Community Development
Community Development
The Extension Institute of Community Development provides educational programming to assist leaders, communities, and organizations realize their fullest potential. Community Development Educators work with communities to build vitality that enhances their quality of life and enriches the lives of their residents. We educate in leadership development, organizational development, food systems, community economic development, local government education, and much more.
Vernon County Community Development Educator (Educator) maintains a broader focus on a variety of challenges surrounding community economic development. The Educator helps residents and local government entities understand economic growth and development to help them make more informed decisions. The main goal of the Educator is to provide research, resources, and education that help build and support entrepreneurial capacity.
Programs
Cohort-Based Assistance
Cohort-based technical assistance for rural entrepreneurs in underserved places, industries, and size categories.
Maximizing Success
Maximizing Success is a professional development training for organizations that support Entrepreneurs of Color.
Wisconsin REV
Rural Entrepreneurial Venture (REV) is a proven entrepreneurial development program designed to advance small town economies.
Homegrown
Homegrown is a training focused on building and strengthening local entrepreneurial networks
Community Development Publications Relevant to You
“Vernon County Leaders Participate in UW Extension ‘Homegrown’ Training”
by Maggie Cornelius
“In its service to rural communities, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension offers a training called “Homegrown: Entrepreneurship in Your Community” for economic development leaders who want to learn how to build entrepreneurial ecosystems.”
“Rural Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Initiative Organizes First Rural Entrepreneurial Cohort”
by Maggie Cornelius
“A new program within the Community Development Institute, the Rural Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Initiative (RWEI) seeks to make business development services available to rural parts of the state not easily reached by pre-existing infrastructure. RWEI has committed to organizing 12-24 entrepreneurial cohorts in rural Wisconsin between 2024-2026.”
Community Development Publications
The Learning Store produces and distributes educational materials based on university research, extending knowledge to the statewide community.
Featured Publication
No-Box Thinking offers a framework for understanding the automatic and powerful resistance to change those engaged in community development often face. This book details how to convert the powerful sources of community change resistance—identity, emotion, and social connections—into powerful forces for transformational change (105 pages; 2018).
View Related Topics on the Learning Store
Latest News in Community Development
- Bob Jozwowski received the Epsilon Sigma Phi (ESP) National Friend of Extension Award for his contributions and leadership monitoring Wisconsin’s streams and rivers via Water Action Volunteers (WAV). Jozwowski has logged over 800 volunteer hours since 2011, which includes 568 stream site visits. He has expanded the program’s reach by leading 36 stream monitoring teams […]
- With retirement on the horizon, veterinarians John Dally, Ann Vetter and Mark Baenen wondered what would become of the two Wisconsin clinics they co-owned. They hoped Spring Green Animal Hospital and Mazomanie Animal Hospital would continue to serve future generations of pets, but they knew that many younger veterinarians don’t have the desire or financial […]
- by Matt Lippert, WACAA Public Relations Committee Chair The Wisconsin Association of County Agricultural Agents (WACAA) recently recognized members and industry partners during their annual awards and recognition program. An affiliate of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA), WACAA is a professional organization for county, area, and state Extension professionals to encourage excellence […]
- Several UW–Madison Extension colleagues were recognized at the 2024 JCEP Wisconsin Conference April 23–24 in Wisconsin Rapids. JCEP Wisconsin is a partnership of professional Extension organizations that focuses on strengthening the efforts of the member organizations and does what each cannot do individually. The 2024 conference offered Extension professionals the opportunity to showcase scholarship and […]
- English | Español StrongBodies classes at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center in Milwaukee are offered completely in Spanish. Known as GenteFuerte, the classes are designed to improve strength, endurance, balance and flexibility, important for keeping one’s body working well as one ages. Carmen Bambrila, a volunteer leader, said, “Personally, I am very grateful to […]
- English | Español Las clases de ejercicio StrongBodies en el Sixteenth Street Community Health Center en Milwaukee se dictan totalmente en español. La versión de estas clases hechas en español se llama GenteFuerte, y son diseñadas para mejorar la fuerza, la resistencia, el equilibrio y la flexibilidad, todos importantes para mantener el buen funcionamiento físico […]
Latest Updates in Community Development
- This year, approximately 8,000 people will be released from Wisconsin state prisons. According to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, more than half of those released will be rearrested within three years. Aaron Hicks and Frank Davis, Reentry Coordinators at the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development in Madison, who were formerly incarcerated, use their experience […]
- While running elections is an important role for municipal and county clerks, that’s not the only thing they do. Ann Hempel, elected to serve as the part-time Municipal Clerk for the Town of Unity in 2023, estimates that running elections for the 513 people who live in her township is only 5% of her clerk […]
- UW-Madison Extension awarded funding to 13 projects aimed at bringing innovative ideas to its outreach and education mission. Extension annually solicits proposals for new efforts around educational engagement, community-informed research, and practical guidance. Extension’s place-based educators across Wisconsin and specialists at UW-Madison and other UW campuses conduct needs assessments, work with local partnering organizations, and […]
- Experts, researchers, and local advocates will come together on Nov. 16, 2021 for the Wisconsin Broadband Summit, a virtual event that will explore challenges and opportunities for improving broadband across the state.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend everyone 12 years and older get the COVID-19 vaccination to protect against COVID-19. Children ages 12-17 are eligible to get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Only 32.7% of 12–15-year-olds and 42% of 16-17-year-olds have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine […]
Related Links of Interest
Staff
If you have any questions regarding Community Development in Vernon County, please contact:
Community Development Educator, Hannah Altimus
Extension Vernon County
UW-Madison Division of Extension
318 Fairlane Drive
Viroqua, WI 54665
Phone: 608-637-5281
Email: hannah.altimus@wisc.edu
