Waunakee's UniverCity Year project chartered DEI work in local government

In the near future, Waunakee residents may tune into their local PBS station and see their village administrator.

With lights and cameras on, PBS producers filmed a presentation on the UW-Madison’s UniverCity Year program and the village’s acclaimed project accomplished in partnership with that program.

Providing an example of the UniverCity Year’s work with local governments, Schmidt, who has been Waunakee’s village administrator for 14 years, spoke about how the UW’s program facilitated the village’s work to build a relationship with the Ho-Chunk Nation at the July 16 program.

Gavin Luter, managing director of the UniverCity Alliance, introduced his explanation of how the program works by describing the Wisconsin Idea, a philosophy that the state’s higher education system should be accessible to all. Ironically, it is the same premise PBS grew from, and its University Place series, on which the program will air, exemplifies the Wisconsin Idea at work.

Noting that many colleges and universities appear as ivory towers, UniverCity Year’s goal is to partner graduate students and professors at the UW with local governments who are seeking solutions to challenges in public policy or projects.

Luter described local governments as “the smallest and leanest” of all, adding they often have to hire “thought partners” in the form of consultants.

Meanwhile, at universities, scholars and educators are often “siloed in their departments,” Luter said.

While universities are tasked with training the next generation of the workforce, often students don’t receive real world instruction, and the UniverCity Year program allows them to find solutions to challenges local governments identify in their communities. They have tackled issues such as finding strategies to build affordable housing, to make a community more welcoming or to stimulate economic development.

UniverCity can connect the municipalities with multiple departments, Luter said, noting that for an economic development and tourism project in Pepin County, students from the journalism and communications, UW-Extension, agriculture and applied economics and the MBA in arts administration departments partnered with county officials.

DEI in Waunakee

Waunakee’s projects focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, Schmidt said, including one that received a Wisconsin Policy Forum’s Salute to Local Government award in 2022. The village president then, Chris Zellner, sought to develop a relationship with the Ho-Chunk Nation as the village was celebrating its 150th year in 2021.

The Waunakee and Westport area sit on the Ho-Chunk Nation’s ancestral land, as Zellner and others in the village hoped to acknowledge. UniverCity Year professors had previously built connections with members of the Ho-Chunk Nation and were instrumental in introducing the government officials to one another, Schmidt said.

“They had already paved trails with the nation,” he noted about the UniverCity Alliance.

The efforts resulted in a number of outcomes, perhaps the most powerful of which is a land acknowledgement created with the help of the Nelson Institute and input from the Ho-Chunk Nation. It is included on every village board agenda, is posted on the building and on the website.

The relationship building process involved a number of cultural exchanges. After a dug-out canoe was discovered in the Madison lakes, the Ho-Chunk members built a canoe out of a cottonwood tree, and young members journeyed on the Yahara Chain of Lakes, Schmidt said. They began that journey at Waunakee Village Park with members of the two governments exchanging gifts.

The village formally recognized November at Native Nations History Month and flew the Ho-Chunk Nation flag. And, the Ho-Chunk insignia was placed on the Welcome to Waunakee signs.

The village also contracted with an artist to build a light box featuring scenes from the village, including a dug-out canoe from the same wood the Ho-Chunk vessel was created from.

The relationship building with Ho-Chunk Nation was just one of several projects resulting from the village’s partnership with UniverCity Year.

The impetus

When Luter first approached Schmidt about partnering on a project, Schmidt said the village was not ready. He didn’t have a specific challenge to work on.

But in 2020, after the George Floyd killing and a racial incident in Waunakee, Schmidt found a need to foster a more inclusive environment..

That Memorial Day weekend, three boys were seen driving around the village with the car windows rolled down, shouting racial epithets. One of the teenagers posted a video of the incident on social media, and village officials found themselves trying to address the community's reactions.

Schmidt said he then contacted Luter.

“We really need to understand where the village sits and what we’re doing with diversity, equity and inclusion as a village,” Schmidt said he told Luter at the time.

The UniverCity Year works with municipalities for three years, actually, first defining the projects before getting to work.

In Waunakee, the work included examining the village’s municipal code, policing process, communication process, human resources and other policies through a DEI lens, all work the current staff lacked the resources to accomplish.

Some other outcomes included a video series called “Waunakee Is Home” featuring interviews with people telling their stories of where they came from, a campaign to demystify mental health treatment for youths and senior citizens, and a change in how the Waunakee schools educate young people about Native American history.

PBS' University Place program on the presentation is expected to air and be available for live streaming some time this fall.