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 January 26, 2007 - Initiative funded, extended By Andrew Hellpap, Daily Tribune Staff The future of the Community Progress Initiative got a jump start Thursday. The New York City-based, non-profit Ford Foundation gave a $500,000 grant to the Initiative, after awarding a $240,000 grant in February, to continue many of the programs it started since its April 2004 inception. "We think this is great for the community," said Connie Loden, Heart of Wisconsin Business and Economic Alliance executive director. Though the grant is for two years, the Progress Initiative will continue under the same name, for two years, possibly longer, said Fran Podvin, Community Foundation of South Wood County board chairman. Laying a foundation for future progress in south Wood County and the town of Rome was a key goal accomplished in the first three years of the program by changing a community leadership culture to one that is more open to change and taking risks, said Fred Siemers, Community Foundation and Heart of Wisconsin board member. "That's been successful, and now we are poised to take the next step," he said. Particularly, leadership in the area has been lost since Consolidated Papers Inc. was sold to Stora Enso in 2000, he said. "We lost a considerable amount of leadership across the community," Siemers said. The Community Progress Initiative has helped train and motivate new leaders through the Advanced Leadership Institute, and other leadership building programs the Initiatives offers, he said. Progress has been made in changing the entrepreneurial culture in the area, but there is work to be done, said Gary Rosencrans, owner of Gary's Coin & Stamps, 210 W. Grand Ave. Rosencrans is a supporter of the Initiative, and worked on starting the local community progress fund. The Initiative works because of where the economic culture was when it started, Rosencrans said. "I think it has to be a success because there was nothing; now we have something," he said. Schmidt's Jewelry & Gifts, 120 E. Grand Ave., owner, Randy Carpenter, has not been involved with the Initiative, but he has noticed a change in the public's mood about community progress. The Progress Initiative might have been a part of the rebuilding process since leadership was lost from Consolidated Papers, but time, more than anything else has changed the mood, he said, particularly since Stora Enso's employee unions recently began signing new contracts. "It's getting better; it's definitely getting better," Carpenter said.
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