Home is a simple word, but the experience of finding home is personal, complex, and always evolving.
The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters invites people across Wisconsin to join our Finding Home series and explore what it means to find home through the lenses of science, arts, history, literature, and civil discourse.
In every region of the state, people shape their sense of home through cultural expression, ecological knowledge, and community care. Many are also noticing changes in the places they know best, from shifting seasons to new pressures on land, housing, and water. Finding Home programs explore how people respond with creativity, stewardship, and resilience.
At its core, Finding Home brings people with different perspectives together with the goal of deepening understanding and identifying shared values and common ground.
This Finding Home success story features Amy Smith of La Crosse, Sustainability Director for Habitat for Humanity of the Greater La Crosse Region. In this video, Amy reflects on her work with the organization, particularly its ambitious neighborhood revitalization initiative, ReNew the Block.
For Amy, home extends far beyond her own front door. She thinks about how to help people remain in their homes as they age, create opportunities for multigenerational living, and build stronger and more connected neighborhoods. While home means comfort, respite, and belonging to her, it also means community engagement, relationship building, and bringing people together.
Amy believes that affordable, sustainable housing is essential to creating communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
