Day Resource Center:
A homeless day resource center, the Beacon, opened in October after years of effort to start such an operation in Dane County. The Beacon is operated by Catholic Charities with the support from Dane County, City of Madison, and United Way. The facility will offer comprehensive basic needs services including showers, laundry, lunches, a mail operation, and day time lockers. Many nonprofit agencies will have office hours on the second floor and provide supportive services to help the center guests connect with housing, employment, physical, mental health, and other community resources. The two-story, 24,000-square-foot, just-renovated former Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce building is located on 615 E. Washington Ave.
Pathways to Quality:
The City of Madison Early Child Care and Education Committee and Child Care Unit staff have identified a goal of increasing the number of low income children in accredited group child care by nearly 20% over the next five years. To achieve this, we are investing more in centers to help them become accredited, requiring service to low income children or to the early care and education community as part of accreditation, and providing training to help centers better understand the effects of poverty on children in their care.
Case Management Program Coordinates Services:
Older adults and their families benefit significantly from information about social services like transportation, meal programs, health enhancing activities, care giving supports, etc. Available case managers may assist long distance caregivers or elders themselves to monitor, arrange and maintain such services for eligible family members.
MOST Management Information System:
The Madison-area Out of School Time Coalition has been busy planning for the development of a Management Information System (MIS) for over a year and recently began working with City span, a vendor that builds After-school data systems, to customize Madison's system. MOST's MIS will provide a platform for Out of School Time staff to track and report youth program participation that can then be linked to MMSD district achievement and engagement data. The system will enable providers and MOST to access data that will strengthen coordination of youth support, inform program quality improvement, and aid in identifying citywide trends in access, quality and impact.
Northside Safe and Thriving Communities Initiative:
In our work we are looking to prevent and interrupt youth violence and victimization, as well as, engaging in restorative work for young people on the Northside of Madison who have been involved in and effected by violence. Racial equity and social justice are core principles that inform and guide all decisions, policies and functions of our work. Consequently, we will focus efforts towards youth who are traditionally marginalized based on factors such as their racial/ethnic identities, income or recent immigrant status.