Just before the second semester of project collaboration between University of Wisconsin–Madison and the City of Milton, Mayor Anissa Welch invited faculty, instructors, staff, and students to spend a day in the city getting to know the community.

Welch said the visit to Milton on Jan. 19 created a “shared, lived experience” and fostered “thoughtful and dynamic discussions” between the students, faculty, and city project leaders who are collaborating through UniverCity Alliance – a partnership program that connects Wisconsin local governments with university resources to address community-identified challenges.
“Students got a feeling for the history, culture, and overall nature of a small town in Wisconsin,” Welch said. “In addition, the visit demonstrated an appreciation and value for the mutually beneficial relationships local governments and the University of Wisconsin –Madison create through collaborative efforts.”
Milton is working with UniverCity to enhance communications, strengthen community connection, and create a culture of diversity, inclusion, belonging and lifelong learning; and build a resilient city. During the visit, the group visited the Milton Public Library, connected with each other during lunch at city hall, and toured Milton House – a historic building that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Welch said it was really important to her that the students get a sense of the community that they are going to be impacting through their work.
“I want the students to know they will always have an imprint on our city forever going forward and that Milton is their community, too,” Welch said. “The relationships formed enrich all our lives both personally and professionally.”
Likewise, it is important to UniverCity Alliance Managing Director Gavin Luter that UW—Madison is also affected by Wisconsin communities.
“The visit to Milton allowed us to meet people face-to-face, learn from their experience, and understand how we can better meet their needs,” Luter said. “When we make it easy to facilitate relationships between UW—Madison and Wisconsin communities, like Milton, both are strengthened.”
This is the ethos of UniverCity. Through this partnership, both the university and Milton are learning from each other. Milton receives tangible recommendations, while students gain practical experiences – a “mutually advantageous” partnership, Welch said.
“The efforts drive innovation and build resilient communities that are making better informed decisions to provide high-quality services and standards of living for their residents,” Welch said. “Collaborations create an environment that fosters cross-cultural understanding, trust, new and fresh perspectives, and rejuvenates and motivates local government leaders.”
Centering Milton youth in School of Human Ecology work
For Ben Fisher, associate professor of Civil Society & Community Studies in the School of Human Ecology, the visit in January wasn’t his first time in Milton. He teaches Civil Society & Community Studies 812: Mixed-Methods in Community-Based Research and worked closely with the Milton Youth Coalition and the Substance Prevention Society during both Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters.
Some of these Milton students spent a day in Madison in December, taking a tour of campus and learning about the School of Human Ecology. Students in Fisher’s fall class visited Milton several times, but they had not yet met others in the community, including the mayor and the library director.

“It’s always important to understand the context in which social science research is taking place, so spending time in the community helps round out our understanding of the context of our work,” Fisher said.
He was appreciative of UniverCity Alliance fostering the original connection with Milton and providing resources for the visit.
“Community-based work is hard and not for everyone, but if you’re inclined to give it a try, there are lots of resources at UW for helping you prepare for and successfully execute this sort of work,” Fisher said.
Linnea Hjelm is a fourth-year PhD student in Civil Society and Community Studies who has been supporting the collaboration between Fisher’s course and Milton community partners. In Hjelm’s past projects, she has typically already been living in the same community as those she’s working with, so building a relationship with Milton while also learning about the city was a new experience.
Visiting Milton and getting a feel for the community helps the UW–Madison students approach these community-based projects with more empathy and a better sense of how to connect with the high school students, Hjelm said.
Hjelm grew up in a small town and while she might share some experiences with these Milton students, not every small town is the same.
“You really don’t know until you actually step foot into that high school, you see students’ spaces, you hear from their perspectives, you drive around town and see signs in people’s yards. It brings everyone down to earth a little bit,” Hjelm said. “We really can’t know how people experience life in a specific place until you’ve stepped foot in their town and talk to them about it.”
After working with the Substance Prevention Society based at the local high school, Fisher’s students created a social media toolkit that would help the youth navigate the social media landscape as they promote their substance-free events to peers. The “thoughts, dreams, and inputs” of the Milton youth remained at the center of Fisher’s students’ work.
During the Spring 2024 semester, the School of Human Ecology graduate students will be working with the Milton youth using a qualitative research method called Photovoice to gather data about the effectiveness of the organization and its impact on local youth.

This project will prompt Milton youth to answer questions that interest them using photos. Then, the graduate students will lead focus group discussions about those photos and what they mean to the youth participants. These photos and conversations will be data that Milton Youth Coalition Program Manager Megge Casique will be able to use to write reports and seek funding.
Casique said meeting with the UW–Madison students in Milton was beneficial and offered a chance to “put a face with a name.”
“(Substance Prevention Society) has done amazing work but is always growing and learning from all of their activities that help them meet their goals,” Casique said. “This partnership has allowed for the youth members to work on adding more depth to their activities and assessing the success of their objectives. This partnership has brought in the big picture of their impact.”
—Abigail Becker