Dane County Homeless Justice Initiative

You donate, we distribute! Every dollar you donate goes to tents, blankets, clothing, and health and hygiene supplies for our most vulnerable neighbors. We’re a little over halfway to our $5,000 summer fundraising goal, so send a dollar or a few if you’ve got ‘em to spare (venmo: ). No funds to spare but want to get involved? DM us and we will get you plugged in! Spare items lying around the house? Feel free to donate at any of our donation drop sites (last graphic).

*photos from our latest St. Vinny's Dane County Thrift Stores Dig N Save haul 😌 + donation drop sites

We are well on our way to reaching our summer fundraising goal!

Huge shout out to the community for supporting our efforts—with your help, we were able to do over 10 distributions all across town since the start of the fundraiser, and with another week of high temperatures, we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon!

Consider donating items from our wishlist in the graphic, or make a monetary donation via Venmo (Dchji Rodriguez).

Donation drop off locations in pinned post above.

DM to get involved in our work 🤝.

Thanks to our community’s generous donations, we are well on our way to our fundraiser goal of $5,000! We appreciate you all so much!

This week we distributed more than five cases of water, electrolytes, emergency cold packs, ice, and other supplies to folks outside during this dangerous heat wave on top of our regular Friday morning supply distribution. Starting on Monday, folks outside were enduring heat index temperatures of over 100° for multiple days with little relief overnight as daily low temperatures remained in the mid to high 70s until Thursday. Water and cooling supplies were an absolute necessity, and you all helped us get them out to people who needed them.

We also made a large purchase of summer clothing including T-shirts, tank tops, and shorts!

Thank you!!

Slide 1: understand Madison’s housing affordability crisis
Slide 2: see just how many Madisonians are rent burdened, extremely rent burdened, or simply can’t afford housing
Slide 3: see the systemic racism of it all
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway County Executive Melissa Agard

says “we offer you no homes that you can actually afford—not even a sanctioned space to set up a tent…but you can’t stay here.” Aaaaaaaatrocious governance.

The quickly escalating epidemic of homelessness is a social crisis that requires social solutions. Public Housing (owned and operated by the public) has always been the solution. There are things we can do until we get there: sanctioned campsites and acquire adequate shelter space to give folks a shred of security until the housing crisis is addressed. It is a matter of gathering a government that actually cares about its most vulnerable constituents and prioritizes budget to reflect that care. Our current local governments have proven, time and again, that they could care less. How do they sleep at night, knowing they are responsible for so much suffering and desperation?

This letter recently went out to guests of Porchlight’s currently existing men’s shelter on Zeier Rd on the east side of Madison. To add context, upwards of 400 men have been using this shelter nightly over the past many months—the new shelter will push 150 vulnerable men out into our streets. To add more context, Dane County is experiencing a housing shortage and rents are astronomical and unattainable for our low to middle income community members. We’re sharing this letter to shed light on the grim reality shaping up for our most vulnerable community members. Try to imagine life without shelter. Where do you sleep? Where do you cook? Where do you toilet? Where do you store your belongings? Where do you escape predators? Where do you escape the elements? Our governments have one job: to facilitate survivable communities. They are failing. For those of us who care about our communities and our fellow neighbors in these communities, this means we have to form and facilitate our own communal means of survivability. Dane County Homeless Justice Initiative is doing just that. Join us in our effort. DM or email to learn more 🫶

A rumor was spread to the that our unhoused community members were going to set up camp at the East Transfer Point last week and this is how they responded. With average rent for a 1BR at $1512 (according to apartments.com) and the number of shelter beds soon to take a drastic drop, we are about to see a drastic spike in the number of folks seeking outdoor space to set up camps and shanties—similar to Hoovervilles during the Great Depression. The US is a developed country, actively undeveloping. We are actually slipping into third world conditions, Madison and Dane County included. If we as a collective community can’t figure out how to address this (because local, state, and federal governments will not), that American Dream we’ve been fed will remain a dream and reality will be dystopian. Join us in our effort to build a healthy community, free of fences, keep-out-signs and desperation. DM to get involved.

We’ve been receiving more requests for tents, and with Madison’s available shelter beds decreasing by 150+ when the new shelter opens, we’re anticipating a major spike. If you have the means, consider donating a tent, making a bulk tent purchase (DM for details), or a cash donation (Venmo ) and we will be happy handle a purchase for you.