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The
Wisconsin Rural Summit
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the
Rural Summit?
The summit is an event that brings together people from
across Wisconsin, in all types of professions and positions, to identify
the top issues facing rural Wisconsin. The event uses facilitated roundtable
sessions for the participants to identify top issues, and then develop
a plan for how those issues should be addressed.
Why is a Rural
Summit needed?
The Rural Summit is Wisconsin's "feed-in" mechanism
to public policy makers, as well as developers of programs and services
that serve rural areas. It is a way for rural residents to present a
comprehensive rural voice on issues that affect them. Every year, scores
of public policy decisions are made which impact the future of rural
Wisconsin. Programs and services are developed by government agencies
and private sector organizations. In the past, rural areas have lacked
a unified, comprehensive voice to ensure that these policies, programs
and services help rural Wisconsinites.
What happened
at the Rural Summits?
The first Rural Summit was held in 1996. Back then, Governor Thompson
charged all state agencies with rural programs to participate in the
Summit as a way of keeping current on the issues in their jurisdictions,
as well as learning about each others' programs and services. This fostered
collaboration among some state agency programs, and provided valuable
input into the Governor's public policy decisions. The Governor asked
that the second Summit provide him with not only the top issues important
to rural residents, but also suggestions on how to address them. The
Wisconsin Rural Partners Board of Directors saw the Summit results as
a clear directive for Wisconsin Rural Partners' work plan, and began
to base the Partnership work plan on the top issues arising from the
Summit. There was also wider dissemination of the Summit results to
all state-level policymakers in Wisconsin. The third, fourth and fifth
Summits followed suit in providing a resource for policymakers to know
the top rural issues, and gave Wisconsin Rural Partners the charge for
our work plan.
What happens
after the Summit?
The top issues identified by the participants, the suggestions and action
plans they develop, are categorized and analyzed by the Rural Summit
Task Group (a group of WRP members charged with organizing, planning,
and implementing the Summit). The Task Group conveys the compiled results
to policymakers, and presents its recommendations for action to the
Wisconsin Rural Partners Board of Directors.
Why Wisconsin
Rural Partners?
Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc., is a non-profit organization that was
created through an agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and the Governor of Wisconsin, to act as the state's rural development
council. The premise of a state rural development council is to act
as a convener, facilitator, and developer of partnerships among public
and private sector interests at all levels, including federal, state,
local, tribal, for-profit, and non-profit. A state rural development
council has non-partisan affiliations with a variety of agencies, organizations,
businesses and individuals, whose common interest is in healthy rural
communities. A state rural development council agrees to espouse and
promote "new governance" practices such as creativity, innovation,
collaboration, inclusiveness, diversity, neutrality, systems thinking,
and community-based priorities.
How can I get
involved? There are several roles you can take in the Rural
Summit:
- Participant - register to participate
in the roundtable sessions. Information will be posted when information
on the next Rural Summit becomes available.
- Facilitator - 20 people with facilitation
skills are needed to keep the dialogue flowing and productive at the
roundtables.
- Co-sponsor - financial and in-kind
contributions help to keep the registration fees low so more people
can participate.
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