Tuesday 7/21/26: Financials of flooding, armless flight, BLK Girl Fest

Lauri Jones: Support for WUWM Podcasts comes from Hop, Harvest, and Vine and Good Harvest Market in Pewaukee, part of one destination, combining farm to table dining, local craft beers, and organic groceries under one roof. More at goodharvestmarket.com.

Audrey Nowakowski: From 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR, this is Lake Effect. I'm Audrey Nowakowski. Today, we'll look at the financial impact last summer's historic flooding had on the Milwaukee area. Then the world's first armless pilot shares what inspired her to take to the skies.

Jessica Cox: I immediately made this connection with flying that I was like, "I want to do this. I'm going to figure this out." And I later learned that no one has ever flown with their feet before.

Audrey Nowakowski: Plus, we'll look ahead to this weekend's BLK Girl Fest.

T'Keyeh Bennett: Black women need each other more than we think. We need to be able to come together collectively and love on each other and celebrate each other, and not a way where we feel we have to compete, but moreso collaborate.

Audrey Nowakowski: All that's coming up on Lake Effect. This is Lake Effect from 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR. I'm Audrey Nowakowski. Thanks for joining us. We're approaching the one year anniversary of historic flooding that hit the Milwaukee area last summer. More than 10 inches of rain fell in less than a day, triggering widespread flooding and causing more than $240 million in damage to private and public property. A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum examines the aftermath of that flooding. It looks at data from FEMA and local governments in the Milwaukee area to understand the storm's impact on infrastructure and the community. Tyler Byrnes is a senior research associate with the Wisconsin Policy Forum who authored the study. He joins WUWM's Race and Ethnicity Reporter, Teran Powell, to talk about the report.

Tyler Byrnes: There's two sets of financial impacts. The first is impacts to individuals — homes, cars, apartments, stuff. You can't live in your apartment, so you need rental assistance. Your home's destroyed, you need to rebuild your home, those sorts of things. Water in your basement. And that was, in the three county area, about $210 million of damage that was determined to be eligible by FEMA. The biggest portion of that was concentrated in a few zip codes on the Northwest Side of Milwaukee. Some of the biggest calls for financial need, and these are calls into this 211 hotline, but the most frequent call was just for financial need. People needed help paying, again, with rent, with day-to-day activities, with paying for damage. Next highest was structural damages. It was about 9,000 calls for that. Cleanup needs. You know, about 4,000 people. And then mold remediation and damage to appliances for big, sort of individual, needs. So that's on the individual side. On the public side, so this is damage to local government properties, state government properties too, but mostly local government properties, we saw about $40 million of damage with about $35 million of that done to property owned by local governments in Milwaukee County. So think about, you know, the county, but then also the city of Milwaukee. MPS saw some major damages to both school buildings and recreational facilities, those sorts of things. Milwaukee Metro Sewerage District saw about $10 million of damage. And that's to, you know, their flood control infrastructure, those sort of things. Even Wauwatosa, which is, you know, compared to those other, compared Milwaukee County, compared the city of Milwaukee, Wauawatosa is relatively small. They saw almost $7 million of damage to parks, roads, and buildings. And so, those are costs that these local governments are gonna have to pay for to rebuild. And so when you're making a capital investment decision as a local government, you plan these things out over a long period of time. Say we're gonna need a new park, we're going to need a new building, a new bridge. And in this case, all of this stuff needed to be rebuilt right away. And that can put some financial stress on those local governments.

Teran Powell: For people who might not be familiar, if you could just give a little blurb about what FEMA's role is following natural disasters.

Tyler Byrnes: Yeah, FEMA is a it's a federal agency. So they're run by the US government. They're really in charge of paying out after the disaster happens. They're not sending ambulances. They're not sending construction crews to clean things up. They respond after the disaster has been declared. And so the way that works is, you know, there's a local disaster, and then the governor says, "Hey, this is a this is the disaster that warrants federal aid." The governor sends that request to FEMA. FEMA helps review that request, but then ultimately the president has discretion to decide whether or not to declare a disaster. And then once a disaster is declared, there's a number of different types of assistance available. That's this individual assistance, so that's help paying for individual damage, but also public assistance, which is help for local governments to pay for their damage. And there's the third type of assistance that we didn't even get into in the report but it's for hazard mitigation funds that show up, you know, after this disaster is over, acknowledging that there's going to be more disasters probably in the future. And so, you know, there's actions you can take to mitigate disaster, to make it less bad in the next time around. So, you know, things to reduce flooding, things to make the houses, buildings, more durable in the event of flooding in the future. So that's another pot of money that we didn't even really touch on the report. But that's also what comes through FEMA. And so if your home is damaged through a disaster and there's a disaster declaration, then individuals have to apply to FEMA to say, you know, "Hey, I had this amount of damage. You know, my basement was flooded, this much stuff was destroyed." And then FEMA will often come out and do an inspection that says, "Okay, yes, that damage was there, and we estimate it to be $5,000," or whatever the amount may be. Then with that decision, then you can go on and get the repair work done, and then that money gets used to complete the repair work. And so that was a long chain of events that I just described. And so sometimes it can take a while to get from the point of a disaster declaration to a house that's cleaned out that doesn't have any more mold, that doesn' have any more damage.

Teran Powell: Do we know how many folks like in the Milwaukee area have been able to, individuals have been able to get that assistance? Like what parts of the city or anything like that?

Tyler Byrnes: There was about 33,000 people in Milwaukee County that were eligible for aid, and that's out of about 41,000 that applied. So the majority of people that applied were eligible, but not all of them. And again, most of that was centered on a couple of zip codes on the Northwest Side, particularly, of the city. But it was centered around James Madison High School on the Northwest Side, which set Wisconsin's all time record for the most rain in a 24 hour period, with 14 inches. Which, you know, that's not a record you're going for as a high school, you know. Maybe you want to win the most state championships or something, not the highest amount of rain ever recorded. But that's really where the damage was centered, was around this extreme rainfall.

Teran Powell: If we're talking about, you know, the Northwest Side of Milwaukee kind of seeing a good chunk of the impact of the flooding, like what do you think that's indicative of, if anything?

Tyler Byrnes: So first off, obviously, just the sheer amount of rain. I mean, that's an incredible amount of rain to get in a period. You know, the city, it's uneven in terms of racially segregated. There's uneven economic development in parts of the city. I'm not as familiar with sort of the engineering of the, you know, infrastructure, the stormwater engineering. I do know that generally speaking, the infrastructure throughout the city is aging. Again, it seems like the impact was there because that's where the rain fell the most. It's likely that improved infrastructure could have helped limit the damage. And I know the Sewerage District in particular is working on upgrading both the concrete infrastructure and also the green infrastructure, trying to slow the water down and help it infiltrate more where it falls, as opposed to flowing downhill and causing these massive floods. And MMSD folks comparing these floods to the floods in 1997 and 1998, kind of the last time we had something quite this big, they definitely saw improvements, but they also see that a lot more needs to be done. And so, you know, they're working on investments again, both in improving the pipes and the concrete and those sorts of things, but then also in to trying to keep the water where it falls as opposed to having it, you know, flow into people's basements and those sorts of things.

Teran Powell: So going back to FEMA's assistance for individuals and the lack thereof for public entities, I know the report says the fact that individuals did get their approval and public entities did not, like that's a rarity. Talk a little bit more about that. Like why is that significant?

Tyler Byrnes: It does happen once in a while. About 3% of the time over the last 25 years. So it's not a one-in-a-million type of thing, but it's a pretty rare decision. There's thresholds that communities have to clear in terms of damage that say if you go beyond the threshold, you're not automatically considered disaster, but it's kind of a guideline. That threshold for the state of Wisconsin in 2025 was 11 million. Again, we had $43 million worth of damage. And from Milwaukee County alone, the minimum threshold was $4.5 million, and there was an estimated approximately $35 million. So that's what, seven times that minimum threshold? That's a pretty big difference between the minimum than what was actually recorded. Ultimately, again, the president has discretion over this and has broad latitude to make those decisions. It's difficult to speculate on the rationale behind that. Regardless of the rationale, what's happening now is, because that federal aid wasn't there, there was some state aid that was able to take over a little bit of that burden. But for the most part, the local governments themselves are going to be responsible for paying for those cleanup costs and paying for repair costs. You know, that ultimately means the taxpayers in the Milwaukee area are going to pay for this. And, you know, thinking about Milwaukee Public Schools, you know, they had $10 million of damage that came on the heels of investing a bunch in their schools because they found lead, lead paint, lead pipes. And so they spent a bunch to make their school safe. And then they had this, that's one unexpected cost. This is another unexpected cost. They just recently had a school burn down. And so having to bear this additional unexpected cost on top of these other unexpected costs while they're having tight budgets can be difficult. So that's kind of the implication. The story plays out on the other local governments as well. Local governments statewide are under tight limits in how much revenue they can raise. And so paying for big unexpected capital costs can kind of take a carefully planned budget and make it that much more difficult to balance.

Teran Powell: So you talked about like, you know, applying for the assistance. And then you have to have people come inspect and then, you know, that's just a long drawn-out process. But like, what's the status of cleanup now in the Milwaukee area?

Tyler Byrnes: So there's definitely still work to be done. I don't have a ton of data on that, although one little tidbit that we had, I have to give a credit to our fellow Dr. Becky Rose, and she had some of this data on crisis cleanup, which is again, another nonprofit that helps navigate these sorts of disaster aftermath events to help folks clean up. And that data suggests that More than 75% of mold remediation cases that they know about have not yet been, at least, closed out finally. So, you know, it's difficult to say if the work hasn't been done, or the money hasn't claimed, or if they just haven't filed the closeout, but I think that it suggests a lot of work hasn't been done yet. And, you know, mold is one of those things where at first you don't really notice, but you can develop respiratory issues and it's kind of a sneaky thing. And so living in a home with with mold for six, eight months, that can be bad for you. You can develop asthma over the long term, all sorts of things. And so I think that's indicative of the fact that there's still work to be done due to those floods from August. And I know the city got hit again in April. As the likelihood of these disasters continue, you're almost in a cycle where you're just done or you're not even done cleaning up from the last one, and there's a new one hitting. And so that's, you know, that's going to be tough. It suggests that maybe there's things that could be done to speed up the process. But, you know, again, that takes money. That takes creation of new processes. And all of that takes time and intentionality.

Teran Powell: What are some of the key takeaways that you want the public to have from this report? Or what were your key takeaways from doing said report?

Tyler Byrnes: So one key takeaway was just how concentrated the damage was in terms of both the damage to private individuals and the county, governments in the county. It was really, you know, a massive, massive rain that sort of hit one target area. I think, like I said, these things are unpredictable, but we know they're more likely to keep happening. The timing, we don't know, but they're gonna happen somewhere in the state, somewhere in like in the community. And so doing things proactively to plan to limit the impact is probably a good idea. I think it's also important to note, though, that because these storms, these severe weather events tend to be really localized, it can be tough to make the people that are impacted be the ones that are responsible for cleaning up and paying for it. Because, you know, they happen in different areas. And so one of the reasons we do this at the federal level is because in the United State is a big country. Even though there are disasters happening in different places, in most of the country there's not a disaster happening. And so we can kind of share those resources and share the, you know, resources of the federal government. And so they will likely continue to be an important part of the disaster recovery process going forward. But there are things that local governments can do. And again, MMSD tries to be real innovative. The Sewerage District tries to be real innovative in how they're dealing with this. And they're actually looking at a new type of insurance policy that would pay out in the event that there's a rainstorm of a certain size. So if we get six inches of rain in a certain area over a certain amount of time, it would pay out a certain amount of money. And they're very preliminary in terms of looking into this, but they are trying to be proactive to say, okay, we know there are people that it takes a long time for FEMA to help. And we know that people, you know, that are outside the floodplain so you can't get flood insurance that get impacted by these sorts of events. Is there something we can do as a local government, or as a regional government, I guess, in that case, to help with that? And so, you know there are innovative options out there. and they're looking at them and, you know, perhaps other governments can can look at those sorts of things too.

Teran Powell: Yeah, nothing's off the table. We just gotta figure it out.

Tyler Byrnes: Yep. I think that's a good sort of way to close, right? Like this is going to keep happening. These, you know, we're talking while there's wildfire smoke in Milwaukee and Madison. And so we need to address these problems somehow. And they're, they're solvable. It just takes, you know, effort and resources.

Audrey Nowakowski: Tyler Byrnes is a senior associate with the Wisconsin Policy Forum. He authored a recent study on the financial impact of last year's historic flooding on the Milwaukee area. He spoke about it with WUWM Race and Ethnicity reporter Teran Powell. Need some flexibility for when you listen? You can hear Lake Effect on demand. Find it as a podcast wherever you like to listen to download and enjoy on the go. In about 20 minutes, we'll look ahead to this weekend's BLK Girl Fest happening here in Milwaukee. But first, we'll speak with a woman who was born without arms who flies airplanes. And she'll be showing off her Impossible Airplane this week at the EAA AirVenture. That's coming up next on Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM. You're listening to Lake Effect on Milwaukee's NPR. I'm Audrey Nowakowski. Thousands of airplane enthusiasts are in Oshkosh this week for the annual AirVenture celebration. The festival is put on by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), based right here in Wisconsin. It's the largest festival of its kind, with people flying in from all corners of the world to attend. That includes Jessica Cox, a pilot from Arizona who's in Oshkosh sharing her journey to becoming the world's first licensed pilot without arms. She'll also be showing off her Impossible Airplane, the first plane designed to be operated by feet. Cox joins Lake Effect's Joy powers to share more.

Joy Powers: As someone who was born without arms, what are some of the unique ways that you've learned to navigate the world just in general?

Jessica Cox: It's a little hard for me to explain that, just because I was born this way. So my navigating the world is all I've ever known, and this has been my normal. I was born into a world engineered for arms and hands, and so from the onset I've had to be creative. I've had to persist, persevere, be courageous, overcome stigmas, overcome the label of "you can't do it," which is an ongoing label by the way, just in case you're wondering. And it was just my life, and it's all I've ever known. So I don't know to explain differently, because I do see my brother and sister and I see everyone else in my life and see how they live life through their arms and hands. But it's strange, but I make this immediate connection when I see them perform these tasks and do these things with their arms and hands, I immediately look to my feet. And I don't think any different of it.

Joy Powers: Interesting. When you first became interested in flying, is that how you viewed it? You saw someone flying a plane and you went, "I think I can do this."

Jessica Cox: Yeah, so I actually was terrified of flying, quite frankly. I was mortified. It made me very tense going on commercial flights. So flying in a single engine airplane for the first time, I was 21. And I was sitting there in this plane with Pilot in Command, Bill. Bill sitting in the left seat, myself sitting in a right seat, looking at this instrument panel, making no connection as to what on earth all of these instruments perform. And just recognizing that, making the connection with driving a car. I think probably most people would do that. They see the yoke and they make that connection. That's the equivalent to like the steering wheel. And I had already been driving for a couple years. So I drove with my right foot on the steering will. And when I got the chance to feel what it was like to grab ahold of the yoke between my big toe and second toe, I kicked my shoe off. And Bill turns to me and says, "How would you like to feel what it's like to fly this thing?" You know, I never say no to any opportunity, even if I'm mortified and terrified. I just put my foot up there and I reached up like this and just grabbed ahold of the yoke. And I immediately made this connection with flying that I was like, "I want to do this. I'm going to figure this out." And I later learned that no one has ever flown with their feet before. No one had ever been approved by the federal aviation administration. This would be the first. And it was just like anything in my life that I've conquered. I was determined to figure it out with the support of some amazing aviation people in my life. And what started as just a joyride flight turned into three years, three flight instructors, three different states, flying over the course of three different years, numerous setbacks, numerous hours, beyond most student pilots, to finally be able to be confident to convince not only the Federal Aviation Administration, but also my instructor and people in the aviation world that I am a competent and confident pilot and fit for flying in the skies, because that puts everyone at risk. Pilots have to be able to fulfill those responsibilities and knowing that when you fly, it's a responsibility.

Joy Powers: As you say, pilots are already held to an incredibly high standard, as they should be. What was it like going to the FAA and saying, you know, "I know this hasn't ever been done before, but I can do it?"

Jessica Cox: Let me tell you, it was, there was a lot of question behind would they be convinced? I think it wasn't just myself. It was my instructor. It was my aviation supporters. It was everyone in my little community at this little airport, all who were involved in my aviation journey. They all turned up the day of my check ride because everyone was wondering how is this gonna be reacted to? Are they going to feel encouraged? Are they going to feel discouraged? And my immediate question, because the curiosity just was killing me, I just turned to the FAA check ride examiner and I asked the question. I asked, "Well, what do you think about this situation?" And right from the start, from the get-go, his reaction just instilled this confidence, because his reaction was, "Well heck, if you could fly an airplane with your nose and show me how you can safely fly this plane with your nose, then I don't see why you shouldn't become a pilot. If you can show me, how you safely maneuver the airplane with your feet and do everything I ask of you, require of you, then I see no reason why you shouldn't be a certified pilot." So that encouragement really helped us start on the right foot, no pun intended. But it really helped us feel the encouragement from the FAA. And that day, let me tell you, that was a very long test. The flying had to be during the most windy conditions I've ever flown in, which I normally wouldn't choose to go up and fly in. But it was really a true test of my skill as a student pilot at the time. And it turned out phenomenal. He felt confident in my skills. He asked me to do everything. In fact, one of the things that I feel most excited about telling you, because I feel so proud about it, is when he asked me to do what's called landing on the thousand foot marker. And this really shows the skill of if you can land right where he tells you to land, and you have control of this airplane. So I land on the 1,000 foot marker, and he turns to me and he says, "Well you can't get any better than that." So I'm very encouraged, again, that he feels confident in my skills, that I can maneuver this plane safely. I'm not just doing the basics or the bare minimum. I'm doing what a competent pilot needs to demonstrate.

Joy Powers: Yeah. Now, you're going to be a part of the EAA WomenVenture Program, because not only are you the first armless pilot, but being a woman makes you part of a very small group of pilots. Less than 10% of pilots are women. Why did you want to be a part of this event?

Jessica Cox: I am actually very excited about this event, not only because I'll be sharing about what I've been up to, but because I'm going to be among so many rockstar women pilots. I was looking up some of these bios and I was just floored, because I am like, "Whoa, how did I not know about these women before?" Other people need to know about them, because they inspire us to become better and they inspire to rise above the adversity and the labels and the stigma. And these women are just pioneers and conquering all these different aspects of aviation. And I just feel humbled. I feel honored to be on a panel with these women, to learn more about their lives as well and how they overcame their adversity. And I'm excited to share what I've been up to, building an Impossible Airplane and what that entails with this past, well, I would say probably the past five years and what has been the barriers that we faced, how we overcame them, how the aviation community came together to make it happen. And now we're doing things again to inspire the world with my particular stance of disability does not mean inability.

Joy Powers: Yeah. Now you mentioned this impossible airplane. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Jessica Cox: This Impossible Airplane, which I'll be sharing at this wonderful panel, is essentially the first aviation project that we've really dived into. It's going to be the very first airplane in aviation history that can be flown with feet alone in the left Pilot-in-Command seat. So this is a custom airplane built out of a kit. And I mean a kit with thousands of pieces, thousands of rivets and pieces and parts and all these things, kind of like if you see you know a model kit for something else. Just imagine that like 10 times larger. It's coming in a big crate. And this started four-and-a-half years ago, building this thing and not knowing how we are going to do something that has never been done before, how we're going to engineer the controls to make it modified so that I can safely fly it. For reference, I have been flying almost two decades with a standard Ercoupe airplane, a 1946 plane that is a vintage plane. And it has its limitations, being vintage. There's always something wrong with it mechanically when I fly it. There's something that goes wrong. It has its limitation on air speed. I can only fly one passenger in it because it's only two seaters. It's only a two seater plane. And it's limiting our vision and our mission to get to places around the country around the world to show the world that disability doesn't mean inability. But with this impossible airplane, the plane that I'll be talking about for the first time on this panel, it is going to be not only a four-seater but literally, if you can imagine, twice as fast and a lot more modern with some of these amazing developments in the engineering world that have never been done before.

Joy Powers: Now one of the exciting things about this event is you'll also have some kids with you who are part of a program specifically for kids who have lost limbs. Is that right?

Jessica Cox: Yeah, so my non-profit, Right Foot Foundation International, is committed to helping empower that next generation, children born without limbs. And we partnered with Limitless Wisconsin, which is a group of children and adults who've experienced limb loss. This could be for various reasons: trauma, disease, whatever the reason may be, or congenital if they were born this way. And they need those role models to show them the sky is the limit. Together, they are going to be bringing out many of their members. We are expecting 20 children and 29 adults to accompany those children to AirVenture, to hear me speak about the Impossible Airplane, to talk about my journey in aviation, and also just experience AirVenture for the day, to plant those seeds of possibility that they could, if they so choose, become engineers, mechanics, pilots, whatever they wanna do in aviation. And I'm excited for them. I didn't have this as a kid for myself, but now we're going to do this for so many. And I think it's going to change their life and I think its going to encourage them that nothing is impossible.

Joy Powers: For sure. Well, Jessica, thank you so much for speaking with me. And it'll be exciting to have you here in Wisconsin at the EAA.

Jessica Cox: I'm excited too. I love the ice cream, I love the cheese, and I love the people. So it's always a highlight of my year to come back to that beautiful Wisconsin family of people that just are so kind and so welcoming and so friendly and helpful.

Audrey Nowakowski: Jessica Cox is the world's first licensed armless pilot. She's in Oshkosh this week for the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture Festival. The EAA was founded right here in Milwaukee. Dick Knapinski is the director of communications for the EAA, and he joins Lake Effect's Joy Powers to share the history of the organization and the annual AirVenture.

Joy Powers: I think when I heard the full name of the organization, the Experimental Aircraft Association, it almost sounded foreboding, a little dangerous. When we say the term experimental aircraft, what does that actually mean?

Dick Knapinski: Experimental is a term used by the Federal Aviation Administration as a classification for people who build their own airplanes and in other uses as well. And it is a little bit of a misnomer. When you talk about experimental category aircraft, they're very often airplanes that are built from very standardized kits. There are thousands of these particular models in the air, about a thousand new home-built aircraft that are put in the every single year. So when this started to become something in the early 1950s, the FAA or its predecessor, the CAA at the time, really didn't have a place to put this new classification of airplanes. It certainly wasn't a factory-built aircraft. It wasn't military aircraft. It wasn't a research and development aircraft. It was an honest-to-goodness personal airplane that people built and flew. So with a lack of any place to put it, they tucked it in the experimental category and there it has stayed ever since. And hence, when a group of people who built their own airplanes got together in Milwaukee back in January of 1953, they started calling it the Experimental Aircraft Association. But in the aviation world, it's known simply as EAA.

Joy Powers: Now we'll talk about the origins of the EAA in just a moment, but when we look at the folks who are members today, who is a member of this organization? Is it largely people who are building and flying their own planes?

Dick Knapinski: It is people who are interested in recreational aviation in all of its forms. It could be people who build their own airplanes, and that really is the organization's legacy in a lot of ways. People who restore aircraft, people who simply fly aircraft or those who simply love being around the idea of personal flight, that freedom that it gives a person, that ability to do what man has wanted to do for tens of thousands of years, and that's soar with the birds. And in the past 120 years, we've been able to do that. And so the people who are EAA members are those who have a passion for flight, whether it's as a pilot, a builder, or maybe just a dreamer, they're all part of the organization.

Joy Powers: Now, the EAA today has grown into a huge organization, but it has very humble origins. Can you tell us a bit about that story?

Dick Knapinski: It does have humble origins right in the Milwaukee area. And that's part of the fascinating story. Paul Poberezny, who was a Milwaukee native, grew up in the area, went to West Milwaukee High School, and grew up in that part of town. And when he got out of World War II and later the Korean War, where he was a veteran, he always had a fascination with flight, going back to his high school days when he was given a trainer glider by his history teacher. And Paul remanufactured it and put it together and went up for his first flight being towed behind a car and went up. And he always said he learned very quickly to keep the nose up, because things otherwise go. And so when he got back from the war, he'd been talking to a group of people who were informally building their own airplanes. He said, "Why don't we start an airplane club so we don't have to meet in people's garages and airplane hangars?" and so forth. So they started a club on January 26th, 1953. There were about 35 people who came to what's now Timmerman Airport, the Grand Air Building at Timmermen Airport, then known as Curtis Wright Field on the Northwest side of Milwaukee and had that first meeting. They decided to call themselves the Experimental Aircraft Association, had yearly dues of the princely sum of $5 and started right there. And it was a very humble beginning. But it quickly grew to include others throughout the country who heard about this and wanted to be a part of it. And Paul then also stepped forward. He wrote an article in the mid 1950s for Mechanics Illustrated on how to build an airplane for less than $800. And that really got the attention of a lot of people who were hobbyists and aviation enthusiasts and so forth and started the organization on its way. And it's grown today to include 270,000 members from more than 100 countries. All of those people are passionate about the freedom of flight and sharing that feeling of flight with others. And that's where we are today with EAA.

Joy Powers: It's interesting looking at the origins. My grandfather was someone who flew in World War II. And there are so many veterans for whom this was a huge part of their service, where they were in planes all the time. They'd come back. Maybe some become pilots, but so many go on to other things. And to have this kind of space where you can engage in something that was so much a part of your life is a really interesting experience. When you look back into the history of the EAA, what are the things you're most proud of?

Dick Knapinski: Well, you're exactly right. When you talked about veterans coming out of World War II and the Korean era, we trained so many pilots, tens of thousands of pilots, during that era who got a taste of flight. Maybe it was the first time they'd done that. They wanted to go fly with the Navy or the Army Air Forces, and they came back and wanted to continue to fly. And this was a way they could do it, economically. And they supplied the first great impetus of the organization in its membership. But when you take a look at what EAA has done through the years, it created an entirely new segment of recreational aviation where there was not one before. You had a few hobbyists throughout the country who would build their own airplanes, back as early as, well, I guess you could say the Wright brothers, who were the first airplane builders. But there were people building Heath airplane kits back in the 1920s, building things such as peaten poles. But really formulating that together to standardize it, to say, "Here's what we want to do. Here's what we want to do to improve safety. Here's what we're looking for, how to share it," and so forth. So some of the things that we're most proud of, first of all, is bringing that element of standardization to amateur-built aircraft and looking toward ever-improving safety. Another thing we're very proud of is what our fly-in, our convention, has become in Oshkosh every year: the world's largest fly-in convention with more than 10,000 airplanes and more than 600,000 people in attendance. Also, we're very proud of sharing the legacy of flight with a new generation. And as we look ahead toward the technology, toward the possibilities in flight, we're really enthusiastic about that. Our Young Eagles program has flown almost 2.3 million kids free of charge to introduce them to aviation. And a lot of those young pilots now are out there flying for the military or for airlines, and it's incredible to see. So those type of things, maintaining the legacy of home building, bringing people together in a way to enjoy it, and looking out for the future are probably the three things that we're most proud of in the organization.

Joy Powers: Well, I look forward to seeing what is next for the EAA. Dick, thank you so much for joining us here on Lake Effect and sharing your work.

Dick Knapinski: Well, my pleasure. Thank you very much for having me.

Audrey Nowakowski: Dick Knapinski is the Director of Communications for the EAA, the Experimental Aircraft Association. He spoke with Lake Effect's Joy Powers in 2023, and the EAA AirVenture Festival runs through Sunday. We'll take one more break, and when we come back, we'll speak with the organizer of BLK Girl Fest about what she hopes will come out of this weekend's event. Keep listening to Lake Effect on Milwaukee's NPR. This is Lake Effect on WUWM. I'm Audrey Nowakowski. The inaugural BLK Girl Fest is happening in Milwaukee this weekend. Originally scheduled for May, the event will now take place this Saturday. The hope is to create a space where Black women can connect, express their individuality, and foster community. The event is presented by Black Girl Space, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that focuses on health and wellness for Black women. Its founder is Milwaukee native, T'Keyah Bennett. Bennett joins WUWM Race and Ethnicity reporter, Teran Powell, to explain why she saw a need for the event.

T'Keyeh Bennett: I wanted to make sure that we had a space for black women where we can just connect and celebrate one another, love on one another. Just celebrate culture, our community, and doing it in a way where it's festive.

Teran Powell: So what is the significance of having this fest now?

T'Keyeh Bennett: Oh my goodness, just look at the times that we're in right now. Everything that's going on with the economy, I feel like that's just forever changing, as well as just where we are culturally: not being seen, not being heard, not being appreciated or loved properly. I always say I feel Black women need each other more than we think. We need to be able to come together collectively and love on each other and celebrate each other, and not in a way where we feel we have to compete but moreso collaborate. And I feel the only way that we can truly do that is if we tap in internally, right? So thinking about our mental capacity, thinking about where we are, our heart space, and just where our soul and spirit is. I feel like we can't really give to ourselves or to each other if we're not taking care of ourselves internally.

Teran Powell: So is there, like, women of all ages can come, or is there...?

T'Keyeh Bennett: So specifically for our Black Girl Fest, it is 18 and up. So it is for women. Actually, our organization is specifically geared towards women, simply because, you know, no shade to the other organizations that serve the youth, but that demographic is already saturated. There are so many amazing organizations in the city that are supporting youth. Black Girl Space, we're different because we support women. And we wanna make sure that, okay, when you really think about it, what support did we really have getting ready to graduate high school? It was just like, okay, go to college. Alright. What's after that? You know? What does financial aid look like? How can I apply for that? Or how can I really figure out exactly what it is that I want to do with my life? And you know, you're just telling me to go to college, but then what else? So our programming starts at the age of 17, so meaning, again, juniors and seniors in high school, and then just continuing to work with them into their adult years and college years. So our mentorship program, we specifically focus on supporting the girls in whatever capacity that they need support in, whether it's college and career readiness, financial literacy, and we also make sure that we are partnering girls specifically with a mentor that is geared towards exactly what it is that they want to do with their life. So say you have a girl who wants to be a nurse, we make sure that we pair her with someone who already works in that field, so that they can have a smooth transition and also just building a healthy relationship with someone else, outside of family and close friends, someone, a professional that can really help them and support them.

Teran Powell: So do you have a background in like health and wellness?

T'Keyeh Bennett: I do.

Teran Powell: Okay.

T'Keyeh Bennett: I do all the things. I do all of the things. Oh my goodness. I am a doula, for one. I've been a doula since the beginning of COVID, so 2020. And I am also a Reiki master. And what that is, Reiki is, we focus on again the internal being, so aligning your chakras and also just cleansing your spirit, so that you can be able to release and again receive something, setting intention for whatever it is that you want to receive. I call it like an internal massage. It's really a beautiful and intimate experience. So yeah, I've been doing this work for quite some time.

Teran Powell: Black Girl Space came about in like 2023, right? So I'm curious about the work you've been able to do in Milwaukee so far, like, and just what you're learning about young women in the Milwaukee area and the needs that they have.

T'Keyeh Bennett: Yeah, absolutely. So I've been a mentor. I've worked with youth, my goodness, since I was 15. I used to be a part of an all-girls organization. And I went through the program myself. And I started working at this particular organization. And I had to witness firsthand exactly what girls need, things that they go through. And just, it was a safe space for these girls where they were able to be vulnerable and express themselves however they see fit. Not telling them how they should be able to express themselves, but just allowing the space for them to be able to do that. And so I did that work for so many years at this particular organization, where I just, my heart is always with the youth. And I just wanted to make sure that I gave back in that capacity, to be able to continue that work in supporting them, just from... I'll put you in my business a little bit, but my upbringing was completely, I wouldn't say different, but it was rough, it was very rough for me. I grew up in a very abusive household, mentally, physically. I witnessed things that I feel that no child should see. And so to be able to take what I went through as a young girl and channel that into being able support other girls that have to experience either the same things that I have, or not even, but still just being able to support them, it warms my heart. It really does feed my soul. So this work I've been doing for a while. Yeah.

Teran Powell: Well, thank you for sharing that about yourself and just also how it informs your work. So getting back to BLK Girl Fest, the theme is "Unapologetically Her." Tell me about that. What is the significance of that?

T'Keyeh Bennett: Absolutely. Showing up for you. Not showing up for other people. Just being yourself, authentically, however that looks like for you. I feel like we live in a world where society tells us how we have to be, or how we should look. And in this space, it's not that. We take out the societal norms and we focus on who we are, authentically. So showing up is who you are, without judgment, without fear, and embracing who you are. And doing that in a space with other women is, it's a beautiful thing.

Teran Powell: What does the itinerary for BLK Girl Fest look like?

T'Keyeh Bennett: Yeah, absolutely. So it's a wellness event. What's beautiful about this space is everyone that is a part of this event is all Black women. So when you think about the performers, Black women. When you about the panelists and the moderator, Black women. And when you about the host, Black woman. When you think about the DJ, Black woman. And all the other participants, they're all Black women, which is a beautiful thing. So it includes just the panel, where we'll be discussing mental health in our community and how important that is. For us, it's a very vague topic in our communities, so we'll focusing on that. We'll allow the women to just showcase their arts, their talents. We have spoken word artists that will be performing. We have a singer, she's from the city. And everyone's from Milwaukee. That's also another beautiful thing. Everyone that's a part of this event is from Milwaukee, and so being able to have this space to showcase everyone's businesses and their talents and their gifts is truly a beautiful thing. We have vendors. We have a host of 20 vendors that will be at this event. They're all Black-owned, all women-owned businesses. And we have the one who will be doing the line dancing for us. It just includes so much. There will be food.

Teran Powell: Can I ask a question?

T'Keyeh Bennett: Yes.

Teran Powell: Is one of the women involved in the line dancing, Marina Murphy.

T'Keyeh Bennett: Yes.

Teran Powell: How did I know? She be everywhere. I love Marina so bad. Love her so bad.

T'Keyeh Bennett: Yes. And again, I wanted to be intentional about this space. And so everyone that is a part of this, the very first one, I was very intentional about who I wanted to be a part the very first one for our city. And yeah, Marina, she was a no-brainer.

Teran Powell: I'm sure you have like all this excitement for the day and just to see how everything goes. But if you've had a moment to think about what the future of BLK Girl Fest looks like in Milwaukee, maybe it travels. What do you ultimately hope that looks like?

T'Keyeh Bennett: Oh, wow. I always feel that my vision is very big in anything that I do. The goal for BLK Girl Fest, of course, is going to be an inaugural event, something that happens every year. Do I plan on taking it on the road? Absolutely. I feel this space is needed everywhere. Of course, I wanna make sure my city has it first, for sure, and continues to have it. But yes, I do see it going on the road. I do this being something that can be easily embraced from my community. I do it see it being truly a space where everyone can just collectively come together and support one another and celebrate one another. That's really what the space is for, to just celebrate ourselves and each other. I see this going very far. I see it being a continuous thing. I see it being very well received everywhere.

Teran Powell: Well, is there anything, any final thoughts that you want to share, like any question I didn't ask or something you wanted to expound on a bit more?

T'Keyeh Bennett: I'm excited for this. I'm exciting for my city. I'm exited for our community to experience this. So much thought, so much intention, so much love and passion went into this very first festival. So I'm, I'm excite for everyone to experience it.

Audrey Nowakowski: T'Keyeh Bennett is the founder of BLK Girl Space, which is putting on the first ever BLK Girl Fest this weekend. You can find more information about it at www.WUWM.com. And that wraps up today's show. I'm Audrey Nowakowski. If you've missed any of Lake Effect this week, you can find all of our conversations at wuwm.com If you'd like to take the show on the go, simply download the Lake Effect podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts. One in four children live in poverty in Milwaukee. Tomorrow on Lake Effect, we'll look at how hunger impacts kids. Thank you so much for joining us today, right here on listener-supported 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR.