Adams County Community Resource Team Report September 23-27, 2002 Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc.
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Adams County
Community Resource Team Report
September 23-27, 2002
Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc.
Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc.
P.O. Box 257 * Lodi, Wisconsin * 53555(608)592-2550* (608)592-2551 FAX[www.wirural.org] * <[email protected]>
This report was written by the members of the Adams County CommunityResource Team (see pages 33-34), edited and published by Dennis Deery, IrishRose Consulting, and Kelly Haverkampf, Wisconsin Rural Partners.
Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, serving asWisconsin’s State Rural Development Council through a memorandum ofunderstanding between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Governor ofWisconsin. The Wisconsin Rural Partners Inc. mission is “to engage ruralpartners to identify issues, and through collaborative actions, enhance ruralcommunity life.”
Any opinions expressed or implied in this publication are those of the author(s)and not necessarily of any Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc. member or sponsoringagency or organization.
Thanks to those members of the WRP Community Resource Team Task Groupwho planned and implemented this Team: Connie Loden, Heart of WisconsinBusiness & Economic Alliance; Joan Dorschner, USDA Rural Development;Arlene Scalzo, Wisconsin Housing & Economic Development Authority; DennisDeery, Irish Rose Consulting; Michael Miller, Washburn County Administration;Jeff Court, Catholic Charities of La Crosse; Bill Urban, Wisconsin Association ofCESAs; Nancy Elsing, Columbia County Economic Development Corporation;Ruth Lindegarde, CHD Associates; Kathy Heady and Jane Thomas, WisconsinDepartment of Commerce; Clay Montez, Town of East Troy; Jim Pfalzgraf, ThorpArea Development Corporation; Bill Pinkovitz, UW-Extension Center forCommunity Economic Development; and Kelly Haverkampf, Wisconsin RuralPartners. Apologies for any errors or omissions.
Special thanks to
This Team was funded in part through an SBC Ameritech Economic ExcellenceAward.
“Community Resource Teams” is a program of Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc.
Table of ContentsForeword ....................................................................................... 1
Background ................................................................................... 2
Process ......................................................................................... 3
Visit Week Itinerary ....................................................................... 4
Introduction ................................................................................... 5
Executive Summary ...................................................................... 6
Areas Addressed by the Community Resource TeamCommunity Growth ........................................................... 7Communication ................................................................. 9Economic Development .................................................. 12Housing ........................................................................... 14Transportation ................................................................. 17Tourism ............................................................................ 18Agriculture ....................................................................... 20Community Amenities ..................................................... 22Infrastructure ................................................................... 24Education and Youth ....................................................... 25Health .............................................................................. 29
Conclusions .................................................................................. 31
Appendices
Appendix A - Team Member Biographies ........................ 33
Foreword
The mission of Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc. (WRP) is “to engage ruralpartners to identify issues, and through collaborative actions, enhance rural
community life.” One of the ways we encourage collaborative actions is to bringtogether individuals from all levels of government, and the private sector, bothfor-profit and non-profit, to develop innovative approaches to deal with ruralchallenges.
One of the approaches we have developed to offer to rural Wisconsincommunities, is the Community Resource Team Program. Professionals withexpertise in a variety of community development aspects, provide a community-based assessment, recommendations that address a community’s specific issues,follow-up support, and the opportunity to engage community residents inbuilding a stronger community.
Wisconsin Rural Partners recognizes that rural communities can seldom devote alarge amount of resources to purchasing community development services, andoften only then when there is grant assistance available. Grant seeking in and ofitself requires the dedication of resources which many rural communities lack.This program has been developed through a collaborative effort of federal, state,local, non-profit and for-profit partners. This unique approach is not availablethrough any one agency or organization in Wisconsin. Participants are volunteerswho engage in the process for their own professional development. If acommunity were to try to purchase such services, we estimate it would have tospend between $20,000 and $40,000 to receive comparable benefits from sucha diverse team.
Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc. offers this program to rural communitiesthroughout Wisconsin. In return for our efforts, we ask the host community toprovide planning, coordination, and accommodations for the visiting Team.
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Background
Wisconsin Rural Partners launched the Community Resource Team Programin 2001 as an ongoing program after sponsoring two demonstration
project teams in 1999-2000. Adams is the second community to participate in2002.
The applicant community was asked to provide Wisconsin Rural Partners with aconsensus list of the top issues that residents would like the team to address.Those issues were identified as Communication, Economic Development,Housing, Transportation, Community Growth, Tourism, Agriculture, CommunityAmenities, Infrastructure, Education, and Health.
Wisconsin Rural Partners organized a Community Resource Team to provide anobjective “big picture” assessment of Adams County’s opportunities, challengesand community vision. Team members are listed in the Appendix together withtheir biographies. Arlene Scalzo of Wisconsin Housing & Economic DevelopmentAuthority and Kelly Haverkampf of Wisconsin Rural Partners assisted the Teamand Host Community throughout the planning process and through Visit Week.
In preparation for the county-wide assessment, Adams County preparedextensive information on the county. The information included community andeconomic profiles and maps; demographic and socioeconomic data; workforce,tourism and recreation materials. Team members studied these materials priorto the visit week, September 23-27, 2002.
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Process
Team Visit Week began with a short orientation by Wisconsin Rural Partnersto the Community Resource Team process. Elements of the process include
familiarization tours of the community, listening sessions with sectors of thecommunity, and team work time.
Each day Adams County hosts provided familiarization tours of most areas ofAdams County. The Community Resource Team conducted 17 listening sessionsthroughout the week, with approximately 330 residents participating. Listeningsessions were held with groups representing business and industry, education,civic and community groups, youth, clergy, senior citizens, housing, farmers,emergency services, health and human services, local governments, and others.Although the community provided the team with a list of its top issues, teammembers were also counseled to look for other issues affecting communitydevelopment of which the community may not be aware and may need toaddress.
Armed with the background materials and instructions regarding the listeningprocess, the team was asked to elicit information from participants by using thefollowing questions:1. What are your community’s major problems and challenges?2. What are your community’s major strengths and assets?3. What is your vision for your community in two, five, ten, and twenty years?
The products of the Visit Week are a “Town Meeting” and this report. The townmeeting took place at the Adams-Friendship High School on Thursday evening,September 26 where approximately 75 people heard and responded to theTeam’s presentation. This report is intended to provide more detailedinformation to expand on the town meeting, and to give community members alimited resource guide for future use.
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Visit Week ItineraryDay/Time Event Location
Monday, September 23Day Leader Alice Parr10:30 AM CRT Orientation Inn of the Pines11:15 - Noon Economic Dev Listening Session (LS) Inn of the PinesNoon Community Welcome Luncheon Inn of the Pines1:00 - 1:45 PM Chamber of Commerce LS Inn of the Pines2:00 - 3:00 PM Seniors LS Adams Nutrition Site3:30 - 4:45 PM Housing LS Adams Senior Housing Facility5:30 PM Dinner hosted by Local Governments The Cove Supper Club7:00 - 8:30 PM Youth Assets Builders/4H New Haven Town Hall9:00 - 9:30 PM Team Work Time A-F School Admin Building
Tuesday, September 24Day Leader Edie Felts-Podoll8:00 AM Team Work Time Inn of the Pines9:00 - 11:00 AM Health LS Hospital Classroom11:30 AM Lunch hosted by Hospital Hospital Classroom1:00 - 2:00 PM Ministerial Community LS Adams County Library2:30 - 4:30 PM Education LS - students, parents Adams-Friendship High School5:00 PM Harvest Dinnerhosted by
Community Education Gardens Pineland Grade School6:30 - 8:30 PM Families/Poverty LS Pineland Grade School8:30+ PM Team Work Time A-F School Admin Building
Wednesday, September 25Day Leaders Butch Roberts and Steve LaVallee8:00 AM Team Work Time Inn of the Pines9:00 - 10:30 AM Tourism LS Petenwell Park Building11:30 AM Lunch Grand Marsh Elementary School1:00 - 2:30 PM Agriculture LS Grand Marsh Community Center3:30 - 5:15 PM Safety & Emergency Services Strongs Prairie Town Hall6:00 PM Dinner hosted by HCE Adams County Library7:00 - 8:30 PM Service Organizations LS Adams County Library8:30+ PM Team Work Time A-F School Admin Building
Thursday, September 26Day Leader Bill Graumann8:00 AM Team Work Time Inn of the Pines9:00 - 10:30 AM Local Gov’t/Smart Growth LS Rome Town Hall11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Youth at Risk LS Bridges for Youth Building1:00 - 6:30 PM Prepare Public Presentation A-F School Admin Building7:00 PM Public Presentation A-F High School Commons9:30 PM Team Dinner & Celebration Event Inn of the Pines
Friday, September 27Morning Prepare Report for Community A-F School Admin Building
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Introduction
The following report from the Wisconsin Rural Partners Community ResourceTeam (the Team or CRT) represents a snapshot of the communities of
Adams County. The report includes the Team’s identification of group assets,potential threats, and a number of recommendations and action ideas forconsideration by the citizens and leaders of these communities. When the term“the Community,” is used, it will refer to the Adams County communitiescollectively.
The Team commends the county leaders who initiated this process and formedthe Adams County Local Coordinating Committee that planned the Team’s visit.We encourage you to expand your opportunities for collaboration throughincorporating the recommendations included in this report along with your ownideas.
This report provides an overview of the Community, produced from theobservations of a broad cross-section of citizens: youth, business people,farmers, residents, and elders. It offers the Team’s collective perceptions of theCommunity’s assets, challenges the Community may face, and recommendssteps for action. The Community Resource Team sincerely hopes that this reportand its recommendations will be used to stimulate increasing collaborativeefforts for the well being of the Community and all its residents.
Each member of the Community Resource Team wishes to thank the people ofAdams County for the opportunity to serve as a looking glass on the area, forsharing views so openly, and for willingly receiving this report.
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Front row, left to right: Ruth Lindegarde, Judy Wilcox,Marty Havlovic. Back row: Paul VanRyzin, Vic John, DennisDeery, Jeff Miller.
Executive Summary
The Community Resource Team was invited to Adams County by a group ofcommunity leaders as a result of their discussions about the future of
Adams County. The local leaders listed 11 areas to be evaluated by the team:
Economic DevelopmentHousingTransportationCommunity GrowthTourismAgricultureCommunity AmenitiesCommunicationInfrastructureEducationHealth Care
This report describes the team’s assessment of each of these areas, includingstrengths and weaknesses, and recommendations for improvements to beconsidered by the community. The team asks the community to understand thatthis report conveys the team’s perception of the community from our role asoutsiders. We hope that the recommendations included here will encourage thecommunity to take action to work together and improve Adams County throughthese changing times. We have included listings of informational resources thatwe feel can be of use to the community in implementing these changes.
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Community Growth
Adams is a county in transition in many ways. The community is one of thefastest growing counties in the state, growing at nearly twice the rate of
Wisconsin as a whole from 1990-2000. This rapid growth is bringing a largeinflux of people from urban and other distant areas to the community, many ofthem aging retirees. Like many small communities, Adams has historically beena very homogeneous, tight-knit group of people, and the changing face of thecounty is leading to some culture clashes.
Growth is also changing the economic situation in Adams County. Much of thelow-cost housing in the area is being sold for vacation homes and seasonaloccupancy. Many newer, larger homes are being built in some areas of thecounty, and there is a higher demand for services in those areas. Increasedproperty development is resulting in higher property values because many newresidents can afford, and are willing to pay, higher prices for land and housing.This complicates things for the community’s lower-income residents – we hearda number of statements that people are unable to afford the increased taxesthat higher valuations are bringing.
Emergency services are being challenged by the growth and changing nature ofAdams County. The county’s Emergency Medical Service is seeing an increase incardiac and geriatric calls due to the community’s aging population. Newresidents who previously lived in urban areas are unaccustomed to thedifficulties of emergency service in rural areas, and are demanding urban-levelservices in their new homes. With most of the county covered by volunteer fireprotection and distant EMS, this high level of service is very difficult to provide,especially with regard to response times. The team recommends that countygovernment work to educate new residents about the nature of the fire andother emergency services. One tool for this effort would be the “HowGovernment Works” booklet mentioned in the Communication section of thisreport.
Wisconsin’s Smart Growth process will provide a framework in which AdamsCounty can deal with these issues. The Smart Growth law requires that allcommunities in the state who wish to regulate land use implement a long-rangeplan by 2010. This plan is simply a statement of the community’s desires andgoals for things such as education, land-use, transportation, etc. The individualcommunities, with a requirement that citizens have input to the process, createSmart Growth plans. The team was very pleased to hear that all of AdamsCounty’s towns, villages and city either have, or are working on, a Smart Growthplan. As communities progress through the planning process, we encourage allcitizens to attend the planning sessions and provide input to the plan. Manycommunities offer a monthly or regularly scheduled “eggs-and-issues” breakfast
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“It feels like we lostour land here.”
[county residentspeaking about
county growth andland development]
to discuss community policies. The local planning team that brought theCommunity Resource Team to Adams County has been meeting monthly tobegin such discussions, and they welcome additional participants. By expandingsuch discussions beyond governmental forums, more citizens may beencouraged to participate.
Because of Adams County’s rapid growth and changing nature, countygovernment is facing a number of new challenges. The county is currentlygoverned solely by an elected board serving part-time. The county may wish toconsider hiring a full-time county executive to oversee operation of countygovernment.
Recommendations
Produce and distribute a booklet on the nature of rural life in AdamsCounty to new residents. See the “Partners in Rural Wisconsin” booklet listed inthe Agriculture section of this report for an example.
County government should encourage citizens to participate in theSmart Growth planning process.
The Chamber of Commerce or another civic organization shouldorganize a monthly or regularly scheduled “eggs-and-issues” breakfast todiscuss community issues.
The team encourages the Adams County local resource team to continuetheir discussions about the future of Adams County and to welcome additionalcommunity participation.
County government should discuss hiring a full-time county executive tomanage county government.
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Resources
1000 Friends of Wisconsinwww.1kfriends.org
American Planning Associationwww.planning.org
EPA Smart Growthwww.epa.gov/livability
WI Office of Land InformationSystems www.doa.state.wi.us/olis
WI Chapter of AmericanPlanning Associationwww.wisconsinplanners.org
WI DNR Smart Growthwww.dnr.state.wi.us/org/es/science/landuse/smart_growth
North Central WisconsinRegional Planning Commissionwww.ncwrpc.org
Adams County local resourceteam:
* Arlene Scalzo, WHEDA(800) 334-6873 x623,[email protected]
*David GibsonUSDA Rural Development4949 Kirschling CourtStevens Point, WI 54481715-345-7676Fax: [email protected]
* Kathy HeadyArea Development ManagerWisconsin Dept. of CommerceP.O. Box 7970Madison, WI 53707-7970608-266-9944Fax: [email protected]
Communication
The Team was introduced to Adams County with a bang, hearing fromopposing viewpoints on the explosive issues of proposed economic
development projects such as Perrier water bottling and a slaughterhouse. Itwas immediately evident that communication between opponents andproponents had broken down, revealing that the county as a whole has notreached consensus on a vision for future economic development in AdamsCounty. Communication is clearly the issue at the heart of this conflict, as wellas the key to its resolution.
Communication was brought up continually as the missing link in relationsbetween town and county government and residents. Throughout the week,from the first focus group to the last, county residents viewed a lack ofcommunication as a pervasive problem. One resident noted that communicationsfrom the County Board in particular to County residents was inadequate. Whenasked how to improve those communications, a minimum of three-week’s noticefor Board meetings and other solicitations of community input was suggested.It was also noted that notices placed in local and regional newspapers such asthe Wisconsin Rapids, Mauston, and Wisconsin Dells papers would help get theword out, especially in a geographically long, narrow county that has severalmedia markets. At least one County Board member felt that adequate notice ofBoard meetings was regularly given, and that those who have a desire toparticipate in opportunities for public input will actively seek out those events.
The Team noted the positive potential in the decision-making process that oneTown Board Chairman described. He suggested that his Town was unique in theCounty in its approach, in that issues were thoroughly debated between Boardmembers and participating residents before decisions were made. He indicatedthat other town or county decision-makers might tend to discourage this level ofpublic dialogue by failing to actively seek input on issues one at a time. Oftenboard members or other leaders confine public input into all issues into onedesignated time period. He felt that Board chairs who solicit public input onlyafter discussion by Board members alone could diminish the quality of thedialogue as well as its accessibility to the public.
There is an overall concern in the community that citizens are not being heard,or not participating, in county and local government decisions. Many peoplementioned that they don’t know how to participate, where to participate, or feelintimidated by the process. The Team would like to see county government or aservice organization develop a citizen’s handbook covering these issues. Thecounty currently produces a directory of county offices. This directory could veryeasily be expanded to include information about how county meetings work,who can attend, how the public can provide input, etc. Additionally, to deal withthe influx of residents from outside the county, the handbook can include9
“The County assumesthat, if it’s in the
Adams-Friendshipnewspaper, it’s been
communicated.”[county resident]
information on living in rural areas, service issues, what to expect fromemergency services, etc. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau has produced asimilar handbook called “Partners in Rural Wisconsin” that can providea good example.
Finally, the only way to truly develop a sustainable strategy for dealingwith Adams County’s community growth and transition issues is tocontinue communicating. The team was struck by a number ofindividual comments that people were unaware of other groups’activities and plans for the county. Small communities and rural areashave long had good informal communication networks. With the changingpopulation and rapid growth, more effort must be placed on bringing allmembers of the community into these discussions. This cannot be a purelygovernmental function. Service organizations, the ministerial community andother leaders in the area need to work on organizing forums and discussions tobring the people of Adams County together.
Recommendations
County and Town Board meetings should strive to improve outreach andcommunications with residents. Busy families with diverse commitments mayneed additional time to plan for their involvement in town and county decision-making processes. Adequate notices—possibly up to three weeks before majorpublic events—should be posted in a variety of media, including newspaperspublished in larger, surrounding cities. Radio announcements are anothersuggested avenue for communicating meeting information. Establishing linkswith schools, faith communities, and other county entities for communication ofregular monthly board meeting information would serve to attract new publicinput, and this should be the goal of leaders at all levels of government withinthe county.
Outreach would be perceived by residents as a positive, proactive effort andwould help to build trust and consensus in the County. In many cases, thiscommunication does not require significant time or money; town and countyboards can send email messages, where available, to schools, churches, serviceorganizations, and agencies, with a request for staff and employees to pass theinformation on by word-of-mouth or email. Phone trees can be another effectivestrategy for low-cost communication.
Based on what we heard in the meeting with town and county boardmembers, the Team believes that the Town of New Chester presents a goodmodel for community-based decision-making, by providing a welcoming forumfor dialogue between residents and decision-makers. Recognizing that boardmeetings at the town and county level need to maintain adequate efficiency andorder, officials should work to initiate dialogue on issues of importance as they
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Resources
The Citizen’s Handbook.www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/
Study Circles Resource Center.www.studycircles.org
USDA Rural Development,Office of CommunityDevelopment;David Gibson4949 Kirschling CourtStevens Point, WI 54481715-345-7676Fax: [email protected]
International Association forPublic ParticipationPublic Participation toolboxhttp://www.iap2.org/practitionertools/toolbox.html
“How can we cometogether if we don’t
even know eachother’s names?”
[local clergy member]
arise. These leaders should actively incorporate appropriate community input onan issue-by-issue basis.
For upcoming Smart Growth planning events, as well as regularly scheduledpublic meetings, another avenue of communications could involve a partnershipwith local service providers such as the Electric Cooperative. Advertising couldbe placed in utility bill mailings at minimal cost, and all residents would beadequately reached and invited to participate in major decision-making events.
Due to long distances between northern and southern townships in theCounty, residents should be able to contact County government officials withoutincurring long-distance telephone charges. A toll-free number for countygovernment should be established and advertised by the county so low-incomeand geographically isolated residents do not feel excluded from public decision-making processes.
At the Thursday evening presentation to the community, a Resource Teammember suggested that a link between high school students and various countyagencies and organizations could address two issues simultaneously: the needfor students to gain more writing experience, and the need for local agencies topursue grant funds for program delivery, equipment purchase, and infrastructuredevelopment. Communication will be the key to establishing a partnership of thisnature. A website should be created by a tech-minded student or group ofstudents; possibly a communications class. This site could serve as acommunity-wide portal including public meeting notices, tourism information, anevents calendar and links to local resources. A site such as this could be at leastpartially supported by advertising revenue. The Chamber of Commerce web sitecould provide a good starting point for such a site.
Also at this site, teachers and students could make contact with agencypersonnel in the County who are seeking assistance in writing grant proposals.Adequate advertising to prospective agency partners would need to be theresponsibility of the students and/or teachers, to insure that notifications ofavailable funds are posted with adequate time for students to prepare proposals.To encourage student participation in community fund raising, a system of creditfor work performed should be discussed and implemented.
Change is the norm in Adams County, and all leaders and groups should re-assess their avenues of communication to insure that they are reaching theirappropriate audience. Is the County Board getting the word out on opportunitiesfor public involvement? Postings in the Adams-Friendship weekly newspaper maynot be enough. Are agencies that coordinate volunteers advertising toappropriate audiences? With the changing face of the Adams County populace,new means of communication may be required to achieve desired results. Again,
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cooperation between and among existing entities may be the most appropriatestrategy, given limited time and other resources. Many communication needscould be addressed with the development of a single and central resourcefacility that could serve to distribute information from a variety of programs,boards, business people, and residents. The Team discussed the possibility oflocating this clearinghouse at the Job Center, library or a similar facility in acentral location within the County. Agencies could maintain archives of grantproposals here, for review by volunteer writers from the high school orcommunity. The Chamber of Commerce, local realtors, county planners, andarea high school students and seniors, among others, could jointly manage thiscentral facility.
Economic Development
One of our listening sessions was with a group of people representing thebusiness community of Adams County. The director of a local development
entity described the difficulty in balancing economic development with the desireof many in the county to protect pristine, ‘up North’ qualities of the area.The County provides a significant level of support to the Adams County Ruraland Industrial Development Commission, Inc. (ACRIDC).
Adams County has a number of assets with respect to economic development.There are two industrial parks in the City of Adams totaling 143 acres, completewith utilities. A 35-acre industrial park in the Town of Preston and a 25-acrebusiness park in the Town of Rome are also available. The county is home to asmall, existing manufacturing base. There is available retail space in the Adams-Friendship community, with a good mix of retail and services.
Adams County is centrally located close to markets in the upper Midwest region,roughly equidistant between Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Theentire county has a good network of state highways for transportation of goods,as well as good water and sewer capacity within the City of Adams and Villageof Friendship.
The business community in Adams County is served by an active Chamber ofCommerce. The Chamber and the county rural and industrial developmentcommission have detailed informational and promotional materials. Solidfinancial institutions, including one locally owned bank, offer financial services tolocal businesses. Excellent schools in the community provide a skilled workforce,while natural resources and a small, friendly community environment areattractive to potential employees.
Adams County’s economic development efforts are centralized in one agency,which makes it easy to coordinate business recruitment activities in the county.
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Resources
Center for RuralEntrepreneurshipwww.ruraleship.org
Rural Enterprise AssistanceProjectwww.cfra.org/reap/
Small Business DevelopmentCenter (SBDC)800-940-7232www.wisconsinsbdc.orgSBDC UW-Stevens Point -Vicki Lobermeier, Director715-346-3839
Wisconsin Housing andEconomic DevelopmentAuthority (WHEDA) -Arlene Scalzo, CommunityDevelopment Officer800-334-6873, ext. 623
University of WisconsinExtension Center forCommunity EconomicDevelopment, Madison608-265-8140
Going into Business inWisconsin: An Entrepreneur’sGuide - 1993 publication,Wisconsin Department ofCommerce
Small Business Administration(SBA) How to Start a SmallBusiness - http://sba.gov/starting/indexsteps.html
Women’s Business Center(excellent source for initialgroundwork for anyone) -http://www.onlinewbc.gov/docs/starting
Wisconsin Main StreetProgram, WisconsinDepartment of Commerce -www.commerce.state.wi.us/CD/CD-bdd.html
There is great cooperation in the business community, and no turf battles overroles or responsibilities were evident. Business financing does not appear to be aproblem. The county has several financial packages it can offer prospectivebusinesses including a county revolving loan fund.
Adams County is also a member of the Juneau-Adams-Marquette (JAM)Development Zone. There is a total of $1.2 million allocated to the JAMDevelopment Zone to provide tax credits to businesses locating or expanding inthe county. Our interviews with the financial community indicated that they wereactive and supportive sponsors in providing financial assistance for businessdevelopment and expansion.
We could see and feel tension in the community over the direction economicdevelopment should take in Adams County. People remarked that the recentPerrier controversy had torn the community apart and ruined friendships. Weheard people suggesting that Adams County needs to attract businesses andmanufacturing jobs to the county in order to provide employment and reducethe local tax buden. We also heard people say that Adams County is rich innatural resources and should look to tourism and seasonal home dwellers as aviable economic development strategy.
This indicates to us that there is not a shared vision of what Adams County’seconomic development should be. The community is divided over what it wantsAdams County to be and until agreement is reached there will continue to besides taken over whatever development comes to Adams County. Suchdivisiveness in a community does not bode well for development prospects.Businesses, like people, go where they are invited and stay where they arewelcomed.
Recommendations
ACRIDC should lead a comprehensive county economic analysis to betterunderstand what the economic dynamics are in Adams County. Using the datafrom this comprehensive study, the ACRIDC should invite key stakeholders andmembers of the public to create a vision and strategic plan for industry andeconomic development in Adams County. Such shared vision will allow theeconomic development leaders to focus their recruiting efforts and be proactiverather than reactive.
ACRIDC should revisit its mission, goals and objectives to see if they are up-to-date and reflect the divergent perspectives in Adams County. ACRIDC maywant to look at selection and appointment of board members and recruit futureboard members to reflect the diversity in county citizens, opinions,demographics, etc. We noticed that this was an all-male board.
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“Businesses, likepeople, go where
they are invited andstay where they are
welcomed.”[team comment]
ACRIDC should devise a public relations campaign to better communicate itsmission and goals, as well as its successes, to the citizens of Adams County.
The Adams County Chamber of Commerce should develop a strategy toattract retail and commercial businesses to the main streets of Friendship andAdams. This can begin by inventorying what is currently located downtown andwhat new commercial businesses are desirable.
Utilize the services of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and theService Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) to come to Adams County and holdfree business counseling sessions for existing and start-up businesses.
Develop a spirit of entrepreneurship among the youth in Adams County byemphasizing small business development and entrepreneurial skills in businessclasses in the junior and senior high schools, and by helping students developtheir own businesses or establishing school-based businesses that serve thecommunity.
Create a process at the county level to assess the impact of proposedeconomic development greater than $1 million, which can provide unbiased datathat local elected officials can use to make decisions based upon facts. Thismight include requiring large proposed developments to file an “economicimpact statement” along the lines of environmental impact statements requiredin many areas.
Housing
The need for affordable housing in Adams County was identified in several ofthe focus groups relating to business and land use, and also during the
discussion with the representatives from the housing authority, realtors andbankers.
Forty percent of the housing in Adams County is used for seasonal, recreationalor occasional use. Eighty-five percent of the housing is owner-occupied whilefifteen percent is rental housing. Over 25% of the housing in Adams County aremobile homes and many of these are in very poor repair.
The range in housing types in Adams County is dramatic, from half-million-dollarseasonal, newer housing in the Town of Rome to very old mobile homesscattered across the county landscape. Housing costs range from $40,000 for asubstandard older seasonal cabin in the woods to $500,000 for the new homesbeing built in the golf course communities in the Town of Rome. These newerhomes are assessed at a much higher level and are driving up assessed propertyvalues. Consequently, property taxes in the surrounding areas are also rising.
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“How effective wouldit be if we decided asa county what kind ofbusiness we want? I
think we’re doing thatone business at a
time.”[local resident, com-menting on Perrierand slaughterhouse
controversies]
Funds are needed for residents whose homes are in need of weatherization andrehabilitation. Limited resources are available through the Central WisconsinCommunity Action Council (CWCAC) and Renewal Unlimited, as well as somefunding through Adams County Social Services. However, the demand faroutweighs the supply of available assistance.
There are 91 units of elderly housing, 54 units of family housing and 14 units ofassisted housing for persons with disabilities that were all developed through theUSDA Rural Development “Section 515” program. There are waiting lists for allof these units. The waiting lists vary from a few months to several years. Inaddition, there are a very small number of low-to-moderate income - “Section8” - vouchers available through CWCAC. There are 17 families on the waitinglist for the 24-unit family project and a 2-month waiting list for the elderly units.There is a long waiting list for the Section 8 vouchers.
Currently there is a Community Development Block Grant application in process,submitted by the county, for owner-occupied, rental, home ownership, rentalrehabilitation and demolition. The application addresses the need for rehab-ilitation for older homes. Although approximately 17 percent of the housing inthe county was constructed before 1960, the majority of those homes are in theCity of Adams and the Village of Friendship. The block grant, if funded, wouldmeet the needs of the concentrated population but still would not address theabundance of substandard septic systems that are attached to mobile homes.The grant would not be adequate to fund the repairs needed to make thesehomes safe and sanitary. Adams County needs a program to identify and removesubstandard, unlivable mobile homes and replace them with newer housing,either modular or mobile.
Homelessness is a growing problem in the county, and there are few resourcesavailable to assist families in remaining in their housing, or to access affordablerental units after a homeless episode. There should be an effort to encourageCWCAC to expand homeless services in Adams Co. or to identify another organi-zation or combination of organizations to address the growing homeless pop-ulation. Tenant counseling and education are needed to help households attainand retain housing. The Job Center is a valuable resource for the community forinformation about a variety of programs.
Low incomes and poor credit prevents many families and individuals frompurchasing housing, although there appears to be a supply of housing under$100,000 in the central area of the county. As elsewhere, banks are hesitant tolend where there are poor credit histories or inadequate and unstable incomes.This discourages low- and moderate-income families from purchasing available,affordable properties. Banks in the Adams County community could receiveCommunity Reinvestment Act credits if they would initiate a First Time HomeBuyers Program that includes a budget counseling component and post-purchase counseling.15
“Housing should bewhere the jobs are.”
[several localresidents]
Currently there appears to be little consistency in land use planning or zoningrelating to housing development. The Team heard several times that housingshould be where the jobs are. The countywide Smart Growth planning processshould offer the opportunity to identify the undeveloped parts of the county wherethere can be both business and residential developments, and consistent land useand housing policies can be established.
Recommendations
The Housing Authority should continue working with Rural Development andWHEDA to increase the number of assisted units for families and seniors.
The Housing Authority should explore the possibility of issuing multi-familyhousing tax-exempt revenue bonds to support the construction of additionalaffordable units.
The comprehensive Smart Growth planning process and the collaborative effortby all municipal entities in the County offers an ideal opportunity to examinehousing needs. The planning process should address the need for locatinghousing and services close to or as a part of any future economic development.
The Housing Authority and the Adams County Memorial Hospital shouldexamine the possibility of a collaborative effort to develop an assisted livingfacility to serve the growing aging population in the County.
The school district should determine the potential for having a housingconstruction program within the high school curriculum. Students could buildhousing that could then be sold to an eligible low-income family. One example ofsuch a program is at Menasha High School, where students build a home eachyear in collaboration with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter.
Banks in Adams County should initiate a first-time homebuyers program thataddresses the credit needs of their customers, i.e.: provide homeownershipcounseling programs that continue working with consumers over the time nec-essary to help them develop a credit history that will allow them to purchase andretain a home. Banks would likely receive Community Reinvestment Act Creditsfor this type of a program. There is also grant assistance available for personalcredit education programs from the National Endowment for Financial Education.
Contact the Wisconsin Manufactured Housing Association to determine if thereare any initiatives underway to rehab or remove outdated and unsafe mobilehomes. A number of communities around the state involve AmeriCorps membersin housing rehabilitation and remediation and new construction of affordablehomes. The Wisconsin National and Community Service Board in Madison canprovide more information.
16
Resources
Wisconsin Housing andEconomic DevelopmentAuthorityhttp://www.wheda.comMadison Office201 W. Washington Ave.Ste. 700P.O. Box 1728Madison, WI 53701-1728608-266-7884800-334-6873Fax: 608-267-1099
Wisconsin Department ofAdministration,Division of Housing andIntergovernmental Relations,Bureau of HousingP O Box 8944Madison, Wisconsin 53708608 266-0288Fax: 608-267-6917http://www.doa.state.wi.us/dhir
Wisconsin Department ofAdministration,Division of Housing andIntergovernmental Relations,Wisconsin Office of LandInformation ServicesSmart Growth Guide forHousinghttp://www.doa.state.wi.us/olis
USDA Rural Developmenthttp://www.rurdev.usda.gov/wi
Wisconsin ManufacturedHousing Associationhttp://www.wmha.org
Wisconsin National andCommunity Service Boardhttp://www.wisconsinserve.org
Wisconsin Partnership forHousing Developmenthttp://www.wphd.org
National Endowment forFinancial Educationhttp://www.nefe.org/pages/innovative.html
Transportation
Transportation was an issue that came up in nearly every focus group the CRTattended. Because of Adams County’s large size and rural nature, many
activities that take place in the county require participants to travel longdistances. This fact can make things difficult for the community’s elderly andlow-income residents. Travel for health care, work, recreation activities andschool events are major concerns. As one resident stated, “Another challengepeople overlook is families that budget gas money.” When school activities caninclude a 50-mile round-trip for a family, costs can be prohibitive. Senior citizensalso expressed concerns about driving at night due to deer and rural roads.Taxi service is available in the community as a solution for local transport.However, with a cost of approximately $25 one-way to Wisconsin Rapids, thetaxi service is not an affordable solution for transportation outside the county.The Job Center provides a Wheels-to-Work bus to Wisconsin Dells that issubsidized by the county. The bus serves all three shifts in the Dells, at a cost of$7 per round trip. People participating in the food stamp program can ride forfree until they begin receiving paychecks, so lower-income people do have anoption for transportation to the south.
The school district has made some strides in providing transportation for after-school activities, offering a late bus system for students involved with suchevents. The late bus makes stops at various locations throughout the districtrather than individual homes, so transportation from these stops can be aproblem. The best solution for such a problem is and probably always will belocal, with neighbors organizing ridesharing.
There are some good examples of volunteers helping with transportation in thecommunity. Volunteers are available to transport seniors and others to medicalappointments. The churches in the community have in the past made someeffort to encourage ridesharing for faith activities. Many people we spoke towere unaware of such services; others stated that some people don’t want to bea bother in asking for rides. More communication is needed to make sure peoplewith needs are aware of these services. An occasional ad or article in the localnewspaper, or brief mentions on local radio can inform more people about what’savailable. On a one-to-one basis, volunteers should encourage people to accesstheir services – let people know that it’s no trouble to take along additionalpassengers to community events.
Many citizens mentioned that Wisconsin Rapids is the nearest location for manyopportunities such as expanded shopping, continuing education at the technicalcollege, and employment. Many people who need to access these resources,such as seniors, young people and low-income people have no transportation orunreliable vehicles. The team believes that scheduled bus service to Wisconsin
17
“Another challengethat people overlookis that families have
to budget gas money.When both spouseshave to travel oppo-
site directions fordecent jobs, theyneed two reliable
vehicles. Add childcare on top of that,
and there’s not muchleft over to support
running to Adams forcommunity activities.”[young rural parent]
Resources
Federal HighwayAdministration CoordinatedRural Transit Serviceshttp://www/itsdocs.fhwa.gov/inform/p4_1.htm
Rural Transit AssistanceProgramhttp://www/fta.dot.gov/research/implem/rtap.htm
American PublicTransportation Associationhttp://www.atpa.com/sites/transus/wi.htm
Rapids, similar to the Dells service, would be a huge economic benefit to thecounty. Cost of such a service will certainly be an issue, but we believe there isenough interest in such a service to make it worthwhile. There are a number ofgood rural transit examples in Wisconsin and elsewhere. There are also anumber of government programs to encourage rural transit options.
Recommendations
Local media should help publicize opportunities for ride-sharing and freetransportation for medical and other services.
The Job Center should explore offering a scheduled bus service to WisconsinRapids, similar to the already-offered service to the Dells.
TourismWhile listening to the focus groups we immediately realized that all
individuals in the group had a positive attitude about tourism in thecounty. The expansion of tourism is acknowledged and accepted as a goodthing. The general consensus of opinion is that the natural resources of thecounty are outstanding. The parks, the lakes, the hunting, the fishing - all areutilized and enjoyed by many. Visitors in the summer are welcome, while theirdeparture in the fall brings smiles when the county is “given back to the locals.”
The Team was surprised to hear that the County Parks Department has notcomputerized its operations, especially the reservations systems for the twocampgrounds. The installation of a computer system would give the parksdepartment the ability to:1. Establish a database to track the increase or decrease of people using
the facilities during the year.2. Provide an automated park reservation system.3. Help staff with day-to-day bookkeeping.4. Help maintain accountability of budgeted funds.5. Help to facilitate long range planning and budgeting.6. Provide the ability to share information with all tourist activities within
the County and surrounding areas.
An effort should be made to establish a method to justify the expenditures ofpromotional funds spent during the year by tracking returns on investments.One method could be to use discount coupons at the shows to establish theidentity of individuals that attended the show when they visit the parks. Othermethods should be sought and reviewed.
If a visit from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism has not happened withinthe last year, a request should be initiated. Prior to this visit an inventory of all
18
“You can’t take thesetwo beautiful lakes
and split them inhalf.”
[local resident com-menting on the
promotion of CastleRock and Petenwell
flowages]
facets of tourism within the county should be updated and individual goals andobjectives of each enterprise should be noted. With a gathering of all interestsnew ideas can come up and information can be passed around betweenattendees and shared with the state agencies.
Since Adams County recreational facilities have the ability to accept overflowfrom the Dells, continued effort should be made to establish a strong linkbetween the parks, the Chamber of Commerce and lake associations in AdamsCounty and recreational activities at the Dells. More families want to get awayfrom the hubbub and fast pace in the Dells. Coming north to Adams Countycould be a very positive feature to start additional businesses to fill this need.The Adams County Chamber of Commerce has a very good web site thatprovides a great deal of information about attractions and events in the county.There is a strong emphasis on economic development and tourism. However, thewebsite should provide more contacts related to lodging, eating establishments,and current events. The Adams County information on the statewide tourismwebsite Wisconsin.com provides a great deal of information about the county.However, the information about the City of Adams on the website is lackingcomplete information about the city’s parks and recreation, events, points ofinterest, churches, and organizations. Information about bed and breakfast innsis not included on either site. The Team encourages the county to encouragedevelopment and better publicity for bed and breakfast inns.
Recommendations
All county entities involved in tourism need to find ways to work together. Theteam learned that many Midwest sports shows are attended by three differententities representing the Adams County area. Eliminating this duplication shouldprovide a better image for Adams County at a lower total cost.
Inventory the county’s tourism assets and invite the Wisconsin Department ofTourism to perform an evaluation of these assets.
Computerize county parks department operations to better track park usageand to provide a reservation system for the county’s campsites.
Increase advertising to take advantage of the close proximity to WisconsinDells.
Improve the Adams County web site to provide better contact informationabout tourism opportunities in the county.
19
Agriculture
The Adams County agricultural community produces a large amount ofcommodity food products, especially potatoes, coupled with smaller opera-
tions for livestock and milk products. Agriculture at this time is the biggestincome producer in the county. Many of the problems being experienced withinthe agriculture community are not new and are being experienced throughoutthe agriculture sector in the United States. The lack of commodity priceincreases has lagged way behind the gains that can be made to keep up withbasic agriculture expense items. Many farmers cannot even provide for a basicfamily health insurance plan.
Farm organizations in Adams County and in the surrounding area need tocooperate in efforts to establish stronger emphasis on educating the non-farmsector about agriculture. The annual farm breakfast held at the fair groundsdoes not seem to be enough. If more farmers markets could be establishedwithin the county, the effect of having rural products available and the personalcontact with rural agriculture would be a building block of understanding. At thesame time, niche markets would be established and additional income for therural sector would assist farmers. Partners in Rural Wisconsin has published anexcellent guide for positive neighbor relations in Wisconsin farm country. Thissixteen-page booklet covers many aspects of the farm/non-farm relationshipsthat you will encounter. Copies are available through the Wisconsin FarmBureau, and could be distributed by local farm groups to new neighbors inAdams County.
Community kitchens for small producers and social groups have provensuccessful in many places. Farm-generated products or excess produce can becanned and packaged to sell locally, in farm markets and/or given to needygroups such as the food pantry, seniors or families in need. Providing anapproved kitchen requires state and county inspections, but a collection ofinterested individuals can band together and get a facility approved that willbetter the community both socially and economically. The WestCAP agency inMenomonie, Wisconsin has successfully established such a communitykitchen, and can serve as a resource should a group in Adams County wish topursue such an opportunity.
The Team was privileged to attend the annual Harvest Dinner that resultsfrom the Community Education Gardens program where children, guided bycommunity members and UW-Extension, grow, harvest and process food fortheir community. Hearing about the program, witnessing the community pride,and sampling the results was a real treat! This sort of “place based” educationthat helps students learn about the foundation of their community – agriculture -by planting their own gardens, is an early strategy to creating community
20
Resources
Wisconsin Farm BureauFederationhttp://www.wfbf.com/Partners%20in%20rural%20WI.pdf
WestCAP CrossroadsCommunity KitchenMenomonie, WI715-233-3464
Beginning Farmer Programwww.cfra.org/resources/Beg_Farmer_loan_programs.htm
21
connections that will make children feel valued by, and connected to, theircommunity as they grow up. Young people who are valued by their communityand find their place to contribute, are less likely to want to leave later on.
Individuals having concerns about a lack of older youth opportunities inagriculture can look to the programs provided the University of WisconsinBeginning Farmers Program. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Tradeand Consumer Protection (DATCP) also employs marketing specialists who candirect individuals into value-added products and niche markets in agriculture.Although niche markets notoriously are small in nature to start with, they doprovide additional income to farm families and many have turned into successfullarger businesses.
Rural farmers and agricultural organizations need to form a more cohesive groupto assist in educating the non-farm public and supporting agriculture or asso-ciated agribusiness that would like to do business in the county. Of course, newagribusiness must be compatible with county needs, meet the environmentalconcerns of the general public and be an acceptable mix with current business.Individuals responsible for county development should have a single contactwithin the agriculture sector to advise about outside interests wanting to dobusiness in the county. This may help the farm community stay abreast of up-coming business issues, and any outside influences that are opposed to theintroduction of the new business could be approached immediately with a well-structured plan to educate and/or confront if necessary. The agencies respon-sible for coordinating with an incoming business placement request should havea plan that specifies what is required to start first phase negotiations.
Current Smart Growth planning must include input from the agricultural sector.Future developments in product and livestock production need to be reviewedand stated in the basic plan. The agriculture sector as a group must look tozoning as a tool to control agribusiness uses. Using multiple zoning districts,county government can setup and regulate compatible land uses. Some areas ofzoning can be: agricultural enterprise areas that allow large scale agriculturaluses with no new residences; general agriculture areas that include traditionalagricultural uses with limited and conditional residential use; limited agriculturalzones that would include zoning of single-family uses with less intensive agri-culture use; and rural residential areas with a mix of low-density residential usesand rural activities compatible with such developments such as low-intensityfarming.
Local governments can also regulate land uses through conditional use permits,establishing setbacks and imposing environmental performance standards, etc.However, additional regulation will increase the administrative burden for thesmaller government bodies.
Community Amenities
Adams County has many of the amenities that can be expected in a smalltown: grocery and variety stores, fast-food restaurants and supper clubs,
and many local parks for hiking, fishing, hunting and other outdoor sports. Also,like many small towns, there are limited choices for shopping and recreation.
An integral part of the community is the Adams-Friendship School District. Theschool district currently offers many opportunities for citizens to use schoolfacilities for such things as evening walking for seniors, adult continuingeducation, etc. We encourage the school district to continue offering suchservices to the community.
The Adams Community Center, soon to be constructed, will add significantopportunities to the recreation scene in Adams County. Containing a library andareas for seniors, youth and teens, the center should provide opportunities forall citizens to come together for recreational opportunities. We encourage thecommunity to include all segments of the community in planning for the use ofthe community center to ensure that programming at the center meets theneeds of a variety of community members. A committee that includes youth,parents of school-aged youth, senior citizens, school staff and others shouldoversee programming at the Center.
In the team’s discussions with the youth of the community, a common complaintwas the lack of entertainment opportunities in Adams County for youth. Whenasked for suggestions, amenities such as a skate park, pool and dance club werementioned. The team was told that the community does have a pool that iscurrently shuttered due to problems with the roof. The community may wish toexplore the cost and benefits of reopening the pool. The team also recommendsthat community youth explore the option of creating a skate park or having a
Recommendations
County agricultural groups should perform more outreach activities toeducate their neighbors about the positive aspects of agriculture in AdamsCounty. This can include distributing the Farm Bureau’s “Partners in RuralWisconsin” booklet.
Establish a farmers market to provide local markets in which to sell countyproduce. Explore additional value-added agriculture opportunities such asagriculture tourism to take advantage of Adams County’s tourism.
Incorporate the needs of the agriculture community in the county’s SmartGrowth plan.
22
Resources
Wisconsin Assembly for LocalArtsAnne Katz, [email protected]
dance-club night at the new community center. An initiative of this kind wouldbenefit from guidance and direction from local teachers or other leaders, butyouth can play the key roles of developers and decision-makers. Getting the ballrolling on such a process can be a good experience in teaching students how towork with local government and service organizations.
As discussed below, we suggest increased support for the arts. Public supportfor the arts can leverage private support, and a thriving arts scene can drawtourists as well as new businesses and professionals to the area. Involvement inthe arts can be an effective prevention strategy for children and youth that alsohelps them stay involved in and committed to the community.
Adams County is rich in natural amenities, including a strong county park systemand an impressive state park. State and county park staff and school districtofficials should establish partnerships through which young people can contri-bute to maintaining and improving these areas. Students can learn about theecosystem and the community’s relationship to it by, for example, reseedingprairies, maintaining trails and forested areas or monitoring and reporting on thearea’s watershed. The successful elementary school gardening projects we sawseem to indicate an interest among students in applied, outdoor education.Involvement in the maintenance of the county’s natural areas gives students asense of responsibility for these areas that will help to ensure sustainability.
Recommendations
Ensure that the new community center includes opportunities for allsegments of the community.
Community youth should take action to bring desired amenities, such as askate park, into being. Civic organizations in the community may want to assistyouth working on such a project.
Establish partnerships between county parks and schools to allow students toget hands-on experience in working with the county’s natural areas.
Explore the possibility of renovating and reopening the community pool.
23
Infrastructure
The infrastructure in the City of Adams and Village of Friendship is in goodshape due to recent upgrades to the water and sewer systems. These
infrastructure upgrades have left the industrial parks in these areas ready tohandle future growth.
Outside the city, however, the infrastructure is less robust. As mentionedelsewhere in this report, most of the county relies on individual water andseptic systems. In a region with sandy soil such as Adams County, theseindividual systems can cause problems with water quality. In the northernpart of the county, there is a water district that provides water, but not sewer,service to developed areas. There have recently been discussions aboutexpanding the service area of this water district. As part of the Smart Growthprocess, when the community defines areas for future development they shouldalso take into account development of supporting infrastructure such as sewerand water.
By all accounts, electric, road and telephone infrastructure throughout AdamsCounty is adequate. However, the Team heard from a number of groups thathigh-speed internet infrastructure in Adams County is lacking. County businesspromoters and high school students expressed a need for Digital Subscriber Line(DSL) or other high-speed internet options, stating that existing connections areinadequate. Due to Adams’ rural nature, Verizon, the major telephone serviceprovider, has expressed reluctance to move forward with system upgrades thatwould make high-speed internet possible within the county. The team recom-mends that Adams County explore wireless options to provide better internetaccess to the citizens and businesses in the community. Companies such as T-Net of Wisconsin Rapids, WI Rural Internet Corp. of Wautoma and DCS Netlinkof Rice Lake are currently rolling out wireless broadband internet in severalWisconsin communities.
Recommendations
County and town government should consider establishing or expandingwater and sewer districts in outlying areas of the county to provide betterservices, especially in areas of industrial or heavy residential development.
County government should invite wireless internet service developmentcompanies to locate in the county.
24
Resources
T-NetWisconsin [email protected]://portal.tznet.com888-676-TNET
WI Rural Internet Corp.http://www.wirural.com888-544-3301
DCS NetlinkRice [email protected]://www.dcsnetlink.com715-236-7424
Education and Youth
As in other small, rural communities, family is very important in AdamsCounty. Although the county’s changing population requires increasing
attention to the needs of its elderly citizens, it is clear that children and youthare a local priority. In virtually every focus group the Resource Team heardconcerns about future opportunities for young people and a willingness tosupport programs and services for them.
The Resource Team met with students, parents and staff of the Adams-Friendship Area School District, which includes the majority of school-agedchildren and youth in the county. We also met with students and staff of theBridges for Youth and LINC alternative educational programs for students whohave either been expelled or have not succeeded within the regular high schoolprogram, but who wish to complete their studies. We did not meet with repre-sentatives of other school districts serving the county. We met with a number ofadults involved with youth through programs such as 4-H, Scouts, churches, etc.In many other focus groups, issues related to youth, education and familieswere discussed as they related to the subject of the focus groups.
Students at Adams-Friendship High School are, for the most part, positive abouttheir teachers and the climate of their schools. The group agreed that mostteachers are supportive and respectful of students, and that most take the timeto provide individual help to students when they can. Students were verysatisfied with the availability of computers both during and after school, andwith the availability of opportunities to learn technology skills. Students at thehigh school cited the wide availability of after-school opportunities as a positive,although students in the alternative educational programs were less satisfiedwith these opportunities.
Adults are also quite positive about the educational and recreational opportun-ities available to young people. Some of the assets cited by the adults (teachers,staff and parents) included the Lighted Schoolhouse program, which providespositive activities for families school two nights per week; a successful summerschool program; a meals program that serves children and community members;and lots of opportunities for young people to provide service to their commun-ities through involvement in Student Council and co-curricular organizations(such as Future Farmers of America).
Adults also pointed to the 21st Century Community Learning Center program,the alternative educational programs, the availability of online courses and theElementary School Counseling Improvement Project as examples of positiveopportunities or supports for students. The existence of the CommunityChildren’s Concerns Committee (4C), a collaborative effort to meet the needs ofchildren countywide, is clearly a positive for Adams County. The Assets for Youth
25
“Our future is only asgood as the children’s
future.”[local resident]
“We don’t educatechildren to
stay in the area.”[local retiree]
survey undertaken by the A-F School District contains some positive indicationsof community support for youth, including some significant improvementsbetween 1998 and 2002.
Beyond these important assets, the various groups with whom the ResourceTeam met identified a number of areas for improvement. Some students com-plained of being treated as a “nuisance” by the community. Both adults andyouth agreed that the community provides a tremendous amount of support forboys’ football and basketball, but that other sports and the arts do not receivenearly enough support by comparison. Students expressed a desire for moresports teams—specifically swimming and soccer (though trapshooting andpaintball were also mentioned). Adults and students alike cited a need for agood performance space for theater, dance and other performance groups.Students and adults also agreed strongly on the need for better transportationto enable more students to participate in extracurricular and after-schoolactivities, and to get them to jobs in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin Rapids andaround the county. Finally, a number of students at both the high school and thealternative programs voice a strong desire for a skate park and a swimmingpool.
Adults at various focus group sessions identified poor writing skills among youngpeople and suggested more and better writing, reading and vocabulary instruc-tion. Indeed, district test scores in reading and other core subject areas arebelow the state average. One should keep in mind, however, that there is acorrelation between poverty rates and academic achievement. Compared to allschool districts in the state, A-F students’ test scores are only slightly belowwhat might be expected given the relatively large number of economicallydisadvantaged students in the district (see the Department of Public Instruc-tion’s WINSS website at www.dpi.state.wi.us/sig for more information). Strongefforts to address poverty in the area might be the most effective strategy forimproving academic achievement.
A few adults expressed a desire for more services for at-risk students, and aspecific recommendation was made that service-learning (community servicetied to the curriculum) be utilized more often, and especially with at-riskstudents. A clearly identified need was for more job opportunities for teens. Arelated issue was the need for more vocational training, including job shadow-ing, mentoring and co-op opportunities, and several people expressed a desirefor more involvement in this process by local businesses.
One issue that deserves special attention is the situation of gay and lesbianstudents. Although they may not be highly visible, there are gay and lesbianstudents in Adams County. Many students and a few adults agreed that theneeds of these students are not met, and that they face harassment from otherstudents. One student remarked that teachers either don’t know their studentsare gay, or they “play neutral” by acting as if they don’t know. When teachers
26
Resources
Organizations
The Innovation Center forCommunity and YouthDevelopment - works withorganizations to fosterinnovation in youth andcommunity development. Thewebsite contains a wealth ofresources.www.theinnovationcenter.org
The Institute forEntrepreneurship, Appleton,WI. Offers start-up funds,student conferences, businessassistance, teacher training,grants and curriculum to helpstudents start a school store,classroom business,educational fundraisingprogram or a small business.www.theeplace.org
The Ewing Marion KauffmanFoundation, Kansas City, MO.The Kauffman Foundation hasmany programs and curricularmaterials designed to supportyouth entrepreneurship,including EntrePrep, Making aJob, and New YouthEntrepreneur. www.emkf.org
FINE: Family InvolvementNetwork of Educators,Cambridge, MA. FINEdevelops the human resourcecapacity for effective family-school-communitypartnerships and equipsteachers to partner withfamilies and informs familiesand communities aboutleading-edge approaches tofull partnership with schools.www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine.html
New Paradigm Partners(NPP), Turtle Lake, WI. NPPis a rural consortium of 9public school districts, a tribalschool and a private collegein northwest Wisconsin thathas formed partnerships withcommunity, state, regionaland national organizations tobuild local capacity throughnetworks of learning andleadership development.Contact Mark Stensvold,Executive Director, 504 EastMiner Avenue, Ladysmith, WI54848, 715-532-7253,[email protected]
pretend not to notice, students perceive that it is okay to harass their gay andlesbian peers.
Although the Resource Team heard complaints about a lack of communicationbetween schools and parents and a sense that parents were not alwayswelcome or well-utilized when they tried to become involved in the schools, aschool district parent survey indicated that parents were, on the whole, happywith the A-F schools, with over 91% giving the schools a grade of “B” or better.Comments made by parents in response to the survey were both positive andnegative in regard to these issues. In addition, the Assets for Youth Surveyindicated that parent involvement in school was slightly above the nationalaverage in 2002.
Finally, an issue that came up again and again was the rural “brain drain.”Adams County—like most rural communities—is worried about losing its youngpeople to opportunities in larger, more metropolitan areas that can provide moreand better-paying jobs. Adams County and its communities are working hard toattract businesses to the area, but given the current lack of shared vision ofwhat kinds of businesses are acceptable, it seems that a more entrepreneurialapproach is needed.
Recommendations
Two related concerns that emerged in many of the focus groups held duringthe week were a lack of citizen involvement in community decision-making (e.g.,town boards, committees, etc.) and a lack of responsiveness on the part ofpublic officials to citizen concerns. These issues can both be addressed, in part,by involving young people in community leadership and service. Research hasshown that young people who are active in their communities are more likely tocontinue such activism as they become adults.
One strategy for building good citizenship and leadership skills is to provideopportunities for young people to serve on public policy-making bodies such asschool, town and county boards and committees, boards of directors for localnonprofits, grassroots groups and ad hoc planning groups. By creating suchopportunities a community can achieve several objectives: Young people developa greater understanding of how decisions are made in their communities andthe trade-offs that must be made in making public policy; adults begin to seeyoung people in a better light - and to develop mentoring relationships withthem; and most important, participation in public policy-making can help youngpeople understand that they really do have power to change their communitiesfor the better.
Many organizations invite young people to participate in leadership roles, butare disappointed when youth do not contribute as much as their adult
27
More Organizations
Wisconsin Department ofPublic Instruction:Family-Community-SchoolPartnerships:www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dltcl/bbfcsp
Service-Learning:www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dltcl/bbfcsp/slhmpage.html
WINNS: Wisconsin’sInformation Network forSuccessful Schools (provideslocal and state data andinformation on Wisconsinschools):www.dpi.state.wi.us/sig
The Wisconsin RuralChallenge, Inc. The WRC is astatewide organization thataims to promote ruralsustainability through place-based education and youthleadership.www.wrchallenge.org
Youth on Board, Somerville,MA. Prepares youth to beleaders in their communitiesand strengthens relationshipsbetween youth and adults byproviding publications,customized workshops, andtechnical assistance.www.youthonboard.org
Youth Service America,Washington, DC. YSA is analliance of 300+organizations committed toincreasing the quantity andquality of serviceopportunities for youngpeople. www.ysa.org
OCRE: OrganizationsConcerned about RuralEducation, Washington, DC.OCRE is a coalition oforganizations dedicated toimproving public educationand economic developmentin rural America.www.ruralschools.org
REAL Enterprises – RuralEntrepreneurship throughAction Learning, Durham,NC. Entrepreneurshipeducation and trainingcurricula for youth and adultsin schools, post-secondaryinstitutions, and community-based organizations.www.realenterprises.org
colleagues. Simply creating Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, leaders aremade, not born. In order to ensure young people’s success in leadership roles,the county should develop a system to - (1) cultivate young leaders and provideongoing support for them while they serve in these roles; and (2) educate theadults with whom youth work. Even adults are often intimidated in contexts withwhich they are unfamiliar; young people cannot be expected to be successful insuch situations without guidance and support. And public officials who agree towork with youth must learn how to cultivate the nascent leadership qualities intheir young colleagues.
The goal of a community youth leadership strategy should not be limited toproviding opportunities for young people who are already leaders. The goalshould include cultivating new and different kinds of leaders, and to involveyoung people who might not immediately come to mind when one thinks offuture community leaders. An effective youth leadership effort should include avariety of educational and youth service providers in order to reach a broadcross-section of young people, and it should be based on an inclusive definitionof leadership that focuses on specific skills and aptitudes and a willingness towork hard. Such an effort should not frame such leadership opportunities asrewards for students who are successful academically or athletically. Often thosestudents who have difficulty in traditional school settings are creative thinkers,and have great potential for creative leadership.
Another way to cultivate engaged citizens is through service-learning. Asmentioned above, service-learning combines service to the community withacademic learning. This educational approach appeals to many different types ofstudents, but is especially helpful to students who prefer “hands-on” learning. Itallows students to use their academic skills in the community and provides real-world experiences on which to build in the classroom, thereby answering theage-old question, “Why do I have to learn this?” It also allows adults outside theschool to see young people in a more positive light.
We suggest that the school district work with the Chamber of Commerce andlocal youth service providers to expand vocational and apprenticeship programsand to develop programs that will help students develop entrepreneurial skills.This can take the form of small, student-owned businesses or school-basedenterprises. A number of very successful examples of the latter exist innorthwest Wisconsin and include wood products businesses in Shell Lake andWeyerhauser, computer consulting in the Flambeau School District, and student-run community newspapers in several locations.
The Resource Team heard several times about the limited availability andprohibitive costs of hiring skilled labor, such as electricians and plumbers. Itwould seem that training students in these trades would be a very goodinvestment for the community.
28
Publications
Building a Foundation forCommunity Leadership:Involving Youth in CommunityDevelopment Projects (1996).Southern Rural DevelopmentCenter, Mississippi StateUniversity (SRDC No. 199).
Students in Service toAmerica: A Guidebook forEngaging America’s Studentsin a Lifelong Habit of Service(2002). Corporation forNational and CommunityService, Washington, DC.
Youth Leadership: A Guide toUnderstanding LeadershipDevelopment in Adolescents(1998). Josephine A. vanLinden and Carl I. Fertman.Jossey-Bass, Inc., SanFrancisco.
14 Points: SuccessfullyInvolving Youth in DecisionMaking (1999). Karen S.Young and Jenny Sazama.Youth on Board, Somerville,Massachusetts.
The Rural School andCommunity Trust,Washington, DC.The Trust works with anetwork of schools andcommunity groups toimprove the quality of ruraleducation and community lifeand to improve state policyon education.www.ruraledu.org
We recommend as well that the school district and community expand effortsto provide arts education to both young people and adults. Increased offeringsin this area can help meet the needs of some students who are currently notengaged by other school and after-school activities. Artists living in the com-munity can help design programs and serve as mentors for youth. A vibrant artsscene can help attract businesses and young families to the area. By offeringexpanded arts and entrepreneurial educational opportunities, young people maybe able to find new ways to support themselves while contributing to a betterquality of life for other Adams County residents.
All of these recommendations follow a common theme: breaking down thewall between school and community. Education must go hand-in-hand withyouth and community development. Bring business people, parents, artists andother community members into the classroom. Bring students into the commun-ity. Young people must see that the community values them, and it will takemore than just the schools to prove this to them.
Adams County and the Adams-Friendship School District have collected all theinformation they need to effectively address the needs of the county’s youngpeople, including the Community Learning Center and Counseling Projectevaluation, the Assets for Youth Survey and this report. The objective nowshould be to synthesize this information and use it to design a comprehensivecounty-wide plan for youth development. The community also has the peopleand organizations it needs, and all of these organizations should be included inthe planning process in order to ensure that the final plan and its implementa-tion serve the diverse needs of the community’s youth and families.
Health
Health insurance is a problem for those who are self-employed, inagriculture, and those just above the poverty level. Farmers and
employees suffer from little or no coverage for their families. Since manyemployers in the area do not provide health insurance benefits, families mustfind other ways to obtain insurance. This is particularly difficult in farmingsituations, where one member of the family is forced to seek employment offthe farm. This reduces the labor available to help produce on-farm income.
Affordability of health insurance is a nationwide issue which is reaching crisisproportions, especially for small employers, farm families and individuals. Thereare many groups working on health insurance reform that the Community couldaccess for information and support. Some Chambers of Commerce and otherbusiness groups in Wisconsin have been successful in sponsoring healthinsurance pools large enough to attract lower rates to be offered to businesses.Additionally, there are government programs such as Badger Care and Health
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Websites
County Road 1 at McREL(Mid-Continent Research forEducation and Learning)–Rural Education Resources.Resources for ruralcommunities to sustain andimprove their schools.www.mcrel.org/rural
Educational ResourcesInformation Center (ERIC)Clearinghouse on RuralEducation and Small Schools.ERIC is system of 16clearinghouses and supportingorganizations that providesvarious written materials abouteducation www.ael.org/eric
National Center for EducationStatistics (NCES) – NavigatingResources for Rural Schools.The site provides access torecent data and resourcesavailable through selectedcontractors and grantees ofthe U.S. Dept of Education.http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ruraled
National Service-LearningClearinghouse. Providesresources, information andservices to support service-learning and communityservice.www.servicelearning.org
Northwest RegionalEducational Laboratory(NWREL) Rural EducationProgram. Offers research andtools for rural educationalimprovement. Although thefocus is on the Northwest,most of the resources arewidely applicable.www.nwrel.org/ruraled
National Foundation forTeaching Entrepreneurship.NFTE’s mission is to teachentrepreneurship to low-income young people, ages 11through 18, so they canbecome economicallyproductive members of societyby improving their academic,business, technology and lifeskills. http://www.nfte.com/
Insurance Risk Sharing Plan (HIRSP) available to assist certain individuals inaccessing health insurance.
A second health-related issue in Adams County is the lack of local dental careavailable for low-income residents who receive Medical Assistance. A waitingperiod of three or more months at out-of-county dentists was identified. Astatewide group including public health departments is trying to address thisissue, which is caused by a low reimbursement rate by the Medical Assistanceprogram.
There are good fire, ground and air ambulance services available in eachtownship and municipality, but their challenges include keeping response timebelow 12-15 minutes and having enough daytime volunteers to respondappropriately. Training requires a significant investment of volunteers’ timebeyond the time they spend on calls. Some employers are not willing to give avolunteer time to help with an emergency during work hours.
Psychiatric service in the county by psychiatrists is limited to a weeklypractitioner who provides drug ordering and review only. Counseling andpsychologists are available to residents within the county. Hospitalization forpsychiatric problems is in Boscobel, and Sheriff’s deputies are responsible fortransporting patients experiencing psychological problems. This means thatwhen transport of a patient is necessary, the Sheriff’s Department loses themanpower of one or two deputies for the several hours required for suchtransport. An additional problem is that the decision to hospitalize is made bylaw enforcement rather than mental health professionals.
No maternity services are supplied in Adams County, so patients have to drive atleast 25 miles for these services. Expectant mothers can utilize the local taxiservice to get to medical appointments in Wisconsin Rapids if necessary, but thisis expensive.
Teen pregnancy was identified as a problem in Adams County, although familyplanning services are available. Teen parents face additional difficulties due tothe limited availability of jobs and child-care in the area. In addition, thisgroup is seen as needing help with parenting skills.
Water quality is an issue. A network of stakeholders from Public Health,Planning and Zoning, DNR, Lake Associations, Agriculture, sewer districts, UWExtension and citizens is needed in order to address this issue. Potato farmingand other agriculture, as well as failing septic systems have contributed tothis problem.
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“I think AdamsCounty is good to its
seniors.”[local senior]
Resources
Badger Carehttp://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/badgercare/
Health Insurance RiskSharing Planhttp://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/hirsp/
NASE (National Associationof Self Employed)http://www.nase.org/
National Federation ofIndependent Businesshttp://www.nfib.com
A Consumer’s Guide toGetting and Keeping HealthInsurance in Wisconsinhttp://www.healthinsuranceinfo.net/wi.pdf
Wisconsin Manufacturersand commerce, updates onhealth carehttp://www.wmc.org/gr/healthcare.htm
Recommendations
The Chamber of Commerce and other county civic groups should exploresmall employer health insurance pooling options.
County health-care provides should make sure that county residents areaware of health insurance opportunities such as Badger Care
Develop a comprehensive plan for preserving water quality with allstakeholders.
Conclusions
Adams County has many strengths. Resource Team members were impressedwith the commitment and passion of the people we met during our week in
the county, and with community members’ willingness to talk openly aboutchallenges in the community and to accept advice from outsiders. A number ofimportant collaborative efforts have been undertaken, including the CommunityChildren’s Concerns Committee, the development of the new community center,and the effort to prepare for and welcome the Community Resource Team.
We hope the resources and strategies we suggest are helpful, but the mostimportant step has already been taken. A significant number of people fromthroughout the county attended the focus group sessions during our week inAdams County, many with very different perspectives on the issues wediscussed. However, even with the Perrier controversy still fresh in communitymembers’ minds, the discussions were civil and, in most cases, people listenedrespectfully to one another. When individuals disagreed, they were still willing toengage one another.
These focus groups should serve as the first in a series of discussions on theissues that are important to Adams County residents. As noted previously,limited communication in the county contributes to many of the other problemsdiscussed here. Youth service providers and educators communicate with eachother, as do emergency medical service providers and law enforcement, butcommunication between law enforcement and youth service providers may beless frequent.
Business people are aware of ACRIDC’s mission, but are those who move to thecommunity specifically for its rural, undeveloped setting aware of this document,or of ACRIDC itself? Should they be? What other sectors and individuals shouldbe communicating, and whose responsibility is it to make sure they docommunicate?
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Only Adams County residents can answer these questions. It is in the bestinterest of all community members, however, to ensure that as many voices aspossible are included in the dialog when important decisions are being made.
During our stay we heard from elected leaders who complained about a lack ofinvolvement by citizens. We also heard from citizens who felt that opportunitiesto participate in community decisions, as well as information about thosedecisions, were limited. Public officials must go out of their way to involvecitizens in the political process and to educate them about how to participateeffectively.
These efforts should be aimed at young people as well as adults, new residentsas well as those who have been in the area for generations, business people aswell as laborers. New ways must be found to communicate to those who do notaccess the traditional methods, or who are outside community leaders’immediate circle. Churches, schools, service providers, professional associations,social groups and service clubs should all be part of this effort.
Even more important than communicating about issues and policy decisions asthey arise, however, is the need for Adams County and its communities toengage in strategic planning. Elected officials need to know what kind ofcommunity their constituents hope for so that, for example, the next time alarge company expresses interest in setting up shop in the county, officials willbe able to clearly articulate the conditions for approval of such an operation. Theprocess of developing a Smart Growth plan will help, but there are other areasnot covered by this process where long-term planning is vital.
Rather than continue to try to compete with other counties, Adams Countyshould build on its current strengths while also developing new strategies tobuild both the quality of life and the economic prosperity of its citizens. Establishsupport systems for entrepreneurs. Support the arts. Collaborate with surround-ing counties to promote new and unusual events and attractions. AlthoughAdams County is not wealthy, it is rich in human resources. Conversations withoutside experts can help a community by providing a different perspective andoffering community members the opportunity to identify and discuss the issuesthat are important to them, but community members working together are themost important asset in Adams County or any community. Those of you withwhom we spoke demonstrated to the Community Resource Team both thedesire and the capacity to find ways to enhance your quality of life and that ofyour neighbors. The disagreements that have occurred in the recent past are aproduct of the love you have for your home, and of your commitment toimproving it. We hope our recommendations can help you identify ways to cometogether around this commitment and develop a vision for the future.
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“That’s one of thegood things about a
small community, thepeople will rally
around you.”[local resident]
Resources
UW-Extension LocalGovernment Centerhttp://www.uwex.edu/lgc
North Central RegionalCenter for Rural Developmentpublishes a variety of how-topublications for ruralcommunity developmenthttp://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/rdev/pubs/title.htm
Center for Rural AffairsA private, non-profitorganization working tostrengthen small businesses,family farms and ranches,and rural communitieshttp://www.cfra.org
National Center for SmallCommunitiesProvides elected leaders ofAmerica’s small communitieswith the tools to governeffectivelyhttp://www.natat.org/ncsc/
Rural Policy ResearchInstitutehttp://www.rurpri.org
International Association forPublic Participation http://www.iap2.org/index.html
Appendix A - Team Member BiographiesDennis DeeryIrish Rose ConsultingN6680 470th St.Menomonie, WI 54751Phone [email protected]
Dennis is an independent computer consultant and owner of Irish Rose Consulting, which he foundedin 1990. He works with small to mid-size businesses throughout North America to develop customdatabase software and web sites, and using information technology to improve their operations.Dennis grew up in Belmont, Wisconsin. He holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from UW-Platteville. Dennis is an active member of the Greater Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce and1000 Friends of Wisconsin. Dennis’ wife Kathleen is an assistant professor in the Department ofRehabilitation and Counseling at UW-Stout in Menomonie. In his spare time, Dennis enjoys traveling,hiking, and camping as much as he can. Dennis is also an avid amateur photographer.
Martin HavlovicDunn County UW-Extension390 Red Cedar StreetMenomonie, WI 54751-3386Phone 715-232-1636FAX [email protected]
Marty Havlovic is a Professor in the Department of Community Resource Development with theUniversity of Wisconsin Extension. He has been a Community, Natural Resource and EconomicDevelopment agent for the past 17 years in Burnett and Dunn Counties. His work includes traininglocal elected officials in matters of budgeting, finance, and comprehensive planning as well as smallbusiness counseling and community development work. His recent focus has been on organizationaldesign and analysis, working with groups to strengthen their capacity to operate effectively. Mr.Havlovic has consulted overseas in Nicaragua working with the national agricultural university todesign a rural development curriculum for students and in Uganda with Land O’Lakes in the area ofdairy organizational assessment and strengthening. Mr. Havlovic is a former Peace Corps volunteer inTogo, Africa where he spent three years teaching agriculture. He received his M. S. in AgriculturalEconomics and B. S. in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He ismarried and the father of two daughters.
Ruth LindegardeCHD Associates, LLCW10288 Baker RoadReeseville WI 53579Phone 920-356-0898FAX [email protected]
Ruth Lindegarde is owner of CHD Associates, LLC, a private consulting and grant-writing firm in thecommunity health development field. Ruth is a registered nurse and has expertise in public healthcare practice and administration, especially in rural areas. She is co-founder of the Dodge-JeffersonHealthier Community Partnership, and has held positions at the Columbus Community Hospitalrelating to infection control, risk management, utilization and quality control. She has provided peerreview services for nursing homes. Ruth is an alumnus of the Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program,and For-Profit Partner Representative on the Wisconsin Rural Partners Board of Directors. Ruth enjoysworking with youth and is active in 4H leadership and management.
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Jeffery J. MillerEducation ConsultantP.O. Box 583Madison WI [email protected]
Jeff Miller is currently a consultant to the Wisconsin Rural Challenge, Inc. (WRC), for which he isreviewing the effects of state educational policies on rural schools and communities for a report to bereleased in the fall. Jeff is also a member of the WRC Board of Directors. Jeff was the Service-Learning Coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction from 1998 until April of thisyear. Originally from California, Jeff came to Madison in 1993 to attend graduate school, where hereceived an M.A. in Educational Policy Studies in 1996.
Vic JohnWI Focus on Energy/DATCP915 S. WisconsinMineral Point WI 53565Phone 608-987-2232FAX [email protected]
Vic John is a Farm Management Consultant. He has worked throughout southeastern Wisconsin withfarmers, bankers, government agencies, and UW Extension Services on financial problems torestructure debt. Vic served on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Rural Development Center,and worked with M&I, Amcore and Clare Banks in Southwest Wisconsin to promote over $12 millionin funding for business development and farm debt restructuring. Vic also served as a member of thePresident’s Task Force on Pathways from Poverty for the State of Wisconsin. Vic currently works as anoutreach specialist in southwestern Wisconsin through the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture,Trade & Consumer Protection Farm Center, with the State and Federal Energy Assistance andWeatherization Programs. He also assists the Wisconsin Focus of Energy Program in updating EnergyConservation and modernization of facilities.
Paul Van RyzinUSDA RD Ashland2014 3rd Street WestAshland WI 54806Phone 715-687-9117FAX [email protected]
Paul Van Ryzin was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He has worked as a local historyresearch assistant on Wisconsin tribes at the State Historical Society, and as Assistant Ranger at theUW-Madison Arboretum. Paul completed a community development internship at the Lac CourteOreilles reservation in northwestern Wisconsin; owned and operated a landscaping business in theMadison area; served as a Crew Leader for the Wisconsin Conservation Corps in Janesville, andmanaged a crew of fund raisers for an international environmental organization with offices inMadison. Paul has a bachelors degree in philosophy with a certificate in environmental studies fromthe University of Wisconsin- Madison, and a master’s degree from the Land Resources GraduateProgram at UW-Madison’s Institute for Environmental Studies. He is a community developmentspecialist with USDA Rural Development in Ashland, Wisconsin, serving sixteen counties in northwest-ern Wisconsin. He is also the Asian American Liaison for Wisconsin Rural Development.
Judith WilcoxWisconsin Dept of Administration101 East Wilson St., 4th floorMadison WI [email protected]
Judy Wilcox is Section Chief of the Rental and Special Needs Housing Section in the State of Wiscon-sin Department of Administration. She has worked in the affordable housing field since 1972. She isresponsible for the coordination and submission of the statewide Continuum of Care grant applicationand has been successful in bringing in an additional $20 million for housing and services for homelessindividuals and families. Judy has been involved with affordable housing through her role on theStoughton and Dane County Housing Authorities, the Madison Area Community Land Trust and theMadison Mutual Housing Association. She served as the President of the Board of the MMHA and livesin a project she helped develop. She has served as Dane County Board Supervisor for the SecondDistrict since 1992.
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