that she does, including her advocacy and nonprofit work.
However, it can all be summarized into one goal for Okello.
“At the end of the day, we just want safer, healthier, happier communities,” she said.
For more information about the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, visit www.dcnr.pa.gov. To learn more about H.A.R.P, visit www.harpnow.org.
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