Our Work
How to Access Data for Community Economic Development (Part I)
This session provides an overview of data sources to help guide community economic development efforts at the local and regional levels. Topics covered include labor force characteristics, demographics, measures of industrial concentration, sales tax collections, and housing data options.
Design Wisconsin: Hustisford Design Team
On May 12, 2022, a group of 20 planning and design professionals found their way to Hustisford (17 in person, and 3 remotely) to dedicate their time and expertise in hopes of helping the community discover a shared vision for the future. The purpose of this document is to provide details as to the purpose, process, and outputs of the Design Hustisford program.
WIndicators Volume 5, Number 3: Farm Household Income
As a growing number of Wisconsin farms struggle to survive, many farm households (families) are dependent on off farm income to offset weak and unstable farm sourced income. Over the five-year average (2016-2020) average household income for Wisconsin farm operators is $98,353of which $20,210 comes from farming activities, and the remaining $78,143 comes from off farm sources. One strategy to ensure the continued operation of most Wisconsin farms is to focus on enhancing off farm employment opportunities.
Rural Innovation Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2022 — Innovation moves the economy forward. Innovations are new products, processes, or services that create value for customers. Innovations often signal an improvement over a past model or way of doing things. Innovations can be significant, disrupting the status quo. Many innovations, however, are modest, offering small increases in quality of […]
Focus Group Analysis Tips
Consider the words May 2022 — Think about both the actual words used by the participants and the meanings of those words. A variety of words and phrases will be used and the analyst will need to determine the degree of similarity between these responses. Consider the context Participant responses were triggered by a stimulus […]
Developing Questions for Focus Group Interviews
May 2022 — Focus group interviews can yield powerful information. In order to get meaningful information during focus groups, you should follow several important guidelines when developing your questions. 1. Use open-ended questions Open-ended questions allow for qualitative feedback from participants and do not have fixed responses or elicit one word answers. 2. Avoid dichotomous […]
Recovery in the Hotel Business (Issue 197, May 2022)
Hotels provide an important service to our communities and represent a significant economic engine for jobs, business revenue, and taxes. Plus, they often serve as a gateway to a community, influencing perceptions of the broader community.
A Community Education Approach
May 2022 — While hiring a consultant to complete a market analysis might be appropriate for some communities, the approach of this toolbox is based on the premise that business and community leaders will benefit by being actively involved in the research process. Because there are technical components to the toolbox (obtaining data and using […]
Design Wisconsin: La Valle Design Team
In response to severe flood events, the Village of La Valle, Wisconsin has been awarded federal funding to assist in flood mitigation and recovery. As part of the planning process, a group of local residents formed the La Valle Revitalization Committee. The purpose of the committee is to provide leadership and community representation.
Business Recruitment
This section explains how market analysis data can be used in the various steps of a business recruitment program.
Building and Space Usage
May 2022 — Successful downtown revitalization efforts often focus on creating synergy that results from the optimal mix of building and space uses. In considering this purpose, your market analysis will likely have identified a number of market opportunities in different business sectors. However, the market analysis process does not end with a list of […]
Focus Groups
May 2022 — A focus group is a carefully planned discussion designed to obtain perceptions of a small group of people about a defined area of interest (e.g., downtown revitalization). Focus groups typically include seven to ten people who have some common characteristics that relate to the topic being discussed and who engage in conversation […]