NEW North, UW-Oshkosh to collect statewide pandemic impact data

The Brillion News

New North and regional partners to launch statewide COVID-19 business impact data collection program. Organizations with support from UW Oshkosh Center for Customized Research and Services will begin distributing a statewide survey to businesses in their communities on Wednesday, April 1. New North Inc. announced Monday, March 20, its partnership with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), Wisconsin’s eight other regional economic development organizations (EDOs) and UW Oshkosh’s Center for Customized Research & Services to create and distribute a data collection tool to businesses in the region who are experiencing economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey will be available to businesses in all 72 counties and disseminated by Wisconsin’s nine regional EDOs and their local chamber and community partners.

The survey will be repeated over several observation periods to better determine the economic impact to businesses over defined periods of time.

The project will be overseen by New North Executive Director Barb LaMue, Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) President Paul Jadin and Jeffrey Sachse, MPA, Interim Director of the Center for Customized Research and Services (CCRS) at UW Oshkosh. “Businesses around the state have been, and will continue to be, impacted for some time,” said LaMue. “The results of the responses will help government officials and service providers better address issues to help in this recovery.” According to Jadin, a former mayor of Green Bay, the results of the survey will inform the state and federal response to this crisis.

“The tool will create a better understanding of the tribulations of Wisconsin businesses and measure what sort of support people need,” he said. “It also will measure if they may be able to effectively recover, even with state and federal efforts.”