Marcelia Nicholson

Marcelia joined the team in August 2021 as Director of Civic Engagement and Independent Political Power. In this role she facilitates a sophisticated training and strategic support program for political staffers of affiliates across the country, while helping affiliates align organizing tactics and electoral plans.

Marcelia is an award winning activist, and the first Black woman and Latina elected as Chairwoman of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, having first been elected in April 2016. Her past work as a union activist, community organizer, and public school teacher, helps to inform her policy and community work.

Prior to joining CPD, Marcelia served as the former Vice President of the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization, where she worked to engage political leaders around the Fight for $15 and a Union, while connecting disenfranchised Milwaukeeans to good family sustaining jobs, union representation, career development, and the halls of government.

Marcelia also serves on the board of Local Progress and as a national trainer for the Progressive Governance Academy, where she trains progressive elected officials across the country on various skills like transitioning to public leadership and setting an agenda.

Marcelia graduated from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, holds a Master of Education from Lakeland University in Wisconsin, and is pursuing a Master of Public Administration with an emphasis on non-profit management at her alma-mater, UW-Milwaukee.