The BASES (Building Academic, Social, and Emotional Supports) Project: Enhancing School-Based Supports for Young Homeless Children
Project Leader: Professor Travis Wright, Asst. Prof., Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education
Duration: Three years
The overall goals of the BASES Project are to increase school-based and other education supports for young homeless children in Madison, and build the capacity of schools, teachers, and families to better meet the needs of these students. Through a new partnership between Madison Metropolitan School District, Dane County Parent Council, and UW-Madison, the focus of this projects centers on three objectives: 1) Develop, enhance, and evaluate school-based supports for young homeless children in grades PreK-1st; 2) Develop and evaluate an on-going professional development system for current and pre-service teachers of young homeless children; and 3) Develop and evaluate community-based learn and play groups for homeless children ages 0-3 years and their families.
The Bubbler: Making Justice with Court-Involved Teens.
Project Leaders: Nancy Buenger, Assoc. Lecturer, Center for Law, Society and Justice; and Rebekah Willett, Asst. Prof., School of Library and Information Studies
Duration: Two years
The UW-Madison Center for Law, Society and Justice, the School of Library and Information Studies, and the Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction are funded to develop a Bubbler makerspace program for court-involved teens in collaboration with the Madison Public Library, the Dane County Juvenile Court Program, the Neighborhood Intervention Program and Community Partnerships, Inc. The Bubbler – names for Wisconsin’s iconic drinking fountain – is a mobile MPL makerspace program that taps community resources to encourage hands-on, peer-supported learning and digital literacy. Our proposal addresses the paucity of educational enrichment opportunities for low-income black youth in Dane County.
Community Health and Well Being through Design and Microenterprise
Project Leaders: Jennifer Angus, Professor, School of Human Ecology; and Carolyn Kallenborn, Assoc. Prof., School of Human Ecology
Duration: Three years
This project will launch an interdisciplinary outreach program that will connect students with artisans who have requested assistance with microenterprise development. The program leverages the relationships that UW has built over many years at global health field course sites in Ecuador, Mexico, and Kenya to create a product design and marketplace system to support the economic wellbeing of local artisans.
Empowering Consumers with Financial and health Insurance Literacy
Project Leaders: J. Michael Collins, Professor, Consumer Science, School of Human Ecology; Molly Bandt, Director, Covering Kids & Families–Wisconsin
Duration: Two years
Wisconsin residents face both opportunities and challenges with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and changes to BadgerCare eligibility. While insurance coverage is more available, many do not understand how it works – a knowledge skill set that straddles both health and financial concepts. This project will bring together the distinct yet complementary resources and expertise of Covering Kids & Families-Wisconsin and the Center for Financial Security – both at UW-Madison – to educate consumers on effective selection and use of health insurance. Project staff will work directly with select Head Start, Catholic Charities, and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program to incorporate health insurance literacy into existing financial counseling services. In addition to providing training, the project will also develop consumer budgeting tools, worksheets and education modules adopting and adapting existing national resources to fit the specifics of Wisconsin’s health insurance environment.
Oganawaabandan gikinoo ‘amaadiiwin (OGA), or “Visual Learning”
Project Leaders: Patricia Loew, Professor, Life Sciences Communication, CALS; and Don Stanley, Faculty Associate, Life Sciences Communication, CALS
Duration: Three years
Oganawaabandan gikinoo ‘amaadiiwin (OGA), or “Visual Learning” is a collaborative community-based, three year media project with the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe designed to address health disparities through multimedia learning and content generation. The objectives are 1) to teach digital storytelling and technology skills to tribal teens; and 2) to use new participant skills and community resources to develop innovative technologies for the instruction and delivery of content that promotes nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and traditional food systems.
Putting Writing to Work: Employment Writing Workshops Across Madison
Project Leaders: Nancy Linh Karls, Director, Madison Writing Assistance, The Writing Center, Dept. of English, College of Letters and Science; and Elisabeth Miller, Asst. Director, Madison Writing Assistance, The Writing Center, Dept. of English, College of Letters and Science
Duration: Two years
The current economic climate has made employment a major issue across the nation as well as locally. To help address the serous problem of unemployment, the Madison Writing Assistance (MWA) program proposes a two-year series of employment writing workshops to be offered at six libraries and community centers across Madison. MWA provides free, one-to-one assistance with writing of all kinds through seven weekly shifts at local libraries and community centers. Our proposed workshops respond to the demand by offering a sustained, thoughtfully sequences, and high quality series that brings together employment resources and expertise from the Job Mob of South Madison, Joining Forces for Families, the Urban League, UW Continuing Studies Outreach programming, and the Dane County Job Center.
Response to Act 31: Disseminating Resources on American Indians in Wisconsin to Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers in the State
Project Leaders: Aaron Bird Bear, American Indian Curriculum Coordinator, School of Education; and Simone Schweber, Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education
Duration: Initial funding provided for one year of the project
The American Indian Curriculum Services unit in the School of Education (SoE) will lead a much-needed effort to disseminate teaching tools and resources focusing on Wisconsin’s American Indian tribes and bands to public and private teacher education programs in the state and to practicing teachers in Wisconsin’s 424 school districts. State legislation passed in 1989 known as Act 31 requires that both pre-service and in-service teachers have an understanding of the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of the 11 federally-recognized American Indian tribes of Wisconsin and that they be provided with accurate, culturally authentic teaching tools. Unfunded at the time of passage, Act 31 has never been widely implemented and teachers today still lack appropriate resources. Building on results from an information gathering survey about the needs of school administrators and teachers, the team proposes to address this lack of knowledge and teaching tools with 1) a multi-media web resources developed by the SoE’s Media, Educational Resources and Information Technology unit, and 2) a rigorous dissemination effort about the new resources.
The Trempealeau Archeology Project: Unearthing Wisconsin’s First Town
Project Leaders: Danielle Benden, Senior Curator, Dept. of Anthropology, College of Letters and Science and Robert Boszhardt, Center for Wisconsin Archeology, UW-Baraboo/Sauk County
Duration: Two years
Trempealeau, Wisconsin is a small but growing village nestled beneath towering bluffs that overlook the Upper Mississippi River on Wisconsin’s western border. Trempealeau has a one-of-a-kind hidden jewel; one that every resident and tourist walks over or drive by each day most unknowingly. In 2010, 2011, and 2013, archeologists discovered a remarkable 1000-year-old religious mission site in the Village of Trempealeau. Colonists, called Mississippian people by archeologists, arrived from America’s first city, Cahokia, near modern day St. Louis, Missouri. This discovery is writing a new chapter in American archeology. This proposal seeks funding to transform the research focus to a public archeology program that provides local residents and students the opportunity to explore more deeply their own history, and take ownership over and become stewards of the local archeology.
Nutrition, Environment and Food Systems in Ethiopia (NEFSE): Youth Leadership as the Foundation for Creating Sustainable Rural Livelihoods
Project Leaders: Amy Charkowski, Professor, Plant Pathology, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; and Heidi Busse, Associate Researcher, Surgery, School of Medicine and Public Health
Duration: Two years
Chronic food insecurity and malnutrition are major public health problems in Ethiopia. The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR) is one of three regions that account for 80% of child mortality in Ethiopia. To help Ethiopian youth develop the skills and tools to create innovative solutions to their communities’ challenges, UW-Madison will partner with the International Potato Center, Hawassa University (HU), and local NGOs to develop youth leadership programs in southern Ethiopia. We will launch the Nutrition, Environment and Food Systems in Ethiopia (NEFSE) Youth Leadership Institute, incorporating elements of existing curricula, making adaptations to the Ethiopian context, and developing modules in thematic areas prioritized by local stakeholders. This is a new dimension to an existing food security and health program, which is coordinated by CIP-Ethiopia.
UW Odyssey: New Services for College Success
Project Leaders: Laurie Greenberg, Sr. Development Specialist, Division of Continuing Studies; and Emily Auerbach, Professor, Liberal Studies and the Arts, Division of Continuing Studies
Duration: Two years
Since 2003, the UW Odyssey Project has helped adults near the poverty level overcome adversity and achieve dreams through higher education. Each year, Odyssey admits 30 low-income adults into a transformative two-semester humanities course taught at the Goodman South Madison Public Library. UW English Professor Emily Auerbach and a team of other award-winning UW faculty engage Odyssey students in great works of literature, philosophy, history, and art. Odyssey students gain six UW credits in English literature—also hope, empowerment, and a voice. Since 2004, sixteen Odyssey students have completed college degrees. While we have success stories of Odyssey students getting college degrees, we see the need to provide new services we believe will help more of our students overcome the obstacles they face to completing college. Working with partners from UW’s Adult Career and Special Student Services and Madison College’s Admissions Advising Center, we will offer a series of workshops devoted to three critical program areas: 1) Career assessment & planning; 2) Academic success skills & advising; 3) Seeking funds for college. Students will follow up with one-on-one appointments with career and academic counselors to design individual career and study plans. We believe that these new services for Odyssey students will improve college completion rates and offer more students a successful start to a career and a new life.