Our Team
ANGELA LANG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Angela Lang was born and raised in the heart of Milwaukee. She has an extensive background in community organizing. In the past, Angela served as both an organizer and State Council Director for the Service Employees International Union, working on such campaigns as the Fight for 15. Before joining BLOC's team as Executive Director, Angela was the Political Director with For Our Future Wisconsin. She is a graduate of Emerge Wisconsin and has had the pleasure of being the featured trainer for Emerge's Diversity Weekend since 2015.
Angela is motivated by making substantial and transformative change in her community while developing young, local leaders of color. Her journey in organizing hasn't always been easy, but through it all she has remained a fierce advocate for securing more seats at the table for those who represent the New American Majority.
KEISHA ROBINSON, PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Keisha is a Chicago native raised in Milwaukee. She was first introduced into the world of Organizing through volunteering and working with 9 to 5 Wisconsin in 2015, where she worked on campaigns such as Ban the Box and Paid Family Medical Leave. Her passion to help uplift struggling communities directed her to BLOC where she started as an Organizer and is currently Program Director.
Keisha is a very intuitive person which is very necessary in this line of work. Keisha enjoys reading, researching, and a good basketball game every now and then. She takes great personal satisfaction in her work with BLOC, and she looks forward to the road that lies ahead. As an advocate for self-care, she retains her cool composure by setting aside time to get in touch with herself.
RICK BANKS, POLITICAL DIRECTOR/ORGANIZER
Rick Banks is a Milwaukee native who is joining BLOC after spending three years as a neighborhood organizer. He’s been an activist and an organizer in Milwaukee since 2010 when he was spurred by protests following the passage of ACT 10. Rick proudly identifies as pro-labor, pro-student rights, pro-women & LGBT+ equality, and he strongly opposes white supremacy and police violence.
Rick is a graduate of DemTeam, Democratic Leadership Institute, Neighborhood Leadership Institute, and the Associates in Commercial Real Estate Program. Rick's personal mission is the political and economic advancement of Black people.
MALETHA JONES, FIELD OPERATIONS MANAGER
Born in Milwaukee, Maletha was raised tough. Growing up in the midst of the challenges that we now are still faced with, Maletha began organizing in 2012, having worked on the Fight for $15 campaign in Wisconsin prior to joining BLOC. Maletha is especially proud of BLOC’s grassroots efforts in recent successful state and local campaigns, including Earnell Lucas as Milwaukee County Sheriff, Danielle Shelton to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Tony Evers as Governor, and Tammy Baldwin to the U.S. Senate.
Maletha is motivated by her belief that BLOC creates change by bringing the community together. She is also motivated by her grandchildren and the future she hopes to build for them – one with a strong education system, the right to vote for everyone, affordable healthcare for all, a safe place for children to spend their time and above all, unity
Tamara Dean, Office Manager
Tamara was born and raised in Milwaukee, growing up acknowledging there was merely enough for her family to get by. Seeing a lot of negative things over the years and still witness that there’s not much that has changed in the city and this lack of change is a reality that worries her the most. Even while moving from place to place within Milwaukee, she has seen that for people of color, the cycle just repeats itself. Now on the BLOC team, she can see the needed change is approaching as BLOC works hard to create a clear path for change. BLOC is constantly out in the communities informing the residents of how important it is to vote and be heard. BLOC is assisting the communities in the change process, which is very important. As Office Manager, she gets to witness the long and well thought out preparation phases that the team goes through in order to effectively do the work that they do and she is proud to be a part of such a strong team.
Lead Ambassadors
TAMER MALONE
Once a Civic Ambassador, Tamer is now a Lead Ambassador. Tamer also was awarded the “Community Involvement” award from my the “Sistas KeepHer” organization. Due to her lived experiences she strongly dislikes white supremacy , police abuse , and the broken justice system. She is pro LGBT+ .
Tamer joined BLOC to be a voice for those afraid or don’t exactly know how to speak for themselves, as well as a voice WITH those who have recognized their very own worth. Being at BLOC has helped her to be more vocal.
JANICE AGNEW
Janice was born in Cleveland, MS but moved to Milwaukee, WI at the age of two years old. Janice grew up on the West side of Milwaukee not knowing anything about the world of politics. In 2017, Janice joined BLOC as an Electoral Ambassador and continues to learn many things about politics. Now at BLOC for two years, Janice is a Lead Ambassador and has assisted in campaigns where she helped elect candidates in their positions by canvassing with the BLOC team. Janice loves to talk to community residents about resources and BLOC is definitely the right place to be for this.
AMARI RUCKER
Amari, born and raised in Milwaukee like most of the BLOC team, never understood about what a policy or how a bill was introduced until she joined BLOC. Now at BLOC, she clearly knows the political process and even how strong of a culture she belongs to. She now understands her culture better now knowing that there are things she can do to add to the fight. She has never heard of organizations knocking on residents doors in the trenches and the heart of Milwaukee. So she decided to join to see what it was that the Black organizations did differently than others. Amari is now a Lead Ambassador and proud of it.
TIFFANY WEDDLE
Born and raised on the Eastside of Milwaukee, as a teen Tiffany worked for other nonprofit organizations such as CYD. She’s always been a people person and loved working with others. Transforming into a young adult, Tiffany maintained work as a Child Care provider for 15 years, in which during this time she became certified in the CBRF work field.
In 2018, she was interested in working for Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC). Starting at BLOC as a canvasser, going out knocking doors and engaging with residents during the Tony Evers and Tammy Baldwin elections. Time elevated and she was promoted as a Lead Ambassador responsible for a team of four and she ensures that her team is equipped with the knowledge that assists them in building relationships, talking about community issues, creating community events, facilitating meetings and supplying residents with needed resources. Tiffany loves to invest in her community, making a powerful impact for the future of the community.
DEONTAE ROBINSON
Deontae joined BLOC to help with adding more to the mission. He loves to help out the community with helping them to identify issues and guiding them in the right direction to getting them resolved. Feeding the Homeless, and Education of our children are just some of the issues he deeply roots himself in. When he came aboard at BLOC, he became vulnerable to a new world of learning about politics and a world that has ample resources for the people, that he gained access to and is now able to provide the same information to the residents in the communities that BLOC serve.
Pondering about what could be done to create change as a whole, and discovered via BLOC that the way was to simply get out and engage with the people. Climbing the ranks going from Electoral Ambassador to now Lead Ambassador, he’s learned and now understands that WE the people, has the POWER.