sarah smith
After growing up in rural western Wisconsin, Sarah moved to Dane County to attend UW-Madison and fell in love with the community. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History and went on to graduate with a Master’s in Educational Policy from UW-Madison as well. She has been active in volunteer organizations during her time in Dane County, including running a group of volunteers for the Quality Assurance division while she worked at Epic. Sarah has also organized with the Women’s March and served as State Chair for the Young Democrats of Wisconsin. She currently volunteers as a member of the City of Monona Sustainability Committee.
Sarah has previously served as Chief of Staff to State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and as Communication Director for former state Senator Patty Schachtner. She is now the Director of Public Affairs at the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. Sarah has represented District 24 on the Dane County Board of Supervisors since April 2020.
District 24: May 2021 Update
In this update, I'll share information about the latest round of small business grants administered through Dane Buy Local, the County's funding for the purchase of San Damiano, a vaccine update, and more.
You can also view our upcoming calendar and sign up for regular updates on County work here!
Round 3 of Small Business Grants
On May 6th, the County Board approved a third round of small business grants worth $15,000,000. As with the previous rounds of funding, this program is administered through Dane Buy Local.
To be eligible for the funding, a business must be for-profit, independently owned, and have a main office based in Dane County. Funding for the grant will be prioritized for businesses which have demonstrated a current financial need to save or pivot their business in order to provide services throughout 2021, such as restaurants, retail, gyms/fitness facilities, independent contractors (hair stylists, auto mechanics, etc.), the service industry, and start-up businesses in operation prior to March 15, 2020. Applications from other businesses will be considered on a case by case basis as available funding allows.
Starting next week, you can visit DaneBuyLocal.com to fill out an application for these funds!
San Damiano Funding Moves Forward
I authored 2021 RES-014 to authorize the use of $2 million in County funding to support Monona’s purchase of the San Damiano property. The Dane County Park Commission unanimously passed this resolution on April 28th, bringing it one step closer to final approval by the full County Board! You can follow along with this resolution’s progress here.
Vaccine Roll-Out Progress
COVID-19 cases continue to decrease in Dane County and 60.7% of Dane County residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine! While public health experts don’t yet know which level of vaccine leads to herd immunity, Public Health Madison and Dane County’s current target range is 60-90%.
You can learn about where to get vaccinated by visiting https://publichealthmdc.com/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine and sign up for regular updates from Public Health Madison and Dane County at https://www.publichealthmdc.com/blog.
