Village of Waunakee Receives 2022 Salute to Local Government Award Through Their Partnership With the UniverCity Year Program
The Village of Waunakee received a 2022 Salute to Local Government award for its efforts to pursue social justice, racial equity, inclusion, and community civility.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum, who announced this award, wrote, “Amid a racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the village of Waunakee began partnering with the UW-Madison UniverCity Alliance through its UniverCity Year (UCY) program, which connects local governments with university resources to solve community-identified challenges. Projects were completed to address local ordinances, village employment practices, relationship building with the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, education, and more. As a result, Waunakee’s Village Board unanimously approved a land acknowledgement statement that the village is on land within the ancestral territory of the Ho-Chunk people. Other impacts included a speaker series to educate the community about Ho-Chunk history, language, culture, and ecology; guidelines and protocols incorporating Ho-Chunk cultural resource management practices in village green spaces; resources for the Waunakee Community School District to assist in teaching about the Ho-Chunk people; and creating culturally appropriate historical markers while correcting existing culturally inappropriate or inaccurate language on village signage.” (Wisconsin Policy Forum)
Learn more about this award and the projects involved here.
