• West Central

Green Lake, Marquette, Shawano, Waupaca, Waushara Counties

Whispering Pines makeover improves Hartman Creek State Park

The Whispering Pines day-use area of Hartman Creek State Park benefitted from a $7,500 grant from the Waupaca Community Foundation to increase accessibility.

Whispering Pines was a privately-owned park until 1975 when it was willed to the state of Wisconsin. Equipment and buildings were removed but funds were not invested to maintain or improve access to the 30-acre site.

In 2022, the Friends of Hartman Creek State Park and the Waupaca Area Historical Society began raising funds to improve the park.

Grants and donations, including this year’s $7,500 grant from the Waupaca Area Community Foundation as well as the same amount in 2022, helped meet the goal. Volunteers created new walking trails with crushed stone, removed invasive species, cleared brush and culled trees.

Benches were installed and existing picnic tables and grills were made accessible.

Signage with photos from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s share the history of Whispering Pines and additional interpretive signage focuses on the unique trees and pristine waters of the Upper Chain O’Lakes surrounding the park.

• The Lakeshore

Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Sheboygan Counties

Donation will help build a Habitat home in Sheboygan

The Wells Fargo Foundation has awarded a $15,000 grant to Habitat for Humanity Lakeside to help build a new home in the city of Sheboygan.

The funding to Habitat for Humanity Lakeside, along with the support of Wells Fargo volunteers, will help build a home in the Farnsworth neighborhood for the Hernandez family.

The family is pushing through the challenges of a progressive muscular disease that makes their current apartment difficult for Demi, Adriana Hernandez’s daughter, to navigate. The home will be built to meet her current and future needs with an attached garage, 36-inch doorways, and space for physical therapy and occupational therapy equipment.

“This will be a home where Demi can make memories and grow into; somewhere she can return to when she heads off to college in the future,” said Adriana Hernandez. “For me, owning our own home means having a secure base without the need to constantly move, or be concerned that the rent is going to be increased, or worry about neighbors causing problems.”

This grant is part of a $7.5 million donation to Habitat for Humanity International through the Wells Fargo Builds program to build and repair more than 360 homes nationwide. Including this latest grant, Lakeside Habitat has received $93,000 through the Wells Fargo Builds grant program since 2018.

• The Northwoods

Florence, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto Counties

Marinette County featured in video series

The Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, working in conjunction with manufacturers, chambers of commerce and higher education in Fond du Lac and Marinette counties, has a new video series highlighting products manufactured and career opportunities in both counties.

Ann Franz, executive director for NEWMA, said, “The concept of the videos came from our taskforce that was concerned that residents didn’t know what was made and the careers available in the region. People drive past these buildings and have no idea of the amazing products and people that are working at these manufacturing companies.”

Marinette videos feature: BPM Inc., Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Graetz Manufacturing, Samuel Pressure Vessel Group and Waupaca Foundry. The products that are made by these companies range from navy ships to candy wrappers.

The career video asks people working in manufacturing why they enjoy their position.

Brandon Reckelberg with Graetz Manufacturing said, “I’m most proud of being able to draw something on a CAD software and watch that become a physical item that you can touch and see.”

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and UW-Green Bay – Marinette campus are both featured in the video as educational institutions in the county.

The companies that are featured in the Fond du Lac County video are: Alliance Laundry Systems, BCI Burke, Integrity Saw & Tool, Mid-States Aluminum and Sadoff Iron & Metal. The products made are numerous, from washing machines to playground equipment. Moraine Park Technical College has degree programs that can provide the training needed to be qualified for these careers.

Foundation provides students with $50 savings account

The Marinette and Menominee Area Community Foundation continues to fund its annual Future Fund each year for kindergarten students.

Starting with the 2019-2020 school year, kindergarten students across Marinette and Menominee counties have a $50 deposit-only savings account started for them by the community foundation. Each year until graduation, the MMACF adds more money to each student’s account.

Savings accounts may be used for any post-secondary education or training upon graduation from high school and are not accessible, unless a student wishes to add money for savings, until graduation.

The foundation has a goal of collecting $2 million for the fund to become self-sustainable. Past donations include contributions from Stephenson National Bank and Enstrom Helicopters.

• Interstate 41 Corridor

Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, Winnebago Counties

Haas Foundation donates $500,000 to NWTC machining lab

Representatives of the Gene Haas Foundation visited the campus of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College to celebrate its $500,000 gift naming the college’s advanced machining lab in honor of the California CNC entrepreneur.

Gene Haas is the founder of Haas Automation, which is the world’s third-largest machine tool builder, and the inventor of the machine tool industry’s first fully programmable collet indexer — the Haas HA5C.

NWTC President Kristen Raney said the gift is one of the largest in college history, and she presented foundation representatives with a commemorative key to the newly-named Gene Haas Center for Advanced Machining at the event.

The Gene Haas Foundation focuses mainly on middle school through college education, including gifts to institutions like NWTC that teach machining — though under-12 outreach has also occurred in Haas Automation’s home base states of California, Nevada and North Carolina.

Partnering with the very best CNC training programs in the world, the foundation has provided more than $175 million and helped expand the access to high-quality manufacturing technology training worldwide.

The only thing the gift can’t be used for is actual CNC machines, which NWTC Dean of Trades and Engineering Technology Amy Kox explained would be a conflict of interest. But the funds can be used for scholarships, marketing, talent attraction efforts, K-12 outreach and more.

Currently, the funds from the Gene Haas Foundation are being used to provide a toolbox to all NWTC students who remain enrolled in the CNC machining program for one year, Kox said. Personal tools can be a barrier to entry that the college is working to remove.

NWTC offers 34 certificates, technical diplomas, associate degrees and apprenticeships through its manufacturing programs.

Appleton creates housing task force

Appleton is forming a housing development policy task force in collaboration with key stakeholders including the Home Builders Association of the Fox Cities, REALTORS Association of Northeast Wisconsin, the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce and Habitat for Humanity Fox Cities.

The task force will work over the next several months to discuss and review current processes and policies to identify opportunities to reduce barriers to housing production in the city of Appleton. The task force will produce recommendations aimed at streamlining housing development, with a particular focus on increasing the financial accessibility of housing at various income levels.

“Like communities across the country, we are facing an acute shortage of affordable housing,” said Mayor Jake Woodford. “By bringing together a coalition of organizations, we intend to take a holistic approach to the issue, relying on the expertise and experiences of those in our community to guide our efforts.”

The task force will engage homebuilders, contractors, developers, sole proprietors and others to assess their experiences with the city’s development processes. Internal stakeholders — including city staff from planning, economic development, inspections, DPW engineering, fire and other relevant departments — will also provide insight.

“I am excited to embark on this effort to engage with stakeholders in the housing development process and look forward to identifying mutually beneficial, locally tailored solutions that will advance our housing efforts,” said Kara Homan, community & economic development director for the city of Appleton.

The primary objectives of the Appleton housing development policy task force include: identifying areas for process improvements and policy recommendations; evaluating policies and best practices to accelerate the development of higher-density, more affordable housing; fostering collaboration between external and internal stakeholders to achieve mutually beneficial solutions; and ensuring adequate utilization of city infrastructure, capital and service delivery resources for both short and long-term housing development projects.