Family Impact Seminar
The Family Impact Seminar convenes policymakers and their aides to discuss pressing policy issues and how they impact families.
About the Seminar
The Wisconsin Family Impact Seminar (FIS) is a component of the La Follette School’s policymaker outreach program. Established at UW–Madison in 1992, FIS was designed to provide state legislators and program administrators with nonpartisan, research-based information on family issues. Our Family Impact Seminar is affiliated with the national Family Impact Institute, with the goal of better connecting research and policy, and to promote a family impact and racial equity lens in policymaking. According to the institute, 25 states and the District of Columbia are part of the FIS network.
The Family Impact Seminar takes the form of a series of seminars, discussion sessions, and/or briefing reports, and is based on an issue relevant to a bipartisan group of state legislators (Advisory Board). Researchers/presenters then apply the family impact lens to the issue with attention to whether policies have impacts on families.
Previous Family Impact Seminars
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La Follette Legislative Staff Training 2026
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Teodoro’s water report cards make their Capitol debut
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Family Impact Seminar looks at financial well-being of Wisconsinites
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Rebuilding Wisconsin’s Child Care Infrastructure
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Beyond Healthcare Policy: Building the Foundation of Health for Wisconsin Families
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Strategies to Divert Adolescents with Behavioral Health Needs from the Juvenile Justice System
Advisory Board
- Rep. Jill Billings (D)
- Rep. David Murphy (R)
- Rep. Patrick Snyder (R)
- Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D)
- Sen. Patrick Testin (R)
Annual support of the Wisconsin Family Impact Seminar is made possible by the Phyllis M. Northway Fund and the UW–Madison Chancellor’s Office.
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