Judy Nagel, Envision Board member and Upward Mobility Signals Team
Here in our United States, one important step toward upward mobility is meaningful participation in our democracy, and that usually begins at the ballot box. But how smart are we able to be as voters? What do we really know? To what extent are we at the mercy of individuals, corporations and organizations that simply have enough money to fool the voting public?
(more…)Phil Hauck, Envision Board member and Economic Transformation/Artificial Intelligence Signals Team
We all know where the infamous Chinese spy balloon ended up – in the Atlantic, off the coast of South Carolina. And now we all know it came from China, as suspected. But who actually tracked that balloon back to its origins and proved it had been launched in China? A little Wisconsin company being nurtured right here in Green Bay, at Titletown Tech, the innovative partnership between the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft.
Tom Schumacher and Fr. Paul Demuth, Envision Board members and Housing & Safety Signals Team
“I didn’t want to have, like, any emotion, so I thought, like, the best way to, like, put it down would be to do more and more and more drugs.”
So begins the opening convocation in a “recovery high school” in Denver, as one student faces his peers and begins the morning’s dialogue. This is one of 43 such institutions, part of a national nonprofit called Association of Recovery Schools, seeking to empower hope and success in students facing substance addiction, to “live a substance-free life while receiving an education.”
(more…)Fr. Paul Demuth, Envision Board member and Housing & Safety Signals Team
January’s “Point in Time” count of homeless persons in Green Bay discovered 41 unsheltered persons living on the streets — the highest winter number counted in three years! People who are chronically homeless often deal with long term mental health and addictive behaviors, and the traditional shelter models do not address the needs of this population. Recent research has pointed to a possible solution: peer-run housing. It works like this: a small group of apartments is staffed by formerly homeless persons certified as “peer specialists.” Unlike the traditional “case management” model, peers work with these residents at their own pace to develop the confidence and skills needed to become healthy and, eventually, live independently. The Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition have approved this model as a concept and are looking for a sponsor to implement it for the Green Bay area.
(more…)Dave Wegge & Randall Lawton, Envision Board members and Strategic Foresight Consultants
This month the Green Bay Botanical Garden will welcome the community to its new Carol and Bruce Bell Children’s Garden, five times the size of its predecessor! The 47-acre, community-owned garden is open daily for a variety of activities that connect people with plants, hoping to enrich the quality of life in the upper Midwest. It sits on land that was, 30 years ago, an undeveloped area full of potential. Fifty years ago it was merely an idea in search of partnerships and hard work. Today the Garden hopes to be the leading educational, recreational, social and horticultural destination in the upper Midwest.
(more…)Nan Nelson, Envision Board Member
As you explore creating scenarios to introduce possible, plausible futures to your organization, consider how award-winning professionals — science fiction writers — do this. Not the folks who write Star Wars-type space operas or the sword and sorcery fiction of novels like Game of Thrones. Rather, consider Horizon 3, near-future “hard” science fiction like Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry For the Future or Neal Stephenson’s Termination Shock (both about climate change). These “world-building” science fiction writers take trends you are following in areas such as artificial intelligence, gene therapy or cybersecurity and create mind-expanding scenarios that are entertaining and sometimes alarming.
(more…)Steve McCarthy, Envision Executive Director, 2022- March 31, 2023
When I was asked in late 2021 to become Envision Greater Green Bay’s first executive director, I was of course honored. The organization’s mission and vision — centered on expanding strategic foresight throughout the area — is unique in North America. No other organization is attempting this, non-profit or for-profit.
(more…)Phil Hauck, Envision Board President
As they complete their Strategic Foresight training with Garry Golden, our graduates recognize the value of staying in touch and continuing to support each other. A number of workshop participants have asked us to create such opportunities to get together with like-minded former participants to discuss trends they are watching and techniques they are using to infuse Strategic Foresight thinking within their organizations. Our response has been to create small, committed Network Cohorts.
(more…)No topic received more attention than artificial intelligence as our winter 2023 cohort shared their final
presentations and received their certificates of completion. Representatives of the following
organizations completed their Strategic Foresight training on March 31:
St. Norbert College
Green Bay Police Department
HSHS WI/Prevea Health
Bellin Health
Foundations Health & Wholeness
Greater Green Bay Chamber
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
Bay Towel, Inc.
O’Connor Connective
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Chris Davis, Envision Board member and Green Bay Chief of Police
High-profile incidents involving police use of force over the past several years have increased scrutiny of police policy, culture, and training. A February 15 piece on ABC News highlights the stark difference between police training in the United States and that in other developed nations. For example, the average length of a basic police training program in the US is 22 weeks, compared with 15 to 21 months in Japan and 2 ½ years in Germany.
A recent report by the Police Executive Research Forum discusses the lack of standardization of training across the nation’s 17,000 municipal, county, and state policing agencies.
A likely future trend in policing will be greater standardization of training, as well as increased basic and ongoing training for police officers. This trend will benefit communities in terms of better police service. It will, however, significantly increase the cost of operating a police department. This may very well combine with a trend toward consolidating smaller police departments into larger agencies serving numerous political subdivisions.
Improved training standards for American police officers will definitely be a trend to watch in the future, as it will have significant implications for public policy and finance while offering the promise of improved public safety service in our communities.