A Public Health Approach to Violence Prevention Through Community Organizing and Youth
Project Leaders: Randy Stoecker, Professor, Community and Environmental Sociology, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; and Brian Christens, Assistant Professor, School of Human Ecology
Duration: Two years
This effort expands upon a successful pilot project begun in 2007 that engaged people in Madison’s Meadowood neighborhood and led to a community violence prevention model and decreased crime. The University, Public Health Madison and Dane County, and the Southwest Community Organizing Committee (a neighborhood-organizing group formed out of the pilot effort) will work to adapt the violence prevention model to another high-risk Southwest Madison neighborhood and to fully engage young community leaders in crime prevention efforts. UW faculty experts in neighborhood and youth organizing will provide planning, mentoring, supervision and evaluation support to make these efforts successful, replicable and sustainable. The overall project is designed to build neighborhood capacity to solve problems by supporting the leadership development of neighborhood adults and youth, and through building sustainable community-based voluntary organizations.
Food Security and Community Development: Pilot Irrigation Project with Nyamthoi Orongo Program and Community Farmers in Southwestern Kenya
Project Leaders: John Krippinger, Mechanical Engineering, Undergraduate Student; and Emily Foecke, French and English, Undergraduate Student
Duration: One year
The Kenya project group of Engineers Without Borders-UW–Madison will work to implement its design of a technically simple small-scale irrigation system with the community farming Nyamthoi Orongo Program in Kenya. The presence of an irrigation system will address fundamental problems that the subsistence farming-based Orongo community faces in meeting their basic living needs — lack of adequate rainfall and developing an economic model to implement an irrigation system. The system will pump water from a stream to the farmers’ fields and will increase crop yields, create an additional growing season, and allow cash crops to be grown and sold at local markets. The intent is to provide the initial resources and technical assistance to help farmers to develop and expand upon a new and sustainable irrigation system.
Formando Lazos Familiares: Preventing Domestic Violence in Latino Immigrant Families
Project Leader: Lynet Uttal, Professor, Ethnic Studies, School of Human Ecology
Duration: Two years
This project is designed to prevent domestic violence in Latino immigrant families by working with community groups through facilitated pláticas (dialogue-based workshops) designed for professional community partners and Latino community participants to prevent domestic violence and reduce family stress. This information will also be provided to a broader audience via interactive Spanish radio shows. This project achieves this by providing culturally-specific social space for Latino immigrant families to share their concerns and seek out advice and social support from one another. The intended outcomes of the pláticas and radio shows are strengthened family relationships, heightened awareness of strategies to address common issues that immigrant families face, and stronger social networks to reduce social isolation and prevent risk of domestic violence.
Health Training and Community Health Outreach in Rural Kenya
Project Leader: Araceli Alonso, Faculty Associate, Gender and Women’s Studies, College of Letters and Science
Duration: Three years
Women across Kenya suffer from preventable illnesses that present an enormous health burden for them, their families and their communities. In the rural communities of Lunga-Lunga, Godo, Perani and Mpakani, these problems are especially prevalent due to the lack of health education and difficult access to medical care. There is only one health care center in the area and patients have to travel long distances, often by foot or bicycle, to access the clinic. Preventable diseases now spread easily through the communities and treatable illnesses have become endemic, particularly among women and children. In fact, life expectancy of women in the area has recently dropped substantially, primarily because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and lack of information and health care to treat it. This project will attempt to alleviate some of those health problems and build upon a successful health promotion partnership started in 2009. Via the project, a group fo six undergraduate students will be fully engaged each year in an international service learning effort that will provide long-term health training for women and community health outreach organizers in these four rural Kenyan villages.
Indigenous Arts and Sciences Earth Partnership
Project Leaders: Cheryl Bauer-Armstrong, Outreach Program Manager, and Richard Hall, Outreach Specialist, Arboretum
Duration: Two years
Native American children and Wisconsin youth will gain new understanding of the contributions of Indigenous arts and sciences to western science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) knowledge. The Indigenous Arts and Sciences Earth Partnership will engage the UW–Madison Arboretum, the state Department of Public Instruction and members of Wisconsin’s American Indian Nations to integrate indigenous Arts and Sciences within the UW Arboretum’s Earth Partnership for Schools ecological restoration education for use by K-16 educators across Wisconsin with culturally accurate and authentic resources in STEM disciplines and across the curriculum. It is also hoped this project will broaden participation and generate enthusiasm for pursuing higher education and STEM careers among tribal youth.
Innovative Energy Efficiency Programs for Rural Electric Cooperatives
Project Leaders: Joel Rogers, Professor, Law School and Satya Rhodes-Conway, Outreach Specialist, Sociology, College of Letters and Science
Duration: Two years
In partnership with the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association and three rural electric cooperatives, the Center on Wisconsin Strategy will design an energy efficiency program targeted at rural Wisconsin residents to make it possible for residents to assess the efficiency of their home, business or farm via an audit and make needed upgrades to the building via energy-efficient retrofits. The project will work with the utilities to structure a financing program to provide consumer loans for energy efficiency retrofitting while consumers save monthly each month and use those savings to pay off the loan on their monthly utility bills. While building energy efficiency has received attention in recent years, the attention largely focuses on urban areas and has neglected rural areas, where homes and buildings are older and where a disproportionate amount of household income covers energy costs. It is hoped this program will result in verifiable energy and financial that can be replicated in Wisconsin and throughout the country.
MEDiC Free Clinic/ARC House Enhancement
Project Leaders: Sharon Younkin, Education and Academic Affairs and Alida Evans, Clinical Assistant Professor, Community Medical Group, School of Medicine and Public Health
Duration: One year
ARC Community Services and the MEDiC program of the School of Medicine and Public Health began working together eight years ago by providing healthcare to uninsured Madison-area women with chronic health issues and volunteer educational opportunities for UW health professional student volunteers (MD, pharmacy, nursing, PA, PT). This project will expand clinical services to more women and provide more volunteer and service-learning opportunities for UW healthcare students.
Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) at Taliesin
Project Leaders: Manon van de Water, Professor and Ann Archbold, Professor and Chair, Theatre and Drama, College of Letters and Science
Duration: Three years
This project will take the annual Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) multicultural productions and outreach programs that are part of the regular University Theatre season on the road to rural elementary school audiences in Southwest Wisconsin. After its regular run on campus, TYA productions will run in Taliesin’s Hillside Theatre for rural school audiences in the area. Designed to teach life skills through theatre arts and drama, the program will engage graduate and undergraduate students, educators, and grade school students to foster an understanding of diverse cultures through pre-performance educational materials, the performance itself, and a follow-up workshop immediately following the performance on site at Taliesin.
Wisconsin CARES
Project Leaders: Stephen Small, Professor and Rebecca Mather, Outreach Specialist, School of Human Ecology
Duration: Three years
Child maltreatment is a serious threat to the health and well being of a significant number of Wisconsin children. While numerous organizations and agencies in Wisconsin are committed to preventing and treating child maltreatment, significant barriers undermine their effectiveness. This project addresses the critical need for a new, innovative, community-based approach for the prevention and treatment of child maltreatment. Combining the knowledge and leadership of the UW–Madison with the experience of UW–Extension county educators, community practitioners and local decision-makers, this project will guide counties in developing a system which builds on the latest scientific research while taking into account the sth while taking into account the strengths and needs of counties.