Go Far, Go Together: Winnie Okello works statewide, locally, to advance equity and environmental justice

Winnie Okello

As a young girl growing up in Kenya, Winnie Okello was always curious and always asking questions. Her mother called her “kimbelembele,” a Swahili term for someone who is fast-talking, feisty and tenacious.

She played with Barbie dolls, but was most interested in building houses for them. She was a problem solver.

All of these qualities carried with her into her teenage years, when she immigrated to the United States, and into her adult life when she became interested in engineering and earned a degree in civil and environmental engineering.

“When I was growing up, it was seen as something negative,” she said of the term “kimbelembele” given to her. “As I grew up, I realized, no, this is a skillset.”

In May, Okello will transition to a new role as Parks and Recreation Equity Program Specialist for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). The job combines her strengths in program coordination and environmental work with her passion for people and equality.

But her new position is certainly not the first time she has combined all these fields. Okello is just finishing her time as the snational 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 positions.

Okello has also done work in her community in the Harrisburg area, founding the Harassment and Assault Reporting Platform (HARP) to raise awareness of the issue and organizing events to advocate for change at the Dauphin County Jail .

She loves the numbers and 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. What kept me in engineering and actually really interested in environmental issues was its impact on people.”

Really intentional

In her role at DCNR, Okello will work to make the department’s grant administration more equitable and inclusive. The department’s grants go to projects such as the development and renovation of public parks and recreation areas, as well as projects for trail and river conservation and forestry.

For too long, there have been barriers in the application process, making it more difficult for underserved organizations to successfully apply and receive funding, she explained. Much of the time, the same applicants have won grants 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 listen to the community and educate people about the process.

“We’re actually finally looking to have greater representation and accessibility for everyone who should have been invited to the party,” she said. “It’s all about honesty.”

Okello will also work to prioritize environmental justice-focused projects, continuing the work she did in her previous role at the OEJ.

She understands the impacts that issues such as illegal dumping and pollution have on underserved communities and how these issues impact health and quality of life.

That’s a topic that appealed to her as a student, when she started learning about endocrine-disrupting chemicals and how they affect women, as well as ancient pollutants.

“As a woman in this room, I thought, ‘Why isn’t this a bigger problem?’” she said.

And while Okello is just getting started in her new role, she is hopeful about the opportunity to bring about change and greater equality in the Commonwealth.

“We have to be very intentional about how we achieve that outcome, and I’m actually very happy that DCNR is doing that because they’re very proactive,” she said. “We finance what interests us.”

Okello is a big thinker and sees how everything from technology to health, from the environment to social justice, is intertwined. That’s why she does the work she does, including her advocacy and nonprofit work.

However, it can all be summed up in 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. For more information about HARP, visit www.harpnow.org.

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