LCO Ojibwe Community College
Extension Office

There are things Extension has going on that we are excited to tell you about;

• Currently, the LCO Youth Development Program is collaborating with UW Superior and UW Extension Sawyer County to provide a local teacher training on the Living by the Seasons with the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe curriculum.1 credit is being offered through the UW Superior Continuing Education Office. Also , the program coordinates the LCO Summer Community Garden Project located at the LCOOCC Farm. We Collaborate with the Workforce Investment Act Program to act as a work site for 5 summer youth workers. The youth are involved in all aspects of the garden project and maintain a large plot along with individual elder home-based gardens. Along with learning indigenous gardening practices , the summer youth workers also participate in nutrition and financial presentations and activities.

• The Water Quality Program is in full throttle on the project that they are working on for the summer. They are studying and identifying Native and Invasive species on the Chippewa flowage, as well as the creeks and streams that flow into the flowage and the creeks that feed into them as well.

• The Community Asset Research Project, The LCOOCC Extension Department is working with Washington University out of Saint Louis on a Community Assets Research project, the purpose of this research is to offer Native communities the opportunity to share their definitions of assets,priortize the assets they want to build and strategize ways to build them

• Increased Capacity ,The Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College Extension Initiative is funded by a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).  The main focus of this grant is to enhance leadership and volunteer opportunities for the LCO and surrounding communities.  We plan to accomplish this goal by providing educational workshops focusing on leadership, Ojibwe language and culture, financial education, and a variety of other topics.

• Family Living ,Family Living for Incarcerated Populations is another initiative that Extension is involved in.  CSREES has also committed to funding this project for 2 years.  This grant focuses on individuals who are either incarcerated, recently released, or family members of those individuals.  This grant provides education in the following areas: AODA, GED/HSED, conflict resolution,  parenting, and stress and anger management.  We are collaborating with Bayfield County and the Red Cliff First American Prevention Center to offer this programming in Bayfield and Sawyer counties

• Building Communities of Respect Conference  Click for flyer and registration information.