Project Summary

The DCCV project asks citizens what they value in their community and what they would like to preserve and change. Through scenario planning, research and dialogue these common views and dreams of the whole community are shaped into a plan which becomes the foundation for strategic direction.

About me

I am a 33-year-old non-traditional graduate student who moved from Chicago to a rural Wisconsin community my senior year in high school. I have always been interested in grassroots movements and community support, volunteering for Illinois PIRG and political campaigns while in high school and college. Other members of the DCCV team include Juliet Fox, a senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, currently completing her doctorate in Organization Development. Pat Eggert and Bob Colson are community members who have also volunteered their time to help set up meetings, distribute literature, and engage community members in identifying the preferred future. Mark Wilcox, Maureen Casey, and Andrea Lueck are graduate students in Applied Psychology at UW-Stout who have volunteered at the May stakeholder events and county fairs, cheerfully called on groups and citizens of the county, distributed surveys, recorded citizens' input, and themed and coded data. Tara Bergeson functions as our coordinator, collating packets and mailings and fielding calls and emails. Cassandra Cantu is a fellow Masters candidate in Training and Development specializing in citizen engagement. She is currently designing a mass mailing that includes information about the process, upcoming town hall meetings, and a brief survey. We are a very dedicated team and hold weekly meetings to check in with each other. We need help to fund our project, but all of us at the DCCV are unpaid volunteers.