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Who we are

We are an initiative of Wisconsin Humanities that builds resilience in Wisconsin communities by putting the tools of history, culture, and storytelling in the hands of Wisconsinites. Using these tools in our community-powered process, we help communities recognize, communicate, and act upon their strengths, their challenges, and their histories to envision a vibrant future.

Residents of participating Wisconsin communities experience new ways to unearth and tell stories of their communities while taking concrete steps toward making their hometowns better places to live. We bring community members together around shared values and visions for their communities. The initiative then helps them mobilize resources to make their vision into a sustainable project.

What we do

We work with community members in different regions of the state, partnering with libraries and cultural organizations. As Community Powered takes root, other local nonprofit organizations, businesses, and citizens come together and create locally meaningful projects.

TACKLING CHALLENGES

Training is the key. We train participants in a toolkit of humanities-based approaches, like interviewing and photography, storytelling and conversation, asset-mapping and community walks—all in an effort to get community members connecting around their vision for their hometown. Training is ongoing and enables communities to capture and share community experiences, values, and stories of what makes their community special.

LEARNING ALONG
THE WAY

Through the process, community members tackle a challenge identified by the community and address it with a locally designed project. In the past, these methods inspired teens to lead community cleanups and devise other projects in Spooner, kickstarted a series of story circles among immigrants and refugees in Appleton, and revitalized long-lost traditions, like lacrosse in the Forest County Potawatomi community. These are just a few examples of projects that utilize community vision and local spaces to meet that community’s needs.

Why it matters

Through truly collaborative projects, Community Powered invites all community members to participate equally in designing and driving their community project. The Community Powered team engages in deep listening within their community to help identify and execute a project that fits the community’s needs and vision for the future. They also train community members to execute that vision, giving the power over project development and execution to the community itself.

TELLING STORIES AS THEY
ARE MEANT TO BE TOLD

By being community powered, these projects tell the community’s stories the way the community wants to tell them, meeting the community’s goals even as the community members build connections to one another and inspire hometown pride.

Harness community energy, inspiration and experiences to generate projects that matter.

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Made possible by

Community Powered is possible thanks to the financial support of Wisconsin Humanities, a $150,000 Capacity Building Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) Act, and a generous private donor. Additional support for building capacity in CP’s library partners was provided by a Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction ARPA Grant.

For more information, contact the Community Powered Director, Chrissy Widmayer at chrissy.widmayer@wisconsinhumanities.org.

Special thanks to our advisors

Anne Basting
UW- Milwaukee

Shawn Brommer
South Central Library System

Adam Carr
Milwaukee Parks Foundation

Russ Castronovo
UW-Madison Center for the Humanities

Karen Goeschko
Wisconsin Arts Board

J.P Leary
UW-Green Bay

Chad Moffett
Mead & Hunt

Ruth Olson
Center for the Study of Upper
Midwestern Cultures (UW-Madison)

Melinda Osterberg
Wisconsin Economic DevelopmentCorp.

Tammy Rivera
Southside Organizing Center

Robert S. Smith,
Marquette University

Chia Vang
UW-Milwaukee

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