Common Wealth Development's quarterly newsletter for residents, commercial tenants, workforce participants, and supporters LIKE YOU.
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Letter from the Executive Director |
Greetings Common Wealth Family!!
Summer is here. Finally. So great to see and hear all of the energy in / around the city now that things are opening back up.
The Alliance at Meadowood Park – Common Wealth’s West Madison Office Opening July 27th!!!
Headlining Common Wealth’s Summer is the opening of our new building and West Madison office at 5802 Raymond Road(!!!). The Alliance at Meadowood Park will house our West Madison housing team, Health Equity & Violence Prevention programming, our one-of-a-kind transitional employment initiative, the Southwest Transitional Employment Program (STEP), and our Coordination of Care team. We will also be joined by Dane County Joining Forces for Families and Early Childhood Initiative Staff. Very special acknowledgement to our development team (Danielle Massey, Maria Davila, Stefan Davidson, Ashley Gohlke), housing team (Madalyn Grau, Della Hooks, Susan Gaeddert, Conner Wild), Meadowood Neighborhood Association and all of our community partners for their work in getting this through the finish line. The ribbon cutting is July 27th, at 10:30am, and we are looking forward to celebrating this important milestone. Come out and enjoy a cup of coffee, on us!
Thank you, John Wroten
While the opening of the Alliance is a significant milestone, it comes with bittersweet tidings. John Wroten, our Adult Workforce Development Manager and pioneer of STEP, will be leaving Common Wealth after 11 years of service. John is moving to Minnesota to be with his children and grandchildren as he prepares for retirement. There is no way to capture the entirety of John’s impact on and contributions to Common Wealth Development. His work spearheaded all of our work in Meadowood Park, bringing together dozens of community partners and hundreds of neighborhood residents. His compassion and dedication to his work are inspiring, and while we all happy for him as he moves on into this next chapter of his life, he will be dearly missed. Thank you, John. It was truly an honor to work with you.
Join us in congratulating John and in welcoming Marquis Sanders, as he takes the reins as the Adult Workforce Development Coordinator.
There’s no place like Madison... in the Summer!
We also look forward to seeing you out in support of the Marquette Neighborhood Association’s hybrid “Orton-Front” Festival, August 26th – 27th at Orton Park, & August 28th – 29th at Yahara Place Park. (Waterfront has always been a personal favorite---aside from the Willy Street Fair, of course 😊).
Speaking of which, to close up the Summer months Common Wealth and our partners at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center will once again bring you the iconic Willy Street Fair, September 18th & 19th (hopefully everyone who supported 2020’s Porch & Bubble Tour still has those wristbands!! ). Its been too long, and we are excited to join you at the fair!
Main Street Industries Turns 25!!
In Partnership with the City of Madison, Common Wealth Development purchased the building at 931 E. Main Street in 1996, converting the old Greyhound Bus Barn into one of earliest and largest business incubators in the State of Wisconsin. Main Street Industries (MSI) has since supported dozens of local businesses and community initiatives, and continues to house an amazing, eclectic community of entrepreneurs & artists. To celebrate, we are partnering with Forward Fest, Christine’s Kitchens, and our small businesses at the Madison Enterprise Center to bring you the 2nd iteration of the Main Street Bazaar (August 14th). There will be food and fun to honor the tenacity of the small businesses in our incubator community, with local comedian Tony Castañeda putting together a great line-up of music. Rebekah Stephens’ update in this issue has more details.
Come down and wish MSI a happy 25th!!
Golf With Us (or in support of us, anyway)
Speaking of Tony Castañeda, he and Common Wealth Board member Dean Loumos are organizing the annual Harmony Bar Golf Outing, supporting Common Wealth Development. Register your foursome and meet us at Yahara Hills Golf Course, August 27th. Lots of hole prizes and auction items, and a great time at the Harmony Bar afterwards (and then mosey over to Orton Park to close out the night 😊).
Thank you, everyone, for your continued support for the work of Common Wealth Development. We could not have weathered the pandemic without all of your love and generosity. Here’s to a great Madison Summer!
Respectfully Submitted,
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Justice Castañeda
Executive Director
Common Wealth Development, Inc.
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Housing Operations continues in a flurry of activity. With renewal and moving season upon us, our office buzzes with business like the bees in the garden bed out front.
Most exciting are the finishing touches being put on our new development at 5802 Raymond Road. The Alliance at Meadowood Park will officially open August 1st, and we cannot wait for 11 new households to move in and join the CWD family. In addition to affordable housing, the building will provide office space for CWD’s Housing Operations, Adult Workforce Development, and Community-Based Crime Reduction programming as well as for several of our community partners. There will be a public ribbon cutting ceremony starting at 10:30 am Tuesday, July 27th to celebrate the building’s grand opening and honor the incredible achievement. Staff from Common Wealth Development, Joining Forces for Families, Early Childhood Initiative, and the City of Madison will be present at the event.
Our housing team is working diligently to ensure we are doing are best to stabilize households who have been most effected by the pandemic. We continue to work closely with Tenant Resource Center and Meadowood Health Partnership to ensure financial resources are reaching residents in need. We would be hard-pressed to imagine where our residents would be without the great work of these organizations. In addition, we are assessing the value of toolkits issued by HUD to see what additional support we may be able to provide in addition to partnering internally with our Adult Workforce Development program to help residents re-enter the workforce. The bottom line is while recovery has been slow, things are improving.
In other news, Urban Tree Alliance worked with Housing Operations again to improve tree canopy coverage in our real estate portfolio. This spring, UTA assessed our Meadowood property, submitted recommendations, and then planted over a dozen trees in the neighborhood. We feel very grateful and fortunate for this opportunity to naturally enhance the environment, community, and energy efficiency of buildings. We have excitedly watched as the trees across our Marquette portfolio planted last year have sprouted buds and begun to green out.
We are looking forward to being able to reignite our resident engagement efforts and community events now that staff has been vaccinated and COVID restrictions are being lifted. Staying connected to our residents was an ongoing challenge during the pandemic, and we are hopeful that we will soon begin to work from our community offices. The small things, like being able to put the community grill out at Yahara River View, help keep our spirits up. We look forward to more small steps like these, and a beautiful summer!
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Equitable Economic Development |
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Youth Workforce Development
Youth-Business Mentoring Program
This past spring, we had four of our virtual Youth-Business Mentoring Program (YBMP) sessions, and many youths are in the process of getting a job – or have been hired!
Some of the topics that youth learned through these trainings include:
- How to find job openings and apply
- Customer service
- Financial literacy (including topics such as budgeting and credit)
- Wellness in the workplace and personal branding
We have one more virtual training this summer before we transition to the fall, when we will begin in-person training sessions for the first time in over a year! If you know a teen between the ages of 14–17 years old who wants to learn how to be successful in the workforce and start a job, urge them to apply!
Training is held Monday through Friday, from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm for two weeks. Due to COVID-19, we are currently holding these trainings via Zoom videoconference ONLY. Youth must have access to a computer with a camera and internet access.
To apply, a youth must submit a youth application and have their parent or guardian submit the permission form. The links to the forms can be found on our website:
Once applications are submitted, a staff member will follow up with the applicant to discuss next steps. While we do accept applications on a rolling basis, there are specific application deadlines for each training session. Those dates are listed below:
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Any questions can be directed to Youth Workforce Development Manager Annie Johnston. She can be reached via email annie@cwd.org or by phone 608-256-3527 ext. 1561.
Financial Literacy Workshops
We offer free financial literacy workshops to groups around Madison and Dane County. If there is any interest in having Common Wealth staff provide a virtual training to your student group(s), please contact Annie Johnston at annie@cwd.org. We are happy to host both VIRTUAL and IN PERSON workshops. If there is interest in having a workshop, please reach out and we can discuss options.
Wanda Fullmore Youth Internship Program
Now in its 8th year, the Wanda Fullmore Youth Internship Program is in full swing! This summer, 24 City of Madison youth are working paid internships learning about their city government, development, and career skills while networking with peers and community and government professionals. This program is held on an annually from June to August. The next round of applications will open late January 2022. Please look out for more details this fall!
Program for Entrepreneurial and Agriculture Training
This program is a paid, eight-week summer internship where up to nine youths work on a local farm in partnership with Neighborhood Food Solutions. This is an in-person program requiring 20 hours per week for the duration of the summer. Participants learn about food systems, farming, and financial literacy, and get to spend some quality time getting their hands dirty and building relationships with fellow youth and adults in the urban agriculture world.
To apply for this program, a youth must have participated in our Youth-Business Mentoring Program (YBMP) at some point prior to the start of the summer. Students who are interested are welcome to apply to YBMP at any time, but enrollment for this program opens early to mid-May. Any questions or for more information about how to apply can be directed to Annie Johnston, Youth Workforce Development Manager, at annie@cwd.org or 608-256-3527 ext. 1561.
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Adult Workforce Development
Adult Workforce Development is fully operational and ready to help with your employment needs.
Call or email us to set an intake appointment and to discuss how we can help, or
visit us at JOB SHOP at the Meadowood Neighborhood Center
5734 Raymond Rd Madison WI, 53711
Wednesdays from 9 am until 1 pm
JOB SHOP provides drop-in services for anyone looking for work in Southwest Madison. Wednesdays all year long from 9am - 1 pm at the Meadowood Neighborhood Center (5734 Raymond Road)
Some of the available services are:
- Résumé Writing & Cover Letters (provided by UW’s Madison Writing Assistance Center, writing professionals, and Adult Workforce Development staff)
- Online Job Applications
- Public Benefit Applications
- Housing Searches
- Resource referrals
- FSET Enrollment & Case Management
- Connection to Tenant Resource Center for CORE funding
- Direct referrals to Joining Forces for Families
STEP, our comprehensive relationship-based employment initiative, is now fully operational again to help meet your employment goals. Participants are hired by Common Wealth Development as LTE employees and are paid a living wage, while working temporary STEP positions designed specifically with individual participant’s goals in mind. Participants are paid for up to 10 hours a week ($13.62 per hour) to work at a community placement while simultaneously working on finding employment.
Staff are available to meet with community members Monday through Friday, 9-4 at our Southwest office (5902 Raymond Road). Starting in the middle of July, our new office location will be at 5802 Raymond Road. If you would like more information on STEP, or need help finding job leads, doing a resume, enrolling in FOODSHARE or would like to explore what resources may be available to you and your family during these difficult times, call, email us, or stop by our Southwest office. We’ll be happy to speak with you about your situation.
Staff and community members must always wear masks during face-to-face interactions. CWD will be happy to provide masks when needed.
Please contact us with any questions about our available services or to set up an appointment at the number listed below:
Marquis Sanders, Adult Workforce Development Coordinator, 608-516-1582 or marquis@cwd.org
Though it is wonderful that programming is finally back to full capacity, there is bittersweet news that accompanies. On July 21st, Adult Workforce Development Manager John Wroten will be retiring to the Twin Cities to be closer to his children and grandchildren.
Almost a decade ago, John began assisting Common Wealth Development in creating a presence on the southwest side of Madison to help stabilize local families. Now, with the addition of a new apartment and office space on 5802 Raymond Road on the southwest side of Madison that will solidify Common Wealth Development’s presence in that area for years to come, his work has come full circle.
Common Wealth Development will be having a farewell party for John on Thursday, July 22nd, 2021, at 4:00pm at Meadowood Park on the southwest side of Madison and all are welcomed. In the interim, Marquis Sanders, the former Coordination of Care Specialist, has been promoted to Adult Workforce Development Program Coordinator to take over the leadership role John is vacating.
In mid-June, AWD brought on specialist, Christa Zhang, for the summer. She will transition into the Adult Workforce Development intern in the Fall of 2021. Common Wealth Development is also in the process of hiring a Coordination of Care Specialist for the Adult Workforce Development division.
Adult Workforce Development will be moving into our new office and apartment building on 5802 Raymond Road at the end of July. They will share office space with community partners Joining Forces for Families (JFF), Dane County Human Services, Early Childhood Initiative, and Children’s Wisconsin. Our housing team will also have an office and space at 5802 Raymond Road.
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BUSINESS INCUBATORS
Rebekah Stephens,
Business Development Manager
Happy Birthday, MSI!
On Saturday, August 14th, from 4-10 pm, Common Wealth Development in conjunction with Forward Fest, will be celebrating 25 years of its largest small business incubator Main Street Industries. This event will feature our local artisan small businesses, live music, food, and art! This outdoor night market will be a cultural submersion of music, food, art, and vendors from all around the world.
Main Street Bazaar
Join us August 14th from 4-10 pm to celebrate 25 years of Main Street Industries! The event will feature businesses from our incubators, live music, and other fun things. There will also be tours of the incubator space.
Fully Equipped and Expanded
When starting out, most businesses do everything by hand. Bottling beer, rolling, and cutting dough for crackers…wait, that sounds familiar…kind of like Giant Jones and Potter’s Crackers.
Well, it was true until recently. Both companies have been able to invest in equipment that will help save time and free up employees to take on other needed tasks.
Giant Jones’ new bottling machine can fill 63 bottles per minute which according to Erika Jones, is almost 100x faster than the time it would take to fill manually. This new machine weighs a few TONS and takes up the entire back half of the tasting room.
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Potter’s Crackers has also made an investment in their productivity. Previously someone had to manually turn the cranks on their dough sheeter, once installed, the user will be able to simply push a button their new fresh off the assembly line from Switzerland dough sheeter and walk away.
In addition to investing in the productivity of their business…both businesses expanded their footprint in Main Street Industries and Madison Enterprise Center. I am humbled by their growth, and ingenuity and I am eager to see what is next on their horizon.
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Sweet Suite #7
The number seven is often looked at in high regard…if you are rolling dice, seven is the best thing you can get. Seven is also seen as the number of completion and just an all-around lucky number.
And luckily (see what we did there…) suite 7 at MSI is available and ready to rent.
We could go into detail describing the space, but Jill Oelke, one of our real estate partners, said it best on her social media posting:
“THIS JUST IN! Reduced leasing rate for the only remaining suite at Main Street Industries, in the heart of Madison's Eastside! This space opens onto E Main Street - an excellent location for your existing retail business, office, or production space! Main Street Industries is a hub for many kinds of businesses. If you've outgrown your current space, or you need to escape from rising rates elsewhere to bolster your business, contact us!”
If you or someone you know is looking to try your luck at suite 7, contact Rebekah Stephens today (608) 516-4046 to arrange a showing.
On The Move
Zap Cables has moved from the Madison Enterprise Center to Main Street Industries. We are excited for their growth! For more information on Zap Cables, please visit https://zapcables.com/.
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Upcoming Events
Common Wealth Development has three exciting summer events coming up!
The Sessions
Return of the Sessions at McPike Park. Seven sessions of entertainment, including two full days of music at the Garver Mill Patio, are on tap. This year we will treat our audience to an event in three part harmony: (1)The Pursuit of Happiness (POH) weekend (August 6, 7, 8) will set the tone with two music stages and dance choreographed by Kanopy Dance, as well as comedians, Mary Mack and John Dore, hired by Madison Comedy Week staff for shows in the 350 seat Chicory Tent . (2) Secondly, two fine Evening Sessions (August 12,13) from 5 to 10 pm have three bands each night.(3) The Sessions at The Garver Mill Patio (September 11,12) will have day and evening segments and require a nominal cover charge of $10 per segment to help pay the bands ( tickets- https://www.facebook.com/garverevents).
The $4,000 + Grand Sessions raffle will finish on the Sunday, 9/12 The Global Garver Session.
Harmony Bar Golf Outing
The Harmony Bar will once again be hosting a golf outing to support Common Wealth Development’s programs. Join us Sunday, August 29th at Yahara Hills Golf Course for an afternoon of golfing fun followed by food and drink. For more information or to sign up, visit www.cwd.org/golf2021/.
Willy Street Fair
The Willy Street Fair is back! Join us September 18th and 19th for food, music and more. The fair will feature 100+ food carts, live music and beer. As always, admittance is free.
Vendor applications will be available on the CWD website, or at our office (1501 Williamson Street).
Please contact Jaya Larsen with any questions. She can be reached at (608) 438-5059 or jaya@cwd.org.
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Health Equity and Well Being |
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Health Equity and Violence Prevention
Stephanie Bradley-Wilson, Director of Health, Equity, and Violence Prevention
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"A Seed Called Community", Common Wealth Development’s
podcast series!
Learn more about CWD and other contemporary topics by listening to “A Seed Called Community.” The short 20–30-minute podcasts feature CWD staff and the ongoing work being accomplished to help make Dane County a better place for all. Learn about our housing, business incubators, workforce development and other efforts that CWD is doing in the community.
Find “A Seed Called Community” on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn or wherever you subscribe to your podcasts.
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Marquette Minute
News from the Marquette Neighborhood Association
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MAILING ADDRESS
Marquette Neighborhood Association
P.O. Box 8474
Madison, WI 53708
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Meadowood Neighborhood Association
By Terry Evanson, President
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Common Wealth Development
news@cwd.org
P: 608.256.3527
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