This student team assessed the County Conservation Plan and Farmland Preservation Plan and held discussions with Marathon County and associates to identify ways they can increase public awareness in Marathon County. They want to influence people to adapt to new sustainable agricultural practices that can enhance soil health. The students focused on finding ways to […]
Read More… from Promoting soil health through public engagement in Marathon County
Marathon Co. is located within the Central Wisconsin River Basin, which inevitably provides the county with an abundance of surface water sources such as streams, tributaries, and wetlands. This abundance of water sources can easily be polluted when agriculture or urban/developed landcover types are in close proximity to these areas. Landcover types located within a […]
Read More… from Assessing Marathon County riparian and wetland resources
University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Bloz Center for Arts Administration students collaborated with the City of Wisconsin Rapids to explore options on how to display the area’s cultural assets. The group aimed to respect underrepresented individuals who have historically been overlooked due to the areas focus on traditional industries through the display of artwork. UniverCity Year Contact […]
Read More… from City Policy Support for Public/Outdoor Arts & Public Arts Inventory
Students proposed a plan to create a more diverse and active art scene to increase contributions and attendance by increasing communications between the county and organizations. Increasing the art network would increase funding/marketing, collaboration amongst communities, create better living environments, and tailor to changing demographics. UniverCity Year Contact Info Gavin Luter Managing Director gavin@cows.org 608-261-1141 […]
Read More… from Designing a City of Wisconsin Rapids Arts Collaborative Initiative
The City of Wisconsin Rapids and PACT partnered to develop policies that would enhance incentives for businesses and community members to incorporate local art innovations. The goal was to enhance communications between the community, local art organizations, and businesses in order to capture the county’s history and culture in an enriching way. UniverCity Year Contact […]
The Redefining Wisconsin Rapids campgain, researched by students in Journalism 445, sought out to accomplish four long-term and short-term goals. The group wanted to enhance the public image of Wisconsin Rapids by increasing comminity pride and involvement, create city ownership, redesign traffic flow to go through the center of town, and foster an envision that […]
The child care industry is vital for a healthy economy and yet there are inherent tensions that make improvements in quality, affordability, and access difficult. Improvements in one area must often come at the expense of another area. A holistic approach is essential to ensure that policy changes meet the needs of all residents in […]
Read More… from Child care availability, issues, and solutions
As identified in the Workforce Innovation for a Strong Economy (WISE) Plan, one of the big issues that our community is facing with regard to available workforce is the lack of available childcare for potential employees. This is a larger issue for the community than just its impact on workforce, because early childhood development is […]
Read More… from Navigating the legal aspects of providing child care
La Crosse County has been struggling with childcare accessibility for its residents due to lack of viable options. The past two decades have seen significant decreases in the amount of regulated childcare businesses. In 1998, there were over 450 regulated childcare businesses in existence in La Crosse County. By 2019, the number of regulated childcare […]
At the request of La Crosse County, we completed a benefit-cost analysis of three potential alternatives to current policy to increase the availability and affordability of child care. Two of these alternatives involve creating new employer-sponsored child care facilities and one entails a wage subsidy for child care providers. Ultimately, on average, none of the […]
Read More… from A Benefit-Cost Analysis of Expanding Access to Child Care in La Crosse County