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UW Extension describes community surveys in Spider Lake, Draper and local associations
Summary
UW Extension staff updated the Sawyer County Economic Development committee on recent and ongoing community needs assessments in Spider Lake, Town of Draper and work with local associations, and asked committee members to complete a brief housing-study evaluation.
UW Extension staff told the Sawyer County Economic Development UW Extension Committee that the office has completed a community needs assessment in Spider Lake, is midway through work in the Town of Draper and has done strategic-planning work with the Tiger Cat Lake Association.
The update matters because the extension-led surveys and evaluations inform local planning, grant applications and follow-up support the office provides to towns and associations. Laurie Baltrucius said the surveys are customized to each community and that the office will run impact evaluations to meet state reporting requirements.
Laurie Baltrucius, the extension representative, said Spider Lake’s assessment was initiated by the community and that extension provided an “unbiased process” and a locally designed questionnaire. She said the Town of Draper’s survey is “almost halfway through” and Round Lake has not moved forward because the community did not indicate readiness. Baltrucius said extension will provide summary reports with graphs or tables where requested.
Baltrucius also said extension evaluates its work and will be running follow-up evaluations for the Spider Lake project to measure short-, medium- and long-term impacts. She asked committee members to complete a two-minute evaluation of the county housing profile she emailed; she said she had received two responses so far and that responses are confidential.
A committee member asked whether extension compares its survey results to other local needs assessments such as Tamarac Health’s community health assessment or Indianhead Community Action Agency updates. Baltrucius said extension aggregates existing plans and data, including comprehensive plans and health assessments, and that data are frequently needed for grant applications.
Baltrucius said extension staff are tying up evaluations from work over the past two to three years and will share final results with the committee when available. She invited committee questions and offered to distribute the housing profile to the full group.
Ending: Baltrucius said extension will continue to run evaluations and produce summary materials for towns; committee members were asked to complete the housing-profile evaluation to inform extension’s assessment of its local work.
