State Bar launches new pro bono portal to connect lawyers with their communities

Madison, WI – More low-income Wisconsinites facing civil legal challenges are expected to receive free legal help from pro bono attorneys with the development of Wisconsin’s first statewide Pro Bono Opportunity Portal, thanks to a partnership between the State Bar of Wisconsin and Paladin, a justice technology company.

The portal, which launched today at probonowi.org comes as civil legal service organizations in Wisconsin face critical funding issues and are turning away nearly 50 percent of those who need legal help. Examples of civil legal challenges include landlord evictions, unpaid health care bills due to unemployment, and child custody issues during the pandemic.

The new website will enable attorneys and law students to match their skills and interests with opportunities available through free legal agencies across the state, such as Legal Action of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Judicare. It will also allow the agencies to post their opportunities to a nationwide, American Bar Association-led Disaster Relief Pro Bono Portal to extend reach for COVID-19 specific pro bono work.

“Civil legal aid programs in the state are telling us that pro bono assistance is crucial to making our shared goal of equal justice for all a reality,” said State Bar President Kathleen Brost. “Requests for legal services have surged with the recent pandemic, and increased pro bono engagement will greatly benefit people in need of critical legal services.

“Pro bono efforts by private attorneys and law students help their clients, the courts, and the profession by reducing barriers to justice and closing the justice gap by meeting the legal needs of all Wisconsin residents and ensuring a just and equitable legal system,” Brost said.

Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools Selected as Hometown Charity for the Subaru Share the Love Event

We are thrilled to announce Don Miller Subaru of Madison has chosen the Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools as their hometown charity for this year’s Subaru Share the Love Event. For every new car sold or leased between Nov. 19, 2020 and Jan. 4, 2021, Subaru will donate $250 and Don Miller Subaru of Madison will donate an additional $50 to the buyer’s choice of one of four national charities or YOUR hometown charity – the Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools! In addition, Don Miller will donate $5 for any routine service visit during that time period.

Schedule a safe visit to either the East or West Don Miller Subaru dealership today and stop by the Foundation’s booth. All proceeds will benefit our school supply fund, which since September, has raised $220,000 supporting over 3,500 students in need of resources to properly engage in virtual learning. Donations purchased comprehensive school supply kits for students at every one of our 50 Madison public schools.

Please share this great news with your friends, family and colleagues! Learn more about how you can make a safe trip to either dealership by visiting their websites linked below.

Don Miller Subaru East
Don Miller Subaru West

WPS Charitable Foundation funds insurance scholarships in partnership with Urban League of Greater Madison and Madison College

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
DeAnne Boegli
Vice President of Communications
608-977-7343
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com

Bill Bessette
Senior Communications Lead
608-769-6798
wbessette@madisoncollege.edu

WPS Charitable Foundation funds insurance scholarships in partnership with Urban League of Greater Madison and Madison College

MADISON, Wis.—Nov. 23, 2020—The WPS Charitable Foundation has donated $25,000 that will give selected students the opportunity to earn an insurance certificate through Madison College. 

“While working on a plan to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion at WPS Health Solutions, we realized there is a golden opportunity to help those in our community to pursue an education that could lead to a career in the insurance industry. We reached out to Madison College and the Urban League of Greater Madison, and the scholarship plan quickly came together,” said Jim Baird, Executive Vice President of WPS Health Insurance.

The Urban League worked with Madison College to enroll students in the 14-credit Insurance Certificate for the Business Professional program under full scholarships. The WPS Charitable Foundation currently is funding eight students. Participants will graduate in spring 2021 and will receive ongoing support, career advising, and opportunities for employment with WPS or other local employers after graduation.

“When approached in early fall 2020 about efforts to recruit more people into the insurance field, we knew this opportunity would be mutually beneficial to the community we serve as well as to our partners at WPS to help meet their workforce needs,” said Dr. Ruben L. Anthony Jr., President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison.

“Through the generosity of the WPS Charitable Foundation, individuals who may not have otherwise had the opportunity to go to college are receiving an education to pursue business careers in the insurance industry,” said Madison College Provost Dr. Turina Bakken. “This is a pathway to very competitive wages in a stable field with a large presence in our state. The career opportunities are endless.”

About WPS Health Solutions

Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation is a nationally regarded benefits administrator for a variety of U.S. government programs and a leading not-for-profit health insurer in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation utilizes “WPS Health Solutions” to refer to our entire enterprise. Within our enterprise, there are three divisions, including Government Health Administrators, Military and Veterans Health, and WPS Health Insurance/WPS Health Plan/EPIC Specialty Benefits. WPS Government Health Administrators manages Medicare Part A and Part B benefits for millions of seniors in multiple states, and WPS Military and Veterans Health serves millions of members of the U.S. military and their families through TRICARE and Veterans Affairs programs. Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation has been based in Madison, Wis., for nearly 75 years. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.

About Madison College

Madison College serves more than 33,000 students throughout a 12-county district in south-central Wisconsin, offering nearly 180 diverse career programs, diplomas and certificates. Its mission is to provide open access to quality higher education that fosters lifelong learning and success in the communities it serves. Madison College is the second-largest institution in the Wisconsin Technical College System.

About the Urban League of Greater Madison

The mission of the Urban League of Greater Madison is to ensure that African Americans and other community members are educated, employed, and empowered to live well, advance professionally, and contribute to the common good in the 21st century. The Workforce Development team provides connections between high-demand industries and job seekers in the community. For more information, please visit ulgm.org.

Wisconsin Union Theater Season Continues With Virtual Events Featuring Jazz Pianist Christian Sands and Classical Pianist Jeremy Denk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 20, 2020

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Communications Director
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu

WISCONSIN UNION THEATER SEASON CONTINUES WITH VIRTUAL EVENTS FEATURING JAZZ PIANIST CHRISTIAN SANDS AND CLASSICAL PIANIST JEREMY DENK

MADISON –  The Wisconsin Union Theater’s fall virtual events will continue with a live performance by the Christian Sands Trio on Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. CDT, which will be preceded by a live Q&A at 7:30 p.m. CDT, and a performance by pianist Jeremy Denk on Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. CDT, which will be preceded by a live Q&A at 7 p.m. CDT.

At the age of 31, Sands has already established himself as one of the most in-demand jazz pianists in the world and has been hailed as the leading pianist of his generation. He began learning piano at the age of 3, but his journey began with learning classical music.

He found his way to jazz piano at 7 years old after feeling constricted by the specificity his teacher prescribed for how each classical piece was to be played. His parents supported his journey and ensured music often filled the Sands household, including music from Grover Washington Jr., Miles Davis and Shirley Caesar, all of which influenced Sands’s music.

Sands recently released an album, called “Be Water,” which took inspiration from water’s peaceful yet powerful qualities. “Be Water” includes 10 pieces, nine of which Sands wrote, that emulate the many forms that water can take, from a sun-bathed, tranquil lake to a fierce thunderstorm.

“Christian was a jazz piano prodigy playing with the greats like Billy Taylor and Oscar Peterson and is shaping up to be one of the ‘greats’ himself,” Wisconsin Union Theater Director Elizabeth Snodgrass said.

Customers that still have previously purchased tickets for the Christians Sands performances that were scheduled for April 9 or April 10 can use the tickets for the Dec. 3 performance.

Denk’s performance, which is part of the Theater’s 101st Annual Concert Series, will include Robert Schumann’s “Papillons, Op. 2,” Clara Schumann’s “Romances, Op. 21,” Missy Mazzoli’s “Bolts of Loving Thunder,” and Johannes Brahms’s “Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119.”

In the United States, Denk has performed with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra and frequently performs at Carnegie Hall. Internationally, he has toured with the world-famous Academy of St Martin in the Fields as well as at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. Among his many accomplishments, Denk won a MacArthur Genius Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize.

Denk’s talents include writing about music. Some of his stories about music have been featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review as well as in The New Yorker, The New Republic and The Guardian. His passion for composing both music and writing compositions is evident in his music-based blog “Think Denk,” which dates back to 2005.

“Jeremy Denk is one of the greatest pianists of our generation,” Snodgross said. “While many pianists specialize in a particular period or composer, Jeremy is a musical omnivore whose wide-ranging interests span centuries and styles, and he is exceptional at playing all of them. As The New York Times said, he is ‘a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs.’”

For more than 75 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a cultural center for community members and visitors.

The Wisconsin Union Theater team presents its season in collaboration with the student-led Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Performing Arts Committee, which, along with 10 other WUD committees and six clubs, promotes and runs more than 1,000 Wisconsin Union events each year.

The Theater team strives for all of its spaces to be accessible, and those that need accommodations can reach out to the Wisconsin Union Theater team at wisconsinuniontheater@union.wisc.edu.

This year, the Wisconsin Union Theater team committed to taking action in standing against racial inequities. The team is working to be activists; use the arts to create social justice; remember that students are future leaders and must be part of the change; use its voices to influence leadership and be firm in its resolve; and make space, step back, and learn how to give up undeserved or unnecessary power and privilege. For a full statement on the Theater’s stance and efforts, click here.

To purchase tickets to Sands’s performance, visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/christian-sands-trio. To purchase tickets to Denk’s performance, visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/jeremy-denk.

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About the Wisconsin Union Theater

For more than 75 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a center for cultural activity in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The Theater hosts performances in multiple locations, including Memorial Union, and has an expansive history of remarkable performances. The Wisconsin Union Theater is part of the Wisconsin Union, a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Theater: union.wisc.edu/wisconsin-union-theater.

About the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee

The Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee plans and promotes events for the historic Wisconsin Union Theater stages. The student-led committee programs a variety of events to provide a diverse and cultural experience for students, faculty, alumni, community members and visitors. Learn more: union.wisc.edu/get-involved/wud/performing-arts.

To read this release online, visit union.wisc.edu/december-theater.

Strang Madison Office Awarded 1st WELL Gold Certified Space in WI

Strang Press Release
811 E. Washington Ave. Suite 200
Madison, WI 53703
608.276.9200
strang-inc.com/

Strang Madison Office Awarded WELL Gold Certification
First WELL Certified Space in Wisconsin!

The architectural, engineering, and interior design firm Strang announced today that their Madison office has been awarded the first WELL Gold Certified project in the state of Wisconsin.

This prestigious distinction was awarded through the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Building Standard™ (WELL), a performance-based certification system for measuring features of the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing. Strang’s office earned this recognition based on seven categories of building performance— Air, Water, Light, Nourishment, Fitness, Comfort, and Mind.

This 8,730 SF office space, which also recently achieved LEED® Gold certification, implemented some of the following practices to achieve a WELL Certified™ Gold rating including: installing specialized HVAC systems to improve indoor air quality, offering quality filtration on drinking water, providing employees with healthy food options, acoustic planning, and designing spaces that promote mindfulness, physical activity, and employee comfort.

Katie Lowery, Director of Integrated Controls Systems, championed this project to ensure this space met all WELL Gold performance requirements.

“I’m so proud of our firm and design team to have achieved the first WELL Certified project in the State of Wisconsin! As a culture, we spend 90% of our time indoors and so it’s truly meaningful that our place of work contributes positively to our health.  The WELL Building Design Standard has raised the bar on what it means to have a healthy workplace, both physically and mentally.  Today’s climate has raised many concerns about maintaining health and our staff has the assurance that we are placing occupant health and well-being as a top priority through our design standards and operations.  We’re happy to have done what’s right for our own workplace and are even more excited to share our knowledge with clients who wish to do the same for theirs.”

– Katie Lowery, LEED AP, BD-C, WELL AP

Strang has been a leading practitioner of WELL™ designed facilities, continually seeking out ways in which we can transform our buildings and communities to empower us to live healthier, safer, and more productive lives. It is a great honor to be recognized for our efforts within our own Madison offices and demonstrate how Strang provides thoughtful design centered around health and wellness in the built environment.

About Strang

Established in 1935, Strang is an award-winning architecture, engineering, and interior design firm with offices in Madison and Waukesha. Our inclusive project approach allows us to provide exceptional design for the most unique and challenging projects within the science and technology, commercial, higher education and civic + cultural sectors.

Check out our blog post and video on this topic as well:

Blog: https://strang-inc.com/2020/11/20/strang-madison-office-achieves-well-gold-certification/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35IGrY8Hz0c&feature=emb_title