We celebrated the launch of the Sustainable Fox Valley Community Partnership on March 14th at the Warch Center on the Lawrence University campus. Thanks to generous support from Tom Boldt, we were able to provide a tasty, hearty late lunch for the fifty people who joined us.

After introductions we shared a trial run of the general presentation we've developed about sustainability as it relates to the Fox Valley. (Since then we have made some tweaks and improvements, and this presentation is now ready to share with service clubs, church groups, municipal committees -- anyone who is interested in learning what we're all about, and why. Please contact us if you know of a group interested in a presentation.)

The second half of the Community Partnership event was a "World Cafe" conversation facilitated by Catherine Neiswender, UW Extension Community Development educator for Winnebago County. Catherine asked everyone to share with others at their table their responses to the following questions:

·         What are you involved with now that makes our community more sustainable?  (Consider your personal, business, institution or community efforts)

·         What opportunities or actions do you see to help us create a sustainable future together? 

·         What Obstacles/Barriers get in the way?

The compilation of what was shared in responses to these questions is available on our website at SFV Community Partners. It's important to remember this just represents the ideas of those who were able to join us on one occasion. We hope to create many more opportunities for people to come together for this kind of conversation. It buoys people up, gives them hope for the future, and empowers them to be part of the change to a better way of life in their community.