For more than a century, the Wisconsin Rapids area had a bustling economy based on the paper industry. With industry contraction in the late 1990s, the region lost approximately 40% of total jobs in a few short years. Incourage set out to help address resulting needs and found both an economic emergency and community-wide crisis of culture and identity. Seeking to build a community that works well for all people, Incourage’s work for the last decade has focused on helping to create a new narrative around hope, inclusiveness, sustainability and rekindling the innovation that built this rural, central Wisconsin community.