Past Projects
Western Wisconsin for Nonpartisan Voting Districts (WWNVD)
June 22, 2020 – June 2022
WWNVD was an initiative in collaboration with chapters of the League of Women Voters and the WI Fair Maps Coalition to end gerrymandering in Wisconsin by establishing fair, impartial, non-partisan voting districts – Fair Maps.
Organized through the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the goal of the group was to require by law in Wisconsin, beginning in 2021, a transparent, non-political process to determine electoral districts. Fair Maps would give an equal voice to all of us in Wisconsin.
I support an end to gerrymandering. Not only in Wisconsin, but all over the country, and I currently don’t feel as though my representative represent me as a person. I’m very passionate about environmental issues and I don’t feel I get adequate representation in this part of the state.
Lisa M.
I absolutely hate being ignored, and my legislator ignores me because he lives in a gerrymandered district, and so I hate gerrymandered districts. I have good ideas. I want the legislator to listen to me and therefore I want them to hold a hearing on redistricting, and not just do it behind closed doors.
Cheryl M.
WWNVD Victories:
On October 8, 2021, along with the Fair Maps Coalition, we traveled to Madison to testify against the proposed maps drawn by the legislature. We joined the 200 people who testified against the maps. Despite the outpouring of public support for fair maps, the legislature kept their highly gerrymandered maps which the governor vetoed.
In the Spring of 2022, the WI Supreme Court chose our next electoral maps, the ones in place now that were created by the legislature and further disenfranchise WI voters due to their gerrymandering.
This project is closed given we have new maps. We will revive this project once we have a path for victory on Fair Maps again.
Expanding Broadband
July 2020 – October 2022
With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting rural areas hard in 2020, it became more apparent that broadband access was not a luxury, but a necessity. This project aimed to keep broadband expansion in front of the Pierce County Board as long as American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were appropriated.
At the time, broadband internet build-out funding was available from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC). The continued support of our team, in collaboration with Western Wisconsin Needs Broadband, contributed to the Pierce County board, in February 2022, unanimously passing a resolution to “solve the problem of adequate universal broadband access.”
Roadside Revival
Summer 2021 – Winter 2022
Roadside Revival aimed to take environmental action in Pierce County. The idea was to promote soil health, pollinator and bird nesting habitat, and improvements in water quality by focusing on roadside vegetation maintenance. Five local leaders participated in a multi-month “Organizing and Social Change Cohort” sponsored by the Land Stewardship Project, where they learned organizing tools and skills to run this project.
Members attended events to promote and encourage No Mow May, including presenting to the River Falls City Council to amend their lawn ordinance to enable residents to participate. Participants in No Mow May took pictures of their lawns to share the new, natural growth, and have it highlighted on our Facebook and Instagram.
Finally, the Roadside Revival team organized a 1-day workshop to teach municipal highway and road maintenance staff about different techniques to improve roadside vegetation.
You know, there’s a lot of roadside, but there’s part of the roadsides which are more suitable for replanting kind of pollinator habitat areas
Jay S.
Check out the full Roadside Revival Workshop
Supreme Court of Wisconsin (SCOWI) Campaign
January 2023 – April 2023
The SCOWI campaign was our Get Out The Vote effort for the April 4th, 2023 election for a new WI Supreme Court Justice. The state court makes decisions on issues that impact many of us in WI including election rules, voting maps, ballot drop boxes, the governor’s veto power, environmental protections, abortion bans, gun issues, judicial recusal, and more.
Early 2023 was the chance to elect a new WI Supreme Court Justice who would hold the seat for the next decade, and be pivotal in decision making on these critical issues. This campaign ran over the three months leading up to the election.
By election day, GROWW members had talked to 612 students on the UW-River Falls and UW-Stout Campuses, knocked on 628 doors in Western WI, made 1249 phone calls, and sent 1857 handwritten postcards to remind people to vote!
It’s exciting to be a part of this adventure. Each call made for recruitment or the phone bank makes me feel more connected to this community even if I’m just leaving a message.
Douglas O.
I came across a handful of people today who said they weren’t going to vote. The highlight of my afternoon was turning one of those people back on to the idea of voting because I wasn’t pushing a specific agenda other than simply looking at who’s on the ballot and showing up to vote. She really appreciated that.
Danielle J.
The cold on the porch didn’t keep me and Jean in River Falls from having a 15 minute conversation. I live in Menomonie. She lived in Menomonie 30 years ago and oh how she’d love to go back to the drive-in movie theater that used to be there. To approach local neighbors as local neighbors asking if they know about the Supreme Court election in a non-partisan way; to talk about why it’s important, opens up so many avenues for dialogue that are shut down by divisive partisan language. She thanked me for taking the time, and for talking about how people don’t talk to each other enough, and she told me to keep warm.
