About Mike's Work
Mike Wilson works as program director for the Northern Forest Center, a non-profit organization that serves as a convenor of ideas and dialogue on Northern Forest issues ranging from economics to ecology, community development, and cultural heritage. He has been with the organization since it was founded in 1997. Support from the Switzer Fellowship program, and the Leadership program has helped Mike work with a wide range of people from across the Northern Forest to identify, articulate and assess the core assets and values that contribute to the overall wealth, or well-being, of the Northern Forest. The result of this work was published in September, 2000, as the Northern Forest Wealth Index: Exploring a Deeper Meaning of Wealth. The Wealth Index is intended to encourage people in the Northern Forest to think about regional well-being as a function of the interrelationships among five categories of assets: Community, Culture, Economy, Education, and Environment. It represent consensus among community and economic development professionals, educators, health and human service providers, environmentalists, labor leaders, and business people across the region. The Northern Forest Center plans to use the Wealth Index as a framework for sustainable, regional development work in the Northern Forest. For more information about Wealth Index and other Northern Forest Center projects, visit the Center's website at: http://www.northernforest.org.