Today on GridgeFridge, we’re excited to welcome Isa Hernandez-White and Bertha Gonzalez, two of four Community-based learning interns at the Morgridge Center. Isa is a sophomore at UW–Madison majoring in psychology and Bertha is a junior majoring in human development and family studies and psychology. As Community-based Learning interns, Isa and Bertha help facilitate Community-based learning classes, also called CBL courses. CBL courses incorporate at least 25 hours of meaningful community...

Today on GridgeFridge, we’re so excited to welcome Kathy Cramer, a UW–Madison political science faculty member and former faculty director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service. She started working at UW–Madison in 2000 and served as the Morgridge Center faculty director for three years. Kathy is well-known in the academic community for her research on individuals’ perception of their place in politics. Kathy helped develop the BadgersVote Coalition, which unites individuals and...

In this episode of GridgeFridge, we’re thrilled to welcome Francesca Hong, the state assembly representative for the greater Madison area. Before she was elected to office in 2020, Hong was an entrepreneur and restaurant owner. Hong opened up her first restaurant, Morris Ramen, in 2016 near the capitol. As Hong’s network within the culinary world grew, she went on to found a network of female chefs and other professionals in the industry called the Culinary Ladies Collective. After watching...

In our second episode this season, we're thrilled to welcome Associated Students of Madison (ASM) Vice-Chair Lennox Owino. Lennox is a junior at UW–Madison studying finance and actuarial sciences. An international student from Nairobi, Kenya, Lennox is a recipient of the prestigious King-Morgridge Scholarship, which is awarded to six international students every year. Lennox became involved in ASM on campus his freshman year, working his way up from an intern to the elected vice-chair of...

To kick off the first episode of our second season, we're ecstatic to welcome the City of Madison’s Deputy Mayor Reuben Sanon. Reuben interned at the Morgridge Center as a campus outreach intern during his undergrad at UW-Madison. After graduating from UW–Madison with degrees in journalism and political science, Reuben worked in the nonprofit sector in Michigan for a few years before returning to the Morgridge Center as the Badger Volunteers Coordinator. In 2019, he went on to work for the...

On this episode of GridgeFridge, we'll be speaking with Anya Piotrowski, the Morgridge Center's Badger Volunteers Coordinator. Although Anya has only been at the center for a year, she has spent the past decade engaging in community-based work across the country, including working as an AmeriCorps VISTA member. Now as the Badger Volunteers Coordinator, she oversees the semester-long program that pairs teams of students with community organizations to volunteer one to four hours each week to...

On today's episode, we'll be welcoming F.H King. F.H King is a student organization on the UW–Madison campus committed to sustainable agriculture. Run by a student directors board, F.H. King grows and harvests produce on a two-acre organic farm in the Eagle Heights area. They run a variety of virtual and in-person programs surrounding growing and harvesting, programming, community projects and activism.

In this episode, we’ll be learning about the Perspectives Project, which was awarded a 2021-22 Wisconsin Idea Fellowships. Wisconsin Idea Fellowships (WIF) are awarded annually to UW–Madison undergraduate projects working to address issues identified by local or global communities.  Fellowships are awarded to semester-long or year-long projects designed by an undergraduate student or group of students in collaboration with a community organization and a UW faculty or staff member. The...

In our final episode for the spring 2021 semester, we're ecstatic to welcome Millennial Action Project Founder Steven Olikara. Steven graduated from UW–Madison as a Truman Scholar in 2012 and went on to found Millennial Action Project — also known as MAP, for short.  MAP is the largest nonpartisan organization of young lawmakers in the US working with over 1600 elected officials in Congress and state legislatures to encourage post-partisanship and innovative policy solutions across party...

In this episode, we'll be catching up with Morgridge Center intern Danielle Wendricks. Dani is a senior at UW–Madison majoring in community and nonprofit leadership and history.  In her three years at the Morgridge Center, Dani worked first as a peer advisor and now his Community-based Learning intern. In addition to being a Wisconsin Idea Fellowship recipient, Dani recently received the Ginsberg Family Award for outstanding leadership and service contributions to the University of Wisconsin...

In this episode, we'll be hosting Hannah Stowell, the United Way of Dane County's corporate and community engagement program manager. She previously served as a corporate and community engagement coordinator and HealthConnect specialist at the United Way of Dane County. She has over five years of experience in community engagement and nonprofit work in the greater Madison area.  Today on GridgeFridge, we'll discuss community engagement work amid the COVID-19 pandemic, work to confront...

In this episode, we'll be chatting with League of Women Voters interns Angela Maloney and Makayla Pesch. Angela is a sophomore at UW–Madison majoring in community and nonprofit leadership and international studies. Makayla is a junior studying human development and family studies as well as social welfare. To learn more about the April 6 election and how you can cast your ballot, check out resources available on vote.wisc.edu or myvote.wi.gov. Today on GridgeFridge, we’ll dig into the...

Djamal Lylecyrus is a sophomore studying political science and communication arts at UW-Madison. Djamal is the founder of the Instagram account BIPOC at Wisco, which he formed in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movements spurred by the death of George Floyd. The account's goal is to share the experiences of black indigenous and people of color on the UW campus in order to increase the visibility of issues faced by BIPOC students. Since founding the account, Djamal has become an advocate...

On our first ever episode today we will be welcoming Lily Zander. Lily is a senior studying environmental science and Spanish at UW-Madison. In 2019, Lily and her project partner Akshat Khanna were awarded a Wisconsin Idea Fellowship grant through the Morgridge Center and an American Family Insurance Social Entrepreneurship Award.  Wisconsin Idea Fellowships better known as WIF are awarded annually to undergraduate student projects working to address issues identified with a local or global...