About Ryan
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As a lifelong activist, organzier and advocate, Ryan Clancy has consistently stood in defense of civil rights and social justice.
In high school, after organizing a peer-published student newspaper, he was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, who saved him from expulsion and awarded him the Young Civil Libertarian of the Year. After graduating from Beloit College with a degree in English and a secondary teaching certification, Clancy was accepted into the U.S. Peace Corps, where he assisted veteran English teachers on a remote island in the Philippines. Read more about how his activism informs his legislation here. |
Photo credit: Becky Cooper
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Clancy, protesting and later arrested in front of Paul Ryan's office to advocate for a "Clean DREAM Act". Photo credit: Barbara Miner
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 Clancy, former MPS teacher and MTEA building representative,
speaking in favor of public education. Photo credit: Joe Brusky
While engaging in non-profit event production, and operating a retail store in Milwaukee's Menominee Valley, Clancy travelled to Iraq in 2003 to protest the impending U.S. invasion, was prosecuted by the federal government, and was successfully represented by the ACLU a second time. As he was being prosecuted, Ryan worked with US State Department grant recipients doing peace and reconciliation work with groups of youth from the US and Iraq, as well as other areas of conflict.
Clancy taught as a substitute for Milwaukee Public Schools, then full-time for an MPS instrumentality charter school, in which he served as the MTEA building representative. After the school was closed due to declining district enrollment and revenue, Clancy and his wife Becky opened Bounce Milwaukee, an entertainment complex and community hub. Bounce received numerous awards, including top honors in the Milwaukee Business Journal's "Best Places to Work", and numerous Green Masters awards for environmental, social and community sustainability.  Clancy, volunteering as a legal observer with the ACLU of Wisconsin. Photo credit: Emilo De Torre
Clancy went on to found the Progressive Restaurant and Activists of Wisconsin Network, which brings together restaurants and consumers to advocate for higher wages and better working conditions across the service industry.
He continues to volunteer with organizations such as the ACLU, which continues to keep him out of trouble. Mostly. In 2020, Clancy became the first open socialist elected to public office in Milwaukee since 1956. In 2022, alongside Rep. Darrin Madison, he became one of the first two socialists in state government in 86 years. Ryan uses his unique skills, experience and advocacy to benefit all of Milwaukee's residents.  Clancy accepting a Green Masters award for environmental and social sustainability
As a Milwaukee County Supervisor, Ryan Clancy has continued to fight for community values, including accountability measures and moving $2.4 million in the 2022 budget out of things like a surveillance camera array and into priorities like pools, the South Shore Park Playground, our parks, employee benefits and human rights. He authored and passed the Right to Shelter and the Right to Counsel, which provides a lawyer to residents facing eviction, Paid Parental Leave for county employees, and has worked to restore dignity and more humane conditions to the County Jail and House of Corrections
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Clancy, lobbying Congress for increased service industry wages alongside RAISE and ROC United. Photo credit: Pete Vargas
Ryan and his totally normal family, dining at Humboldt Park's Vine. Their faces generally do not look like this. Not pictured: Des. Photo credit: James Homann
Clancy, testifying in the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety against SB 386, which criminalizes peaceful protest and trespassing. Such legislation could be used in Wisconsin to jail activists like Clancy, and many others, who protested at Standing Rock.
As your Milwaukee County Supervisor, Clancy has led on accountability and moving funds to the things that make our community better and safer. Photo credit: LaTasha Lux, LaLux photography
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