Warm wishes from CCWI! Wow, those winter storms really came through over the past several weeks! But I hope this email finds you warm and safe today! Our office kicked off this semester with some additional campus visits to UW – Milwaukee, Mount Mary University, UW- Whitewater, and UW – Green Bay, and I am looking forward to additional campus visits throughout the Spring semester.

I also hope to see many of you at our 2019 Civic Engagement Institute at Alverno College on March 21-22, 2019. Registration is now open! Harry Boyte will be our keynote speaker, and new this year, we’ll be offering “pre-institute” sessions around deliberative dialogue and community colleges as civic power plants. I’m looking forward to robust conversations with colleagues around the state as we consider the future of community and civic engagement, the world of work, and development of our civic leaders. In the meantime, don’t forget to submit a Civic Engagement Institute presentation proposal (due Feb. 8) and submit a nomination for one of our CCWI Annual Awards (now due Feb. 1).

Finally, I want to draw your attention to two exciting new opportunities resulting from collaborations with the national office and our colleagues across the Midwest. The Midwest Engaged Scholars Initiative focuses on creating a small cohort of early-career engaged scholars and scholar-practitioners who can advance co-created knowledge, critically engaged pedagogies, institutional change, and collaborative action to address societal issues. Campus Compact is now seeking applications from scholars interested in participation, and applications are due March 4, 2019. The AmeriCorps VISTA “Request for Host Site Proposals” for 2019-2020 is open to Campus Compact member campuses in the following states (Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming), as well as school and non-profit organizations that partner with one or more member campuses. Applications to be a host site for an AmeriCorps VISTA member are due March 1, 2019. Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTAs are leveraged to build the capacity of higher education institutions and their partners to contribute to programs and organizations focused on improving the lives of individuals who live in poverty. We hope to see applications from our member campuses for these two great opportunities. More information can be found below and by clicking on this links above. I am happy to chat if you have questions!

-Trina Van Schyndel, Director, Campus Compact for Wisconsin