The County L.I.F.E. Report
You can access the 2007 L.I.F.E Report by clicking either link:
Fond du Lac Area United Way by clicking: Full report as PDF (6MB opened in new window)
Fond du Lac Public Library by clicking this link for full report and segmented reports.
What is the County L.I.F.E Report?
Local Indicators for Excellence in Fond du Lac County, or L.I.F.E. Report, is an overview of the socio-economic conditions in Fond du Lac County. It is an extension of earlier efforts by the Safe & Stable Families Initiative completed in 1997 and 2001, entitled Strengths, Needs and Perceptions of Fond du Lac County Families. These earlier efforts were more narrowly focused on quality of life issues directly related to famlies.
The L.I.F.E. Report is similiar yet has been broadened to include more economic and environmental factors and is guided by more statistical documentation than previous assessments. It is modeled after other community assessments such as those conducted in the Fox Cities and most notably in Marathon County. The report relies heavily on demographic and statistical information that can be classified as indicators of excellence for communities in areas such as work, leasure, housing, education, health, safety and others.
In today's worled there is no single vision of the ideal community. Communities are complex entities with interrelated challenges and opportunities. What works in one community may fail in another. Despite this complexity, there are some areas relatively broad agreement about community. Community pertains to a sense of connection between people that emerges through processes of communication, joint activity, and sharing of common experiences. When people experience this sense of connection, they are frequently able to perform together with more creativity, greater satisfaction and better results.
Likewise, this report provides a picture of the many complexities within our own community. It provides information necessary and helpful to explore, but it also offers no conclusions or specific recommendations for the future. Its purpose is to inform, enlighten and empower local leaders and residents to gain greater understanding of current community conditions and trends, so that they may work together with more creativity and understanding in addressing the challenges that lie before them.
The content of the report include the following indicators; Health; Education; Work; Arts & Recreation; Natural Resources; Children & Families; Aging; Housing; Public Safety and Civics & Diversity.
If you're interested in exploring the information collected on one or all of the indicators please visit the Fond du Lac Public Library website. If you desire, you can download each section.
If you have problems accessing the information, please do not hesitate to let us know at 921-7010. Ask for Tina or Amber.
Acknowledgements
The production of the L.I.F.E. (Local Indicators for Excellence) in Fond du Lac County was truly a collaborative effort. The Fond du Lac Area United Way is deeply indebted to Ken Hall, Executive Director of the Fond du Lac Library and Nan Baumgartner, Family Living Educator/Department Head of University of Wisconsin-Extension Services Fond du Lac County for their individual leadership, advice, guidance and editorial support.
This publication would not have been possible without the participation of the Information Services Department at the Fond du Lac Public Library - especially in the countless hours spent gathering statistics and formatting them into a readable presentation by Librarians Lori Burgess and Mary Leb.
We also want to thank Carolyn Polodna, Professor at the University of Wisconsin - Fond du Lac County and your students who conducted a telephone survey complementing the statistical portions of the report.
We also want to acknowledge The Reporter for helping to disseminate this report to the community and for providing the cover photographs of Life in Fond du Lac County.
And finally, thank you to all of the community reviewers, city, county and state divisions, departments and organizations who share their statistics, knowledge and expertise with us.
Thank you.
Tina Potter, Executive Director - Fond du Lac Area United Way