Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy & Service

• Improving results by getting employees to think and act like owners
• Helping employees to gain tools to solve problems and improve business performance
• Increasing the level of trust between management, and employees to improve the company bottom line
• Developing common sense labor agreements that align the interests of the company and its workers

This anniversary lecture is held in honor of Professor Commons, who was born in 1862. An influential economist, reformer and labor historian, Commons drafted innovative social welfare, labor and economic legislation that made Wisconsin a national model for reform. To learn more about John R. Commons’ contributions to the UW System and The Wisconsin Idea, visit: www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/commons/

The event is free and open to the public, and is scheduled from 5- 7:30 p.m. at 1308 W. Dayton Street in Madison. No RSVP is required. For more information contact Terry Shelton (608) 262-3038 or shelton@lafollette.Wisc.Edu

Sponsors for the event include the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service, the Wisconsin School of Business (at the UW- Madison), and the Robert M. LaFollette School of Public Affairs.

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Part of a national network of IRS-supported sites where low to moderate income individuals can receive free tax preparation services, this program is offered at various locations throughout Wisconsin, and throughout the nation. Taxpayers that complete their tax forms at a VITA site eliminate preparation fees, and may profit by utilizing additional VITA services. Many clients fall below the required income level for reporting and, seeing no need to file, may miss out on tax credits that they are eligible for, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. This refund alone can have a significant impact on someone making minimum-wage who might use it to build a savings account or to spend in the local community. The UWMC VITA program also promotes financial literacy by helping clients learn how to best use their refund to accomplish long-term goals. Placed at the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service in collaboration with Wisconsin Campus Compact, Deanna Meek, 2011-2012 AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer, serves with the national network of VISTAs that coordinate programs for non-profit organizations. VISTA projects, which span three years, aim to redress issues of poverty, and VISTA workers ensure that the programs they assist are sustainable beyond their departure.

For information on how to locate and participate in VITA site programs, contact Deanna Meek at deanna.meek@uwc.edu or 715-261-6285.

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This statewide conference is intended to: promote understanding of integrated mental and physical health care; consider Affordable Care Act provisions that impact mental health care; explore alternative models for delivery of integrated mental and physical health care, especially for Wisconsin; and build collaborative relationships between local mental and physical health care providers.

Featured presentations will include: Mark Brown, Ph.D., Senior WIPPS Fellow, on “The Medical Model of Mental Health: The Case of Depression”; Richard Brown, Professor of Family Medicine, UW – Madison, on “Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse: Screening and Intervention”; Ronald Chance, MSW, Community Programs Manager, Dane County Department of Human Services, on “An Integrated Community Mental Health Service Approach to Reaching the Underserved”; Shel Gross, MSW, Director of Public Policy, Mental Health America – Wisconsin, on “Beyond Integration: Glimpses Into the Future of Mental Health Services”; and Charles Ingoglia, MSW,Vice President for Public Policy, National Council for Community Behavioral Health Care, on “Primary Health Care and Mental Health Care Partnerships.” The conference will conclude with a moderated discussion focused on local issues, titled “A Community Conversation on Integrated Health Care.” This program is intended for:

• Mental health care providers and patients
• Physical health care providers and patients
• Secondary and post-secondary students and educators
• Local and statewide political leaders
• The general public

CMUs and CEUS will be offered when registration opens.

More information will follow in the Spring 2012 WIPPS newsletter, and registration information will be posted on the WIPPS website soon!

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Participants contributed various responses, such as: raising taxes and cutting spending; making systemic changes within the government to increase large-scale fiscal responsibility; and encouraging economic growth by investing in research, development, infrastructure and science education. Although NIF deliberations need not reach "common ground" among participants, discussants generally agreed that answers must be found across all levels - personal, local, regional, state, national and global. Results from these deliberations events will be shared with state and national policy makers. If your agency or community group would like to consider organizing a public deliberation on an issue of importance to you, WIPPS is eager to assist in the planning and execution of the process. For more information on NIF – style deliberations, visit: www.wipps.org/deliberation/

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WIPPS Outreach and Education Consultant John Greenwood worked with high school student groups in the Wausau area charter schools EEA and EGL, as well as with middle school students of the Athens District. The issue that the students selected to develop for deliberation was titled: Social Relationships: How Do I Fit In? Participants created their own moral dilemmas regarding interpersonal conflicts and how they would solve them. Student responses as to how they would handle conflicted situations were analyzed using Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development. A “naming and framing process” was next employed during the in-class curricular work to assist the students in developing and leading a National Issues Forum style deliberation on the topic.

As the class discussed various solutions to the issue of social relationships, students began to see the value of using deliberation to solve interpersonal problems. Deliberation was not only a communication technology that could be used within the classroom or town hall, but could also be applied to conflicts with friends, and even to personal dilemmas. A major goal of this project was to provide opportunities for personal application of the deliberative process, in order to strengthen and generalize the use of deliberative processes in a variety of school and community settings. Student and teacher observations and project survey results clearly indicate that deliberative practices did have many positive impacts on the students, and educational research has shown that the involvement and ownership of their work increases students’ motivation to learn.

The project is ongoing, and WIPPS will be seeking other partners and districts in the expansion and dissemination of its research. For more information, contact: john.greenwood@uwc.edu

Sponsored by a generous grant from the Marshfield Clinic, activities began in July, 2011, when project volunteers recorded oral interviews about a wide-range of topics associated with dairying and rural history during Farm Technology Days in Marathon/Wood Counties. Follow-through on this aspect of the project includes archiving these and other stories on the project website, and possible future use on Wisconsin Public Radio broadcasts. Future activities will include:

• Fostering community- and school-based learning projects by training and supporting dairy farmers, retired people, amateur local historians, college and high school students and others interested in agriculture, farmers and food, to conduct historically meaningful oral history interviews with their neighbors;
• Working with organizations such as the state colleges, local historical societies, farmers’ organizations, public museums, arts and humanities groups, state agencies, institutes for public engagement, and the Wisconsin State Historical Society to organize interviewers and writers into dairy history collaborations;
• Organizing “dairy history story corps” (mobile interviewing studios) at county fairs and other gatherings of dairy and industry people;
• Organizing workshops, public forums, events, and conferences to showcase the work of the project and further the preservation of Wisconsin’s dairying history
• Finding creative ways to preserve the voices and realities of Wisconsin’s rural past while increasing understanding of the present through discussion and inquiry about the past.

Collaborators on this important project include: Marshfield Clinic, UW–Extension, Wisconsin Public Radio, UW Colleges, and WIPPS. For more information, or to schedule an oral interview, contact: Connie Nikolai at 715-261-6368 or connie.nikolai@uwc.edu.

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