Paving the high road toward success. 'High Road Highlights' is our monthly roundup of project wins, news, and more!
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As we close the chapter on an incredible year, we’re filled with immense gratitude for everything 2024 has brought us—our first official year as the High Road Strategy Center! What started as an idea 30 years ago has grown into a thriving organization with over three transformative projects advancing the high road mission. None of this would have been possible without your support.
Together, we released over 55 blogs and articles, published 5 reports, and convened more than 210 mayors and city and state leaders for dynamic, in-person exchanges of high road ideas. Stay tuned for our Year in Review report coming out this winter, where we’ll dive deeper into all we’ve accomplished together.
To celebrate all that we’ve achieved together, this special edition of High Road Highlights reflects on the moments and milestones each of our programs is most grateful for. Thank you for being an essential part of our journey.
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This year, we celebrated the resilience and progress of Wisconsin’s workers with the release of The State of Working Wisconsin 2024 report and an event
amplifying workers' voices. The report highlighted historic milestones: record-high job numbers, significant wage growth, and narrowing gaps for lower-wage earners. Yet, it also underscored ongoing challenges, from persistent gender and racial disparities to declining unionization rates and outdated policies that leave workers and families vulnerable. At our event, workers shared compelling stories of strength and advocacy, calling attention to the urgent need for policies that ensure dignity, security, and opportunity for all. We are deeply grateful to these workers whose insights reinforce our commitment a stronger and more equitable Wisconsin economy.
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In the summer of 2024, Mayors Innovation Project (MIP) launched a research project aimed at better understanding the experiences that mayors face while campaigning for and in the position of mayor. The project included two parts: a survey of all current mayors, and small focus group interviews with women mayors; in total, MIP collected survey responses from 298 mayors and interviewed nearly 50 women mayors. MIP will use this data to shed light on the unique experiences of women mayors and the resources, people, or support systems that have helped them in each stage of this process and to create tools to support current and incoming women mayors. A briefing of the initial findings of this project will be held at the
MIP Winter Meeting in January 2025 in Washington DC. We are incredibly grateful for the mayors who participated in this important work and the advisors, partners, and funders who helped make this work possible.
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State Smart Transportation Initiative’s annual Community of Practice
meeting brought together leaders from innovative state departments of transportation to exchange ideas and discuss the future of transportation. Topics included reimagining hazardous urban highways, advancing passenger rail, and shifting state DOT culture. Leaders left inspired and ready to implement new practices for more sustainable and equitable transportation systems. Thanks to the support of the High Road Strategy Center community, State Smart Transportation Initiative continues to drive transformative change nationwide.
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This year, ProGov21 integrated an AI-assisted tool into its policy library. Using a large language model, the tool helps us comb through resources by our library contributors, selecting and summarizing the most up-to-date reports, fact sheets, toolkits, and related documents. Supervised by our team of researchers, the updated workflow has allowed us to significantly expand our library, providing a larger pool of cutting-edge policy recommendations for local governments.
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Charter school proposed to MMSD board would focus on career pathways for high schoolers
High pay scale of Wisconsin’s CEOs, Lingering questions in police shooting 20 years ago, How to deal with secrets uncovered in your family history
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About High Road Strategy Center
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Based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the High Road Strategy Center is a national think-and-do tank that promotes “high road” solutions to social problems. Learn more here, or click below to learn about our projects housed at the High Road Strategy Center:
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