Welcome to the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission's bi-weekly roundup of news, trends, and events related to regional planning! To see previous edition of this newsletter,
click here.
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- News From Around the Region
A Bright Spot for Equity in Madison Region? What can We Learn from an Indicator that Stands Out?
New Report: Meeting our Future Water Needs
A Greater Madison Vision to Explore Technology and Regional Planning at Forward Fest
Join us at the Goodman South Madison Library on September 30!
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Stay up to date with our roundup of planning and development news around the region.
View the map here
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A Bright Spot for Equity in Madison Region? What can We Learn from an Indicator that Stands Out?
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Much community conversation in the Madison area justifiably focuses on gaping disparities in income, poverty, education, incarceration and others between White people and other races and ethnicities, particularly African Americans. As documented by Race to Equity and elsewhere, Madison’s disparities are among the worst in the U.S.
However, amidst these bleak disparities, one statistic recently surfaced that offers a brighter picture: the portion of “disconnected youth” in the region. This measure was included in a presentation by Dr. Chris Benner on May 11, Equity, Growth and Economic Opportunity: The Role of Diverse Knowledge Communities.
While reviewing the Greater Madison region’s racial disparities, Dr. Benner also pointed out that the Madison metro region outperforms all other U.S. metros when it comes to the percentage of disconnected youth.
Disconnected youth are between the ages 16 to 24 years old and are not working or in school. In other, words they are “disconnected” from institutions that offer opportunities for education and economic advancement.
In 2014, 4.2 percent of 16 to 24 year olds, were disconnected in the Madison Metro Area (Columbia, Dane, Green and Iowa counties). The number of disconnected youth was 3,774.
As shown in the graph below, this placed the Madison region significantly better than all 150 regions. In the vast majority of regions, between 10% and 20% of the youth were disconnected.
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These findings and opportunities are important steps toward identifying solutions that, along with regional collaboration for implementation, could enable the watershed to meet the needs of future generations.
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Of course, this single indicator needs to be weighed against the total picture of disparities. It should not distract from the acute need to generate real improvements in closing gaps.
However, in the interest of identifying what works, it may be worthwhile to dig deeper into the disconnected youth metric. Is something unique is going on in the greater Madison region that better connects youth to work and school than all other regions?
Certainly there are many excellent youth programs in the region operated by organizations including Operation Fresh Start, Urban League of Greater Madison, Madison Metropolitan School District and other districts, Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin, Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, Project Home, Omega School, various community centers, and many others.
Is the sum total of these efforts what generates better outcomes than the rest of the U.S.? What can we learn about what works in connecting our youth to school and work, that can be applied to other efforts to close disparities, and increase opportunity and life outcomes for all?
About the Data:
The information comes from the National Equity Atlas, produced by PolicyLink and the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at University of Southern California. The Atlas provides an interactive portal to explore a wide range of indicators for cities and metropolitan regions. For example, you can look at the Madison region’s data on disconnected youth over time, by race and ethnicity, and by gender. You can also see how Madison compares to all regions, like above, or to selected regions.
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New Report: Meeting our Future Water Needs
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In May 2017, the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s Water Sustainability and Climate project convened over 40 professionals in land and water management, including staff of the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission, to discuss implications of their Yahara 2070 model results, which explored possible futures of the Yahara Watershed.
Their new 6 page report, Meeting Our Future Water Needs: Key Lessons and Opportunities, summarizes the key messages from the model results and the further questions, opportunities, and ideas that resulted from the discussions that took place at the workshop. The key messages resulting from this work are:
- We must manage our watersheds holistically.
- The climate will be a dominant force on our ability to mitigate flooding, regardless of what we do on our landscapes.
- If we want to improve water quality, we must deal with the soil phosphorus legacy and increasing precipitation from climate change.
- Land management should be mindful of the different forms of phosphorus, and dissolved phosphorus may need more attention if we want to improve water quality. Each form should be addressed strategically with different conservation practices.
- Some invasive species could be game changers for water quality.
- Residents view clean water as very to extremely important (as shown in the chart below) and support policies aimed at protecting water quality.
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These findings and opportunities are important steps toward identifying solutions that, along with regional collaboration for implementation, could enable the watershed to meet the needs of future generations.
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Explore Technology and Regional Planning at Forward Fest
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What
: Forward Fest Technology and Regional Planning session
When
: Monday, August 21st, 2pm - 5pm
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A Greater Madison Vision is happy to be part of this year's Forward Fest, Wisconsin's largest technology and entrepreneurship festival. Held throughout an 8-day period at venues across Madison, Forward Fest features workshops, panels, behind-the-scenes tours, and more.
We are hosting an event on Monday, August 21st from 2 to 5pm at the American Family DreamBank called "Technology and Regional Planning." This event features a number of hands-on planning activities, like our iPlan computer game and modeling neighborhoods in 3D.
Register for our "Technology and Regional Planning" event on our Facebook page!
T
o access all the Forward Fest events, you can
purchase a Forward Pass
by August 7th!
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Join us at the Goodman South Madison Library on September 30!
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Put it on your calendars! On September 30th, staff and Steering Committee members for AGMV will host an all-day scenario design workshop at the South Madison Library on Park Street. We will celebrate a summer full of public engagement and kicking off the next phase of A Greater Madison Vision.
Staff will have computers set up to play our "iPlan Greater Madison" computer game. Drop by any time to try your hand at making a development plan for the region! We will also have our model block sets out for a "build the Greater Madison neighborhoods of the future" challenge. This will be an all-ages event! We will have refreshments, activities for kids and adults alike, and a preview of our scenario polling initiative coming in early 2018.
We hope you join us! The event page will be updated as more details become available.
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Events
Next RPC Commission Meeting:
August 10, 2017 @ 7:00pm
Dunn Town Hall
4156 County Road B
McFarland, WI 53558
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