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Building Sustainable Wisconsin Communities
Our Legacy
The University of Wisconsin has a long history of providing education to individuals and communities. Since 1912 the University of Wisconsin Extension-Cooperative Extension has helped Wisconsin citizens develop educational and technical solutions to the problems of a constantly changing society. In 1994 Cooperative Extension conducted a statewide survey of the educational needs of its clients as part of an ongoing effort to identify and create critical and relevant educational programming. High on the list of needs expressed by these clients was education and technical assistance to help communities maintain their quality of life in the face of changing demographic, economic and environmental circumstances. In response to these survey results, Cooperative Extension established the "Promoting Agricultural and Business Competitiveness and a Sustainable Environment" Issue Team to guide the changes in educational programming direction that will respond to the needs of Wisconsin citizens into the 21st century.
Reaching Out to Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin-Extension is well positioned to deliver educational programming to communities in the area of sustainability. A unique strength of Wisconsin's Cooperative Extension is the complete integration of the organization with county government and community activities. At the county level, Extension faculty are employed jointly by the university and the county board and work directly with communities, businesses and individuals to deliver a wide range of educational programs. County faculty focus on agriculture, youth development and 4-H, community natural resource and economic development, and family living topics. Extension county faculty provide a direct link between communities, businesses and individuals and the resources of Wisconsin's university system. They relay the needs of their clients to campus faculty, and create educational programs based on their know ledge of local circumstances while utilizing the expertise of campus-based faculty. Extension county faculty also create and facilitate partnerships between the individuals and groups in their communities that are responsible for initiating and promoting change.
The University of Wisconsin-Extension has been organized as a separate institution within the University of Wisconsin System and it embodies a wide variety of educational services for individuals, businesses and communities. Cooperative Extension, the Small Business Development Centers, the state pollution prevention technical assistance program, the state manufacturing extension program and the Wisconsin Sea Grant program are all part of the university system. The linkages between this broad array of experienced educators and the University's internationally recognized research programs provide the opportunity for highly effective delivery of multi-disciplinary sustainability related education.
Promoting Sustainability at UW-Extension
The "Promoting Agricultural and Business Competitiveness and a Sustainable Environment Issue Team" is charged with identifying new and existing Extension programs to enhance the sustainability education of Wisconsin communities and to encourage the development of new educational methods and approaches to community outreach. This group of highly motivated and uniquely experienced faculty have volunteered their time and efforts in recognition of the importance of this new programming direction. The Issue Team has concluded that "The economy, culture and environment are interdependent elements in the creation of our future.
People need to understand how business and agricultural competitiveness and environmental sustainability can be promoted simultaneously." The outcome of its efforts will be a fully integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to sustainability education in Wisconsin.
The Issue Team is taking a systematic approach to identifying the sustainability related educational needs of Extension clients. Based on the 1994 survey of community educational needs, the Issue Team has identified a range of sustainability related topics for Extension clients, and has created a directory that describes existing Extension programs that are related to these needs. This directory highlights the broad mix of technical assistance and educational programs for individuals, communities, agriculture, industry and business presently available in Wisconsin. The directory will be used by Extension county faculty and the public to identify specific educational services that are available to meet their particular learning needs.
Goals
Over the next year the Issue Team will implement a coordinated and targeted effort to improve the availability of sustainability education in response to the identified needs of its clients. This effort will feature a more comprehensive educational approach to sustainability using a conceptual framework to aid in recognition of the validity of achieving both competitiveness and environmental sustainability. As a result, communities will be able identify and move towards specific sustainability-related goals by making use of the education and technical assistance that is available to them.
Workshops
The Issue Team is training Extension faculty to understand the many issues relating to the sustainability of Wisconsin communities through a series of workshops. At the same time, the Issue Team is beginning to develop an outreach effort to promote sustainability concepts with other partners in state agencies and private sector partners such as: the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Natural Resources, the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives, the Wisconsin Towns Association and others.
Communications Network
The Issue Team will initiate a wide ranging public awareness effort utilizing the state educational telecommunications system. The focus will be to raise public awareness about sustainability concepts and the availability of tools and training for sustainability related topics. Over the next three years the University of Wisconsin-Extension plans to put into place a permanent support network for Wisconsin communities that will be able to respond to the changing needs for educational programming related to sustainability.
Indicators
The Issue Team has compiled a list of indicators of community sustainability that can be used both to identify opportunities for increased community and environmental sustainability, and to evaluate the outcome of any educational programming delivered on specific sustainability related topics. These indicators are being tailored to reflect the specific needs for a range of community types. Campus and county faculty, local government and individual citizens will be able to use these indicators for a wide variety of topics and issues.
Community Pilot
The Issue Team received funding from USEPA to pilot a small demonstration project in a southern Wisconsin watershed to determine the effectiveness of sustainability based education in promoting voluntary compliance with environmental regulations by agriculture and business. The Rock River 2000 Demonstration Project will allow the team to measure the effectiveness of one aspect of sustainability related educational resources available through Extension.
Conclusion
It has become clear that these Issue Team activities are only beginning to demonstrate the entire range of sustainability related issues that can be effectively addressed through community education. A large number of possible scenarios have been identified, but many questions and challenges have arisen that would benefit from systematic research into the most effective approaches to ensuring the sustainability of Wisconsin communities. Fundamental and applied research is needed to help understand the outcomes and benefits of these many potential interactions. Many opportunities exist for Extension to mount pilot projects for a number of economic and demographic sectors to better understand how multi-faceted educational programming for all areas of community sustainability can successfully bring communities to new levels of awareness and sustainable development.
January 1997
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