Increasing Healthy Food Access, Food Security
Food security—defined as the assured physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food needed for healthy, active living—is critical to family and community well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic shone a spotlight on inequities in our food system, exacerbated food insecurity, and amplified pre-existing vulnerabilities in the food system, including production, processing, transportation, consumption, disposal, […]
Boosting Financial Skills for Social Workers
One in three Wisconsinites is struggling to afford necessities such as housing, food, clothing, and transportation. Across our state close to 600,000 people live below the federal poverty level, and an additional 1.3 million Wisconsinites live in a household that struggles to cover basic household expenses. Many individuals and families turn to social service agencies […]
Supportive Relationships between Children & Caregivers
Parents with knowledge of child development can better protect children from the negative impacts of adverse childhood experiences. If caregivers know how to build supportive relationships, they can help reduce stress for themselves and children. This can minimize situations like child abuse and neglect. In general, a responsive relationship with a caregiver sets the foundation […]
Improving Farm Profitability
Supply chains strained by the COVID-19 pandemic have made agricultural markets increasingly volatile. Farmers are trying to manage these disruptions by exploring new directions and opportunities. One strategy farmers are pursuing is diversification of farming enterprises. Diversifying a farm’s enterprises reduces large year-to-year variations in income and ensures adequate cash flow. But diversifying a rural […]
Restorative Justice Emphasizes Accountability, Making Amends
The U.S. has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world, which quintupled from 1975 to 2005, representing a shift from rehabilitation to punishment. There has been a bipartisan transition in the past 15 years toward reducing both adult prison and youth justice populations, including in Wisconsin. Restorative justice repairs harm caused by crime. […]
Adapting Forage Crops Against Changing Weather
Changing weather patterns have led to colder and wetter springs and falls, complicating the procedures to plant and harvest traditional crops such as corn silage and alfalfa that are fed to cattle. This has led to a 50-year low in inventory of these forages. In response, Wisconsin farmers have begun growing alternative forages, such as […]
Growing Community Health through Gardens
Community gardens provide a variety of learning opportunities and foster multiple societal benefits including environmental stewardship, social capital, food security, and civic engagement. When community gardens are viewed solely through the lenses of food production or healthy food access, Extension and its partners miss opportunities to understand and amplify other direct and indirect impacts that […]
Supporting Wisconsin’s Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs
Wisconsin communities rely on businesses and entrepreneurs to increase overall economic well-being and quality of life. Businesses and entrepreneurs require critical information and knowledge of resources to be successful. Knowledge of these resources strengthens the local entrepreneurial networks that support existing businesses and enhance entrepreneurship. This helps increase the quantity and quality of entrepreneurial activity, […]
Positive Coping Strategies to Reduce Stress
Stress is a part of daily life, but when we face continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between those stressors, stress can become chronic and toxic. The effects of stress can lead to physical and emotional diseases, causing a burden on our health care system as well as personal problems that can otherwise be avoided […]
Supporting Caregivers through Education & Connection
As people in our communities age, their family, friends, and neighbors take on caregiver roles with little to no compensation or support. Nationwide, over 48 million people provided unpaid care to a person over the age of 50 in the last year; 578,000 of those family caregivers are in Wisconsin. One in six caregivers maintains […]
