by Liz Hawley, Education & Outreach Coordinator
Since its inception in 1992, Willy Street Co-op’s Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF) has contributed more than $580,000 to local nonprofits and cooperatives to support developmental and educational projects for our community. The fund is seeded when Owners who have become inactive and have not claimed their equity after three years either abandon or donate their Owner equity to our Co-op for charitable purposes.
Grants from the CRF may be awarded to innovative, educational, and/or entrepreneurial endeavors that impact a large group of people, reach out to underserved populations, create jobs or develop skills, foster social engagement, and offer opportunities for diversifying partnerships and collaboration. Areas of funding include food justice or access, sustainable agriculture, health and well-being, or social change. This fiscal year, the Board allocated $65,000 for this competitive grant fund, an increase of $10,000 in available funds over last year, and we received 40 total applications requesting $123,927 in funding.
The CRF grant review committee is pleased to share the 22 projects receiving funding this year:
Canopy Center: Food for Healing & Connection ($2,650)
Canopy Center offers support, advocacy, and therapy to children and families who have been impacted by trauma and adversity through three programs: Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Oasis Sexual Abuse Therapy, and Parent to Child Supervised Visitation. Many of the children and families they serve also struggle financially, and although Canopy Center provides most of their services at no cost, they note that “when children arrive hungry or families are concerned about where their next meal will come from, it creates an unnecessary distraction from the hard work they are about to do.” To alleviate this barrier, they provide snacks or ingredients to make a sandwich. Canopy Center staff say, “This small amenity truly helps set children up for success, ensuring they can concentrate during programs and increasing the probability of successful therapeutic outcomes.” They also stage family sessions in a home-like setting with a kitchen available for families to cook a meal together. Additionally, Canopy Center provides emergency food assistance in the form of grocery store or restaurant gift cards. CRF funding is for snacks and gift cards.
CEOs of Tomorrow, Inc: Building Youth Financial Wellness ($4,070)
Founded in 2016, CEOs of Tomorrow helps youth in grades 4-12 unlock their entrepreneurial gifts and use them to make the world a better place. Their programs are based on three foundations: social entrepreneurship education, financial literacy, and work readiness. Their Teen Money Mentor program hires 9-12 graders from underserved populations to be mentors for their peers on financial matters—money management, budgeting, saving, and investing. Through their participation as mentors, these teens earn up to six high school credits and up to eight Madison College Prior Learning Credits. This spring the mentors will attend the Generation Wealth Conference: Lessons to Build Legacy conference to support their professional development. CRF funding is for staff time, Teen Money Mentor wages, transportation, conference fees, lodging, and meals.
East Side Alano Club of Madison: Structural Engineer Consultation ($2,500)
The East Side Alano Club (ESAC) is an organization that maintains a facility on Madison’s northside for 12-step groups and recovery meetings, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Drug Addicts Anonymous, and Narcotics Anonymous. The ESAC facility was built in the 1960s, and the roof needs to be replaced. After receiving two estimates with varied information, their board of directors determined they needed to consult with a structural engineer to determine the capacity of the existing structure to handle the additional weight of roof replacement. The consultation will help ESAC “develop an informed plan to continue maintaining the building for the addiction recovery community in Dane County.” CRF funding is for a consultation with a structural engineer.
Eastmorland Community Center: Guns to Garden Tools ($2,000)
The Eastmorland Community Center (ECC) “was founded on a vision of bringing people together for life-giving work within our neighborhood.” Their latest project, Guns to Garden Tools, will incentivize people to turn over unneeded firearms in exchange for gift cards. The surrendered guns will then be converted into garden tools. At the event, the project coordinator will have chop saws and a forge to dismantle and remake the surrendered guns right on site. ECC staff note, “Less guns in our local community make us all safer and awareness of the issue helps community members to grow and contemplate their relationship with gun ownership.” CRF funding is for gift card incentives.
Eyes of Hope, Stoughton: Bayview After School Program ($3,000)
Eyes of Hope, Stoughton, Inc. (EoH) has served Stoughton’s youth with a variety of programs for the past 15 years. Their purpose is “to encourage the development of strength, confidence, honesty, and service by creating a close-knit community. Youth can discover and celebrate their true selves and authentic purpose.” One of their newest programs, Bayview After School Club, supports a group of Latinx youth who live in the Bayview mobile home community, a low-income/low-access area of Stoughton with limited transportation access. EoH administers this after-school program right in the Bayview community to increase access for the youth. The program engages both kids and their families; program staff are available to answer questions from parents, and the staff have also advocated for the parents to school administrators for specific support the parents request. CRF funding helps cover staffing for the after-school club.
GSAFE: Black Trans Fund Project ($5,000)
GSAFE is an organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth leadership development by providing leadership training and LGBTQ+ educator training for K-12 educators across the state. This year they are piloting a 12-month capacity-building program that is intended to empower transgender girls and femme-identified gender non-conforming youth of color through a comprehensive set of modules focusing on public health education, leadership development, anti-bullying education, and legal rights, among many other topics. This program is a collaboration between GSAFE and their Black, transgender-identified partners from Milwaukee working to build strength and resilience among Black, transgender-identified young people. GSAFE notes, “There are currently very few services in Dane County that are specifically designed for these youth populations. By contrast, there is more support currently available in the Milwaukee area[...] GSAFE will bridge this gap and transport Dane County youth to connect with their like-identified peers in Milwaukee. Adult mentors who are transgender women or femme-identified gender nonconforming adults of color will provide leadership and support to the youth.” CRF funding is for stipends for participants, food, transportation, swag, and general program supplies.
Horizon High School: Garden Project for HHS 2024 Summer School ($2,000)
Horizon High School provides students in recovery from Substance Use Disorders with a safe and supportive community in an academic and therapeutic setting. They are the only such high school in Wisconsin and one of 42 in the entire nation. This year they plan to integrate a new gardening program into their summer school programming. The goals of this program include “improvement in science knowledge and skills, increased consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, improved social skills and behaviors, to learn how food is grown, to model sustainable practices, and gain respect for the environment and nature, and finally, to promote hard work and physical activity while enjoying outdoor experiences.” CRF funding is for staff supervision, materials for raised garden beds, garden tools, soil, and miscellaneous expenses.
KLJ Movement Inc.: Scholar Dance Program ($1,755)
KLJ Movement was founded in 2020 as a means to create a space of artistic expression that empowers BIPOC contributors in the art of dance; it is the only Black-owned dance company owned by a woman in Madison. KLJ Movement provides safe spaces for youth to learn dance styles that are not always available in academic settings, and they emphasize the importance of representation of historical white-dominant dance styles to be taught by BIPOC instructors. Youth ages four to 18 are eligible to enroll in the dance programs as company scholars. Through the program, scholars learn routines from instructors who have had formal training in the styles of ballet, modern, hip hop, and African-influenced movement. KLJ Movement notes, “The outcome of the dance program is to prepare students for professional entertainment opportunities, all while maintaining an encouraging, relational, and empowering culture that sets them up for success in their mental, social, and physical wellness.” CRF funding covers the tuition of one scholar.
Lakeview Food Pantry: Funding for Lakeview Food Pantry ($3,000)
The Lakeview Food Pantry has served Madison’s northside since the early 1980s. They have seen a dramatic increase in usage in 2023, serving 42% more households than in 2020, the previous record year. This increased demand put a strain on their finances, and they had to focus on providing basic food essentials and cut back on extras such as personal care items. They are looking to add additional freezer space to adequately manage their frozen food supply, and additionally, return to offering a greater variety of personal care items, such as dish soap, laundry detergent, shampoo, diapers, cleaning supplies, etc. CRF funding is for a new freezer and personal care items.
Madison Northside Planning Council, Inc: MadCity Food Carts ($2,000)
Ten years ago, Madison Northside Planning Council (NPC) opened FEED Kitchens, a shared commercial kitchen, food business incubator, and home to FEED Bakery Training Program and Healthy Food for All, their food recovery initiative. FEED Kitchens is also the parking space for many of Madison’s food carts, and event organizers began contacting FEED Kitchens to find out if they could book food carts for their events. In response, FEED compiled a listserv of food cart operators to better recruit them for event requests. They called the group MadCity Food Carts, and it now works to match event organizers with food cart operators. This year, MadCity Food Carts plans to help food cart operators organize into a cooperative. This producer co-op will help the food cart operators advocate for their shared interests with the intent of incorporating and operating as its own entity. The co-op will operate the listserv, connect with event organizers, organize events, and advocate collectively to the City and County for rule changes that impact their work. Eventually, they may be able to form a buyer’s club to increase their economy of scale and form a health insurance group. CRF funding will pay the wages for staff time and the cost of supplies and printing.
Midwest Mujeres Collective: Be Bold Take the Mic Program with Yo Quiero Dinero ($2,800)
Midwest Mujeres Collective was founded in 2021 “to address pay inequality and barriers to career advancement experienced by Brown and Black women in Dane County.” They aim to reduce poverty and income inequality by providing educational opportunities that support underrepresented women and women who experience barriers to entry into the job market. This year, they will train their third Be Bold cohort, allowing them to train six women of color to share their journeys to economic empowerment. These women will present at the annual Yo Quiero Dinero event, which brings awareness to the racial wage gap and provides local women of color a place to hone their presentation skills, thus leading them to success in the workforce. CRF funding includes stipends for participants and speaker coach training fees.
Neighborhood House: Essentials Pantry ($1,000)
Neighborhood House Community Center is Madison’s oldest community center with a mission to “provide high-quality programming and social services that facilitate the growth of a diverse, responsible, and welcoming community.” Recently, Neighborhood House started a new service to eradicate hygiene poverty—the inability to afford necessary non-food items like diapers, toothpaste, and laundry detergent. Neighborhood House staff notes, “Families in hygiene poverty are forced to make trade-offs or difficult choices like not washing clothes or sharing toothbrushes. There are few programs and resources nationally and locally that address this problem.” They began to offer an Essentials Pantry in 2023 every quarter or when they received a large donation of non-food items. They also partnered with other housing and social service providers to create housewarming baskets for families leaving homelessness and transitioning to permanent housing. These baskets contain household items like cookware, linens, and cleaning supplies. This year, they plan to increase the number of clients they serve and focus on sustaining a reliable source of high-quality hygiene, cleaning, and household products. CRF funding will purchase hygiene and cleaning products and home goods for housewarming baskets.
Purpose Grown Project: Purpose Grown Project ($5,000)
The Purpose Grown Project (PGP) is a “collaboration of farmers, distributors, and community food hubs whose goal is to bridge the gap between agricultural abundance and community well-being. PGP is a farmer-let initiative created specifically to grow more local produce to share with families in need.” PGP was formed in 2023 to consolidate the efforts of local farmers working to improve food accessibility. In this model, six local farms produce food for 12 community sites with distribution assistance from Healthy Food for All, a food recovery project of the Northside Planning Council. Project staff at various community center partners coordinate distribution and connection to those who receive the food. CRF funding covers a portion of the total fresh, local produce.
REAP Food Group: UpRoot Food Truck ($4,000)
REAP Food Group is a grassroots organization focused on connecting
people and local food producers through their Farm to School, Farm to Business, Farm to Communities orograms, and the Farm Fresh Atlas. They plan to start a food truck incubator program for local chefs and culinary students using a food truck donated by Emmi Roth Cheese Company. This program will serve culinary students and other food entrepreneurs interested in owning a food truck. REAP Food Group staff predict that “as more culinary professionals own food carts, there is a potential opportunity for more food cart festivals and drawing in tourists to these festivals.” CRF funding will pay the food truck apprentice, and fully cover the cost of fuel and supplies (i.e. plates, napkins, cups, and silverware).
Roots4Change Cooperative: Somos Raices: International Gathering of Birth Warriors ($3,150)
Roots4Change (R4C) is the first co-op owned, led, and managed by immigrant Latinas/Indigenous women, doulas, and community health workers. This year, they will convene the first International Latina/Indigenous Conference on Maternal, Child, Family & Community well-being. R4C notes, “As immigrants themselves, the members of R4C understand first-hand the importance of being seen as a whole person in the medical system—not just an immigrant or not just a woman of color[...]Although many of the current learning opportunities serve as an equity approach proxy, they cannot encapsulate the nuances and non-verbal ways of knowing and learning that come with having lived experiences and contextual knowledge.” CRF funding is for early childhood providers to lead activities for children during the conference.
Textile Arts Center of Madison: Free Community Programs ($4,680)
The Textile Arts Center of Madison was founded in 2023 “on the belief that textiles connect us all; that creating with fiber contributes to our wellbeing; and that creative expression through textile and fiber arts should be celebrated, abundantly supported, and made accessible to all.” This year, they plan to launch free community programming, including family exploration days, mending days, “Sewing Machine 101,” maker meet-ups, and a fiber-focused book and podcast club. CRF funding will pay the teaching artists, a book group lead, and a paid intern.
The Better Path Foundation: Recovery Home Garden Oasis ($3,801)
The Better Path Foundation is a new organization that works with veterans and justice-involved people who have housing insecurity and are in recovery from Substance Use Disorder. The Better Path Foundation provides affordable housing and a supporting environment to maintain sobriety to help the folks in recovery become productive members of society. This year, they plan to create a garden oasis at each of their two property locations. The residents of the houses will be involved in the planning, layout, and design, and they will help build the gardens. They will have a garden coach available to give them hands-on gardening training and a health coach will teach them how to cook the foods they grow. CRF funding will provide all the necessary equipment, tools, and supplies (i.e. fencing, hoses, soil, seeds, and seedlings) to build the garden at one of the two housing facilities as well as the fee for the garden and health coaches.
The Madison Skatepark Fund: Elvehjem All-Wheel DIY (Phase 2) ($3,000)
In 2021, the Madison Skatepark Fund (MSF) successfully advocated for a pilot project Do-It-Yourself (DIY) all-wheel park approved by the City of Madison. MSF fundraised to cover the cost of all construction materials and provided volunteer labor to build the concrete obstacles, and they finished construction on the all-wheel park in Warner Park in late 2021. Following completion, the Madison Parks Department identified another space in Elvehjem Park that they offered to MSF for the next DIY skatepark location, and volunteers completed phase one of that project last year. They’re now prepared to build phase two and complete the project later this year. For both of these DIY skateparks, MSF assigned a park steward to monitor the park to ensure it stays clean and safe, and the group will fund any future repairs needed at either park. CRF funding is for skatepark construction materials.
Triangle Community Ministry: Healthy Cooking Classes ($575)
The Triangle Community Ministry serves the Triangle Neighborhood (the area within S. Park Street, Regent Street, and W. Washington Avenue)—a community that experiences chronic poverty, and many residents live with some form of disability. One of the biggest challenges is regular access to high-quality food. Second Harvest FoodBank and local pantries contribute food, but many residents are unable or unsure how to prepare them. This year, Ministry staff plan to offer monthly cooking classes at the Brittingham Apartments for neighborhood residents. Staff will demonstrate recipes and techniques to turn the available ingredients into meals. CRF funding is for cooking equipment, including two induction burners, a cookware set, a storage tote, a slow cooker, extension cords, and reusable containers for leftovers.
UNIDOS: ReUNIDOS Support Group ($2,500)
UNIDOS’s mission is to “empower Latine and other marginalized communities to break the cycle of domestic violence, end sexual assault, and promote healthy family systems.” ReUNIDOS is a free bilingual and culturally relevant support group for Latino and immigrant men. This year, they will work with a local Guatemalan artist on a series of six workshops for participants to use painting to self-express and heal. UNIDOS staff note, “Research shows that there is a tremendous benefit to using art in healing, particularly for victims of abuse[…] Additionally, studies support the use of art therapy with survivors as a stress-management technique.” CRF funding is for workshop lead stipends.
Vera Court Neighborhood Center: Community Garden Improvement ($2,519)
Vera Court Neighborhood Center (VCNC) is a community center on Madison’s northside with community gardens located in the middle of multiple low-income housing neighborhoods marked as priority areas on the 2022 City of Madison Food Access Improvement Map. VCNC staff said, “Having the easy and accessible option of growing their own food significantly helps relieve their financial burden.” This year, VCNC hired a Community Gardens Coordinator who lives in the community, and they are responsible for renting the plots, coordinating time when water is available, and planning garden work days and education days. CRF funding is for the Community Garden Coordinator stipend, replacing broken garden tools, and water for the garden.
WORT/Back Porch Radio Broadcasting, Inc: WORT Community Journalism Collaborative ($4,000)
WORT 89.9 FM is a nonprofit, community radio station serving Dane County with news, talk, public, cultural affairs, and music since 1975. They are starting a new journalism training program—WORT Community Journalism Collaborative—intending to integrate it into the News Department as an annual summer program to train journalists from Madison’s communities of color. WORT staff says, “The proposed Journalism Collaborative is part of our efforts to broaden the diversity of perspectives in our news stories and increase our audience’s understanding of issues that are under-reported in the local news landscape.” WORT is working with a UW Public Humanities Fellow to develop culturally relevant curriculum materials for the trainees, connect with community organizations that serve Black, Indigenous, Latine, and Hmong populations to recommend individuals for the program, and the Fellow will also interview and select the six trainees for the hands-on journalism training. CRF funding will go toward space renovation for the trainees’ workspace, audio equipment for the trainees, and a laptop for the summer program manager.
Congratulations and Thank You!
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s grants and thank you to all organizations that applied—you’re all doing important work in our communities! Thank you to this year’s CRF review committee; Board Directors Anthony Hernandez, Ashwini Rao, and Isabel Spooner-Harvey, Owners-At-Large Carol Cohen, Jack Longert, Kirsten Moore, and Glen Reichelderfer; Customer Experience Manager, Kristina Kuhaupt; and Education and Outreach Coordinator Liz Hawley.
And of course, a special thank you goes out to all of our Owners past and present who make this funding possible.