Natural
Steppers from around the area met at UW-RF on Friday, November 14, to
continue a discussion begun at a previous meeting about forming an
umbrella organization. Representatives from Amery, Luck, Osceola, Rice
Lake, Hudson, Ladysmith, and River Falls met in the offices of the St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development on
campus. (Representatives from Menomonie/Dunn County who had attended
the previous meeting were unable to attend but did send input via
email.)
Decisions made included:
1) We will call ourselves the Western Wisconsin Initiative for Sustainable Communities (WWISC)
2)
Mission: "Facilitating regional adoption of the TNS framework for
sustainable communities through the exchange of information and the
sharing of resources."
3) We will incorporate as a non-profit with the State of Wisconsin and open a checking account with a local credit union.
Participants
agreed that WWISC is not intended to be an activist organization, but
more of a clearinghouse and a means by which the various local groups
can leverage resources -- grants, speakers, literature, table-top
displays, etc. We recognize that, at some point, we may need to become
more formal in the way we're organized, but for the present we will
operate with a fairly loose structure.
One
of the responsibilities WWISC will take on is helping to coordinate the
flow of information between local TNS groups. We see the internet as
the primary tool for doing this. Peter Henry of Amery has an excellent
website at ecomunicipality.com that
uses open source technology, meaning that anyone can become a member
and contribute content. Please keep an eye on this site -- and add your
own comments -- as we experiment with its effectiveness as a
communication tool.
Our
next meeting will be Friday, December 12 via a 3 p.m. conference call.
I'll send further information on that as the time approaches.
