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Community Foundation

Foundations help local students with college costs

One way community foundations support their communities is by offering scholarships to local high school students. Two geographic affiliates with the Community Foundation recently featured students who received scholarships in their annual reports. The Clintonville Area Foundation awarded Jordan Lehman, a graduate of Clintonville High School, with two scholarships in 2022: A $2,500 Walter and […]

Rescuing Whispering Pines

Once a quirky private park open to the public, Whispering Pines (now part of Hartman Creek State Park) underwent a transformation led by the Friends of Hartman Creek Park and Waupaca Historical Society. Slowly and subtly, over 50 years, Whispering Pines fell into despair due to a lack of state funding. Much of the park […]

The Transformative Power of Storytelling for Elder Women: Empowering Voices, Preserving Legacies

Storytelling has long been a cherished tradition within communities and cultures, serving as a means of passing down knowledge, values and history. For elder women, in particular, storytelling holds a special significance, offering them a powerful tool for self-expression, empowerment and preserving their legacies. As an audio producer, I saw a wonderful opportunity to document […]

Housing Now Coalition highlights lack of affordable housing

Like the rest of the country, Northeast Wisconsin is experiencing an unprecedented lack of housing inventory, especially at prices that are affordable to the average person. Significant underproduction, rising costs for housing materials and labor, rising interest rates, and increasing demand have created a perfect storm. As one of the largest investments someone can make […]

From Student to Scholar to Educator – A Journey of Impact and Inspiration in Shawano

Kayla Hokenstad’s interest in education started as an elementary student, as a serious “basement” educator in play with her sister. That interest grew as she witnessed the difference her teachers made in the lives of her and her classmates. In 2014, Kayla received the Pearl Smith Future Teacher Scholarship, which helped her pursue a Bachelor’s […]