Four Exemplary Projects Selected for Wisconsin Top Rural Development Initiative Honors

HOLLANDALE – Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc., a statewide non-profit corporation, will award the Top Rural Development Initiatives for 2017 at a ceremony at the Heidel House Resort and Spa in Green Lake Wisconsin on Thursday, April 20 at 12:45 PM. The awards will be presented by Wisconsin Rural Partners president Carol Wetuski and awards committee chairperson Coreen Fallat. 

“Rural Partners received 17 nominations this year for these prestigious awards, and there were many wonderful projects,” said Rural Partners Executive Director Rick Rolfsmeyer. “The four initiatives selected by the judges exemplify the best of all the great things rural Wisconsin has to offer.” 

The four efforts receiving Top Rural Development Initiative awards are: 

• University of Wisconsin – Extension Community Vitality and Placemaking Team 
• Scenic Mississippi River Transit (SMRT) 
• Moving Platteville Outdoors, David Canny Rountree Branch Trail Project 
• Village of Sister Bay, Marketplace Redevelopment Project 

The awards ceremony is a part of the 2017 Wisconsin Rural Summit, themed “Who is the Future of Rural Wisconsin.” To learn more about the Summit and to register, visit http://wirural.org/summit2017/. 

Wisconsin Rural Partners is a statewide non-profit organization that develops rural networks and leaders, and provides a voice for rural Wisconsin. WRP is the federally-recognized State Rural Development Council for Wisconsin. 

This is the seventeenth year that Wisconsin Rural Partners has recognized Wisconsin’s Top Rural Development Initiatives. The program is designed to identify, highlight, and share innovative models, practices and programs that have a positive impact on rural Wisconsin communities. Wisconsin Rural Partners created the program to provide a mechanism for rural communities to learn from each other.