Sep 28, 2023 | Envision Success Stories
Lynn Gerlach, Envision Communication Consultant
We welcomed 23 new Strategic Foresight students to our fall workshop, held at the beautiful Green Bay Botanical Garden – our biggest class yet. Collectively, they represent ten local organizations, some new to strategic foresight and others in training to enhance teams already established. Pictured in back on the far right is Garry Golden, certified futurist, who travels to Green Bay from New York City twice each year to train local organizations in the Greater Green Bay area.
Click here to read entire article.
Sep 28, 2023 | From the Executive Director
Alexa Naudziunas, Executive Director
It is with great enthusiasm that I share some news with you about the ever-evolving landscape of our community. As we look ahead to the future, I believe it is our duty to equip ourselves with the tools and insights needed to navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie on the horizon.
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Sep 25, 2023 | Signals to Watch
Nan Nelson, Envision Board Member and Economic Transformation Signals Team
A new startup is using AI to make non-English call center employees, who are often located in India, Pakistan or the Philippines, sound American. Founded in 2020, Sanas now provides companies with a proprietary AI software that works in real-time to alter users’ voices to sound more “Western.” Its aim is to “improve human-to-human relationships,” but critics argue the plan is fraught with ethical and psychological implications. Some say it puts the onus on non-Westerners to cater to Western interests. Read more here.
Sep 7, 2023 | Horizons Newsletter by Envision, Uncategorized
Enjoy the September 2023 Horizons, Envision’s bi-monthly newsletter. Meet Alexa Naudziunas, Envision’s new executive director; read how Karmen Lemke, Director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay, has helped implement Strategic Foresight Training in her agency; and benefit from valuable insights on current trends and signals from Envision Board members.
Sep 2, 2023 | Upward Mobility
Jim Golembeski, Envision Board member and Upward Mobility Signals Team
It takes 18 years to grow a worker.
That makes workforce forecasting one of the easiest things that Envision can do in our efforts to identify trends and challenges. It is easy to gather live birth data for our region on an annual basis and extrapolate out into the future.
We know the numbers of each age group, year by year, in NEW North. I have been speaking about these numbers for more than twenty years. The writing, as in the book of Daniel, has been on the wall: too many Baby Boomers retiring and not enough replacement workers coming into our workforce.
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Sep 2, 2023 | Envision Success Stories
Karmen Lemke, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay
Although the future is really in the hands of our Almighty God, we can use our wisdom to best prepare Catholic Charities for our next years of service. That’s just what we’ve been doing since 1918. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay began when the Rev. Paul P. Rhode was appointed to the position of Bishop. His familiarity with outreach to the poor prompted Bishop Rhode to conduct a local survey which highlighted needs for services within the Green Bay area. He created a plan to implement a social services arm of the Diocese of Green Bay.
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Sep 2, 2023 | President's Messages
Phil Hauck, Board President
Alexa Naudziunas, with deep roots in community-building, has accepted the position of Executive Director of Envision. She begins her term September 8 when she joins Envision’s eighth Garry Golden Strategic Foresight Workshop series along with 23 others. In October, she will enter the University of Houston’s certification program on Strategic Foresight.
Alexa was selected from a strong field of candidates after the resignation of Envision’s first Executive Director, Steve McCarthy, who left to return to his home in western Wisconsin. The search committee was impressed by her grassroots experience in building community involvement: She was employed by the city of Oshkosh for eight years, doing major event planning as well as coordinating neighborhood and city committees.
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Sep 2, 2023 | Economic Transformation
(Excerpts from Leatherby, Lauren. “How a Vast Demographic Shift Will Reshape the World,” New York Times, July 16, 2023.)
Excerpted by Phil Hauck, Envision Board and Economic Transformation Signals Team
The world’s demographics have already been transformed. Europe is shrinking. China is shrinking, with India, a much younger country, overtaking it this year as the world’s most populous nation.
Click here for Phil’s complete article.
Aug 4, 2023 | Signals to Watch
This year, over half of the states in the United States will officially recognize Juneteenth as a public holiday. The recognition of Juneteenth has gained momentum in recent years, with increased public awareness following nationwide protests against racial injustice. For now, Wisconsin does not recognize Juneteenth as a holiday. Pew Research offers a short but insightful summary of state differences in recognition of Juneteenth
Aug 1, 2023 | Signals to Watch
Judy Nagel, Envision Board and Upward Mobility Signals Team
When you think of a drone, how high do you imagine it going, and how long do you imagine it staying in the air? Did you realize that the new “pseudo-satellite” drones can soar to heights of more than 60,000 feet and stay up there for months? That’s the report from Alistair MacDonald in The Wall Street Journal, which labeled such drones the “innovation of the week” recently.
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