Wisconsin's Top Rural Development Initiatives Program

Wisconsin's Top Rural Development Initiatives is an annual recognition program sponsored by Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc. The program seeks to uncover and share the great things happening in rural Wisconsin through a process of open nomination, a panel of judges from diverse backgrounds, and a public awards ceremony, together with publishing profiles of the initiatives in WRP's online database.

Begun in 1998, then-president of WRP Wendy Hinrichs Sanders said, “We want to increase the visibility of these best practices and strengthen the network between communities so they can model after creative projects that have been successful in other areas of the state. Rural communities, especially, can’t afford to keep reinventing the wheel.”

Since 1998, more than 150 initiatives have been recognized and profiled for community leaders to learn from. Several of the initiatives, such as Juneau County Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club and Coop Care in Waushara County, have been adapted in other communities across the state.

Nominations consist of a 500-word-or-less essay describing an initiative's background, innovation, spirit of partnership, impact, and potential use as a model for other rural Wisconsin communities.

Check back here for information on the 2008 Top Rural Development Initiatives award nomination process.

Stay tuned for the 2008 awards nomination process!

Top Rural Development Initiatives (and related) Archives [all PDF files]

Check out our new, indexed database of Wisconsin's Top Rural Development Initiatives.

Open 2007 Top Rural Development Initiatives Page [HTML]

Open 2006 Top Rural Development Initiatives Page [HTML]

Open 2005 Top Rural Development Initiatives Page [HTML]

Open 2004 Top Rural Development Initiatives Page [HTML]

Open 2003 Top Rural Development Initiatives Page [HTML]

Open 2000 - 2001 Top Rural Development Initiatives Page [HTML]

In 2001, Wisconsin Rural Partners and the Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program sponsored a "Best Practices" mobile workshop where participants traveled to the sites of three Top Rural Development Initiatives and learned about the initiatives first-hand. WRP produced a digest of proceedings from that workshop. View the PDF document by clicking here.

In 2000, Wisconsin Rural Partners sponsored a "Best Practices" Task Group that conducted on-site visits and created in-depth profiles of ten of the Top Rural Development Initiatives. The Task Group produced a handbook entitled "Profiles in Rural Community Life." View the PDF document by clicking on the title.