A Joint Initiative Between     Heart of Wisconsin     Business & Economic Alliance and     Community Foundation of     South Wood County

Home About Us B2B Club Breaking News Contact Donate Events / Programs Feedback Ideas Incubator Industry Clusters Links / Resources Progess Funds Progress Teams Public Art / Murals Publications		Breaking News September 3, 2005 - Take the Progress Initiative statewide Editorial, Daily Tribune With terrible human despair in the path of Hurricane Katrina, it's hard to get worked up about the poor folks in Wisconsin. By "poor," we mean the people who live in our state and make less than the federal threshold for poverty. For example, a single mom with two children at home fits the description if she makes less than $15,071 a year. It makes sense to worry more about the hundreds of thousands of people who lost everything down South. But it would be wrong to ignore the fact that our state had the biggest percentage increase in poverty in the nation last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's right. Wisconsin got poorer faster than anywhere else in these United States. Wisconsin's poverty rate increased 1.9 percent and stands at 11 percent. A total of 673,000 of us live in poverty here. That's a smaller rate than the U.S. average of 12.7 percent, but nationwide poverty grew by just four-tenths of a percentage point. And it isn't just the truly impoverished who are affected as the Badger State digs a deeper hole for itself. The state's median household income dropped by $1,143, from $47,865 to $46,722, according to an estimate from a think tank called the Economic Policy Institute. How is this possible in a state with such rich natural resources and a strong sense of the Midwestern work ethic? That's a darn good question to ask public policymakers, up to and including Gov. Jim Doyle - not to mention ourselves. One explanation is that Wisconsin has been heavily dependent upon manufacturing jobs, and was heavily sucker-punched by losses in the industrial work force. Wisconsin Rapids knows the sting of that trend about as much as any community. But we might have a solution the whole state can adopt. Here, it's called the Community Progress Initiative. How about a Wisconsin Progress Initiative? That's not to be confused with Doyle's "Grow Wisconsin Initiative," which is largely a government-centered solution. This Initiative would make partners of private organizations, businesses, citizens and government; rely very little on direct taxpayer funding; be spearheaded by visionaries in the nonprofit sector; and be supported by expert marketing and consulting services. The Wisconsin Progress Initiative would be marked by accountability - not by government bureaucrats, but by citizen panels in each community and in-the-trenches experts from every industry. They would be focused on increasing the number of good jobs, attracting compatible development, building a better work force and infusing greater confidence in Wisconsinites. A similar approach has been undertaken. It's called Building the New Wisconsin Economy, but it has drawn attention only from a select few civic leaders and news organizations. Events have been few and far between, and frankly, not very enticing. The Community Progress Initiative has spawned such activities as town picnics and festivals, "boot camps" for prospective entrepreneurs, a new weekly farmers market, a car show - even a school campus clean-up day. That's how you get people involved. And make no mistake, the new poverty figures are a red flag that we need to get involved on a statewide basis. We can't let Wisconsin keep going to the poorhouse.
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