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HomeMy WebLinkAboutU.W. Extension Committee - Minutes - 7/10/2024 Bayfield County Agriculture and Extension Education Committee Meeting July 10, 2024 – 4:00 PM In-Person at the County Board Room in the Courthouse And Remotely via Microsoft Teams meeting Minutes 1. Call to Order Steve Sandstrom, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:01 pm Committee members present: Steve Sandstrom, Jeffrey Olsen, Committee members present Via Teams: Fred Strand, Madeline Rekemeyer Committee members absent: Larry Fickbohm Others Present: Mary Pardee, Theresa LaChappelle, Stephanie Bakker, Ian Meeker, Heidi Ungrodt, and Kelly Westlund. Others present via Teams: Jason Fischbach and Tracy Henegar 2. Approval of Minutes of May 08, 2024 Meeting (action item) Motion (Strand, Olsen) to approve the minutes of the May 08, 2024 minutes. Motion Carried 3. Public Comment No public comments. 4. 2024 UW-Extension Budget Update Report Discussion on 2024 budget totals. 5. Area Extension Director Update a. Staffing i. Housing Assistant – Claire Sunsten has been hired as the part-time limited term employee to fill this position. The monies used for this position are from carryover funds from last year’s Northland College Housing Intern line items. Ms. Sunsten will be reviewing and updating materials regarding grants that are available. She will also be conducting “windshield tours”. This term refers to driving tours through neighborhoods to visually assess homes and properties from the car. The goal is to identify homes that might benefit from the housing grants available. This process helps in targeting outreach efforts more effectively by identifying potential recipients. After conducting windshield tours and compiling a list of potential homes, Sunsten will send out the updated outreach materials to these addresses. ii. FoodWIse Educator - Lindsay Larson will be starting in September as the Ashland & Bayfield Counties FoodWise Educator. Ms. Larson is currently the Farm to School AmeriCorps volunteer at the Bayfield School and is familiar with the FoodWIse program as well as having teaching experience. b. State and Area Updates i. WI Civic Health Initiative-The WI Civic Health Project is designed to encourage all to become active contributors to civic health in their communities by participating in daily challenges that are sent out either by email or the Goose Chase app. Additional information and promotional materials will be provided in the upcoming weeks. 6. 2025 Budget Discussion a. 2025 budgets are due by August 22nd. Pardee noted that the UW-Madison Extension contract for educators’ salaries & benefits will be going up by 3%. County salaries and health insurance costs will also be rising. This will be a total approximate increase of $11,000 for staffing costs. Committee members expressed their strong approval with staffing and programs and that current staff and programming should continue even with a modest increase in staffing costs. Committee members are free to email Mary Pardee with any thoughts or ideas regarding the 2025 budget. 7. Staff Reports a. Office Manager - Theresa LaChappelle LaChappelle was contacted earlier today by Carrie Linder, Bayfield County ADRC, regarding a grant that Linder has received to develop a coalition to address social isolation and loneliness in Bayfield County. Linder is looking at conducting a public outreach campaign and would like our office to assist with the outreach. Linder will send additional information via email which LaChappelle will forward to the staff. b. Human Development and Relationships - Heidi Ungrodt Aging Mastery Program (AMP) – Heidi Ungrodt and Tracy Henegar held the very well received AMP program last fall. This assisted with fostering social connectedness, which is one key concern that participants raised. With this subject of social connectedness Henegar and Ungrodt have been discussing holding AMP booster meetings for past participants revolving around different topics. Literacy Link - Parenting Inside Out – Ungrodt has been bringing the new Parenting Inside Out Workshop (6 weeks-4 hours per week) to eight participants in the Bayfield County Jail. One well received aspect of the workshop is that the participants explore interactively various healthy ways to handle potential parenting situations. Some of the grant money received from Essentia Health has been used to purchase and send books to the children of the inmates. When asked if all county jails offer programming, Ungrodt noted that jail programming often varies by county. Some county jails focus more on punitive measures, while others prioritize educational reforms. The difference in philosophy can significantly impact the types of resources and support available to inmates. The Bayfield County Health Department has a life skills curriculum that Ungrodt can participate in, which will enable her to also offer this valuable programming as well to the jail inmates. Financial Education– Universal Children’s Savings Accounts – Ungrodt and Madelaine Rekemeyer met regarding possible organizations that have the capacity and willingness to take on the running of this endeavor. The Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation has indicated their willingness to take on the Bayfield County Universal Children’s Savings Account Program. Ungrodt will be attending a consortium in St. Paul to discuss implementation strategies, learn best practices, and collaborate with other organizations involved in the program. c. FoodWIse - Stephanie Bakker (FoodWIse is totally funded by Federal dollars) StrongBodies – The virtual StrongBodies program will start up again in September. Bakker had met with Carrie Linder, ADRC, to get a few local people trained in presenting the StrongBodies program for in-person classes in Port Wing. Bakker connected with the program and assisted with their first class. Port Wing Health Fair – Bakker had an informational table at the Port Wing Health Fair, where she met many who were participating in StrongBodies. Red Cliff Early Childhood Center (RC ECC)- Turtle Island Tales – This is a new program where culturally relevant resources including inspiring stories, recipes, games and parenting help for Native families with young children are shared. Tribal Nutrition Educators Meeting – Bakker hosted the last meeting at Legendary Waters Casino in Red Cliff. There were some traditional foods served and various training courses were held. d. Emerging Crops - Jason Fischbach via Teams Fischbach attempted to discuss offsetting carbon emissions with carbon farms, but the bad connection did not allow for a complete discussion e. Human Development and Relationships -Tracy Henegar via Teams Henegar attempted to connect in but was unable to participate due to a bad connection. f. 4-H & Youth Development - Ian Meeker 4-H Camp – 4-H Summer camp was held June 29th – July 1st, with 51 campers in grades 3-8. There were 17 counselors trained. Nine were new counselors but had previously attended camp. The group of 8th graders attending camp as campers are considered Counselors In Training (CIT’s) and are given chances to try out a supervised role in co- leading some activities. This is the first year that Ashland County 4-H didn’t co-host summer camp. it all went well. Ashwabay Bike Club- Summer single track mountain bike club for youth in grades 5-8. Rides on Mt. Ashwabay trails on Mondays in July. Fourteen youth have joined in Birkie One Organization – Attended a meeting with Area 1 & 2 and the Birkie One Organization to discuss strategies for getting more local youth involved in Birkie related educational programs. Superior Adventures with School Groups – Led a kayaking day with South Shore 3rd graders. Co-led two days of single-track biking with Bayfield High School. Facilitated group initiative day with both Bayfield 5th graders ending with an intro to canoeing on Long Lake. Prepared for and led three separate sea kayaking experiences for the Ashland Middle School summer school program. 4-H Thrive Team– Involved in the State 4-H Thrive Team meetings. The team is in the process of submitting and editing a chapter for a book about the National 4-H Thrive Movement. g. Housing - Kelly Westlund Community Land Trust (CLT) - CheqBuilt is the newest CLT in the state. The CheqBuilt organization has obtained 501c3 status, has funding in place to hire a staff person and are building out committee structures. CheqBuilt is looking at proceeding with the next steps in the process, including identifying potential acquisition of properties. Submitted two additional grant applications to cover feasibility studies. Aurora Place- Washburn – The housing initiative in Washburn will be holding two community input sessions on Monday, July 15, 2024. The first will be outdoors on site from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. The second will be held indoors at The Club from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. Site plans, and digital renderings will be available at both of these events. The goal is to get permit approvals from the city and county in August, so that plans can be submitted to the State before the end of the year. This would allow for groundbreaking in the Spring of 2025. Senior Housing in the Town of Bell – Design Wisconsin sessions have been set for July 11, August 15, September 12, with a Charrette planned for September 26-27. The application for the first $25K pre-development funds has been submitted to the Thrive Grant. CDBG-CV-Pro Housing Grant- Submitted two applications one for the Ashland Community Shelter & the Ondossagon School apartment remodel. The Ashland Community Shelter proposal was awarded $1.2M to convert a two-story building into 11 transitional housing units. The initial grant request for the Ondossagon School conversion was not granted. It is yet to be determined whether there’s still interest in proceeding with another request. Meetings -Westlund has seven standing meetings that she attends, as well as attending and being a presenter at a variety of meetings throughout the State. Westlund has also been meeting with a developer (preliminary stages) who is interested in putting up workforce dwellings. Some of the housing grants do require access to a HUD Certified counselor. Since there is a deficit of these in the state, Westlund is also working with the HDR Institute on creating a HUD-certified counselors’ program within UW-Madison Extension. This could allow HDR educators at existing Extension Offices to be certified as HUD counselors though out the state. Rural Housing Roundtable at the White House - Westlund just received an invitation to the Rural Housing Roundtable at the White House on Wednesday, July 24th. This is an exciting experience that all are encouraging Westlund to attend. Pardee will be investigating potential funding for her to be able to attend. 8. Next Meeting Date – The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for September 11, 2024 at 4 pm. The meeting will be held either in the County Board Room or the EOC depending on the remodeling schedule of the annex. 9. Adjourn – The meeting adjourned at 4:56 pm. # # #