Projects, 2005-2006

Emily

Ellery

Eric

Jenny

The DAR unit is a key component of CST. James is primarily involved in the analysis and reporting of rural specific data. James is a data analysis "handyman" and works on a variety of community needs. Projects include an income survey for Hudson Township in Douglas County, a telephone survey of Jump Start can program recipients for the West Central Communities Action Inc, and analysis of social capital data for the U of M Extension Service.

This is an annual position for the term of the COPC grant (fall 04' - spring 07'). Joe will help with the administrative needs of the grant and its activities. Joe's responsibilities include assisting with all aspects of the COPC grant which include participation and recording of meetings, assisting with special projects of the grant, and working on publicity, document design and visibility efforts.

Colleen is working on the second phase of this project. The first phase consisted of converting historical Milan VHS videos to a digital format and editing them for content. These videos are a rich source of cultural and community life in the city of Milan over the past thirty years. This second phase will supplement the video with an verbal history component through interviews with people that are in the videos. This audio will be overlaid on the video for final production.

Luke is involved with the creating of a basemap layer of parcels within the city of Morris for Geographic Informations Systems use.

Katie will assist with the coordination and documentation efforts of the publicity for the COPC grant. She will assist with the formation, implementation, and dissemination of varying types of publicity efforts for all of the COPC grant projects.

The Morris Development Partnership will address the lack of coordination that currently exists between citizens, agencies and institutions, and government in regard to housing initiatives, changes in economy and demographics, opportunities for young people, etc. This project will explore some of the history and patterns of development and redevelopment initiatives as well as ways to make improvements to existing methods. A primary goal of the project is to directly confront the short comings related to planning and operating in isolation.

The City of Morris Planning Commission is a 7 - member citizen board appointed by the Morris City Council. The Planning Commission is the primary entity that conducts long-range planning for the city of Morris, and also serves as the board of zoning to which citizens bring requests for zoning variance. The student will work with the City Manager and the Building Official to help gather background information on several specific topics that will provide the necessary information to help the planning commission make future planning decisions.
Topics may include:
1. Review outdoor lighting standards including the lighting standards from other communities
2. Examine how to revise Morris's lawns standards to allow the planting of native prairie grasses and finding different models of ordinances from cities that allow alternative landscapes
3. Investigate standards and best practices for impervious parking surfaces.

* This project was part of the Connecting Students and Communities program that was a partnership with the Center for Small Towns and the West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership.

Seth

Sam

Two courses, Statistics 1601: Introduction to Statistics and Statistics 2601: Statistical Methods, are now integrated with a civic engagement component that allows for the survey, analysis, research and reporting of rural statistical indicators. Students are involved in the compilation of variables, the analysis of rural indicators, and the creation of "media reports" that are distributed to communities and counties across Minnesota.

This workbook http://www.mrs.umn.edu/services/cst/statbook/ is used as a supplement for The Introduction to the Practice of Statistics (4th ed) by Dr. David S. Moore and Dr. George P. McCabe. This workbook will follow the textbook and provide problem sets for each chapter. The primary data source for this workbook is the 2000 US Census. The Census Bureau and the Minnesota Department of Administration (formerly Minnesota Planning) data repository web sites, which contain a wealth of data about the area, will be used throughout these problem sets. The student will provide guidance to students completing reports and reviews submissions for publication on the website.

This project involves working with the Center for Small Towns, the Minnesota Rural Partners, Minnesota Public Radio, and the West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership to help with the 2006 Symposium on Small Towns and the Minnesota Rural Summit. This combined event is a celebration of rural life through a keynote speaker, community project showcases, legislative forum, and a celebratory event.

Katie will assist in evaluation activities required in providing External Evaluations services to the participating schools (Wheaton area, Browns Valley, Clinton-Graceville and Herman-Norcross) for their "Connections: Before School, After School and Summer Programs" grant funded project. This may include collecting field data through various instruments (interviews, surveys, observation "field notes") by phone, e-mail and face-to-face methods. Katie may also assist with the transcribing data from taped interviews, analyzing collected data, and drafting of reports.

The purpose of this project would be to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service staff to conduct interviews with elderly citizens about their memories of local wildlife and land use practices, and how they have changed over the years. This information will provide some historical documentation about the land managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for their records and the public interest. The final outcome will be displayed at the surrounding County Historical Museums.

* This project was part of the Connecting Students and Communities program that was a partnership with the Center for Small Towns and the West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership.

Kate will work with the Stevens County Historical Society on the "Artisans on the Lawn" program that will be held during Prairie Pioneer Days in July. The Museum has held a variety of events during the Pioneer Days. She will assist in the planning, and focus on marketing of the event to people outside of the county. Kate will be responsible for reviewing photos and documentation of our past "Artisans on the Lawn" events and work with the Museum staff to develop an outline of ideas for the 2006 event. After the outline is developed a timeline will be established and the student will assist to locate participating artists and working with our Marketing Specialist to design and implement marketing strategies.

* This project was part of the Connecting Students and Communities program that was a partnership with the Center for Small Towns and the West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership.