Focused Interruption

Art has a way of holding what words cannot.

We're honored to welcome LashayTheArtist to our Inaugural Gala on August 27. A Madison-based artist, muralist, and creative educator, Lashay will be creating a live painting in the room as the evening unfolds, art made in real time, for all of us to see.

Through her work with Heart Healing Art, Lashay uses creativity as a tool for healing, connection, and community. Her mission is simple and it is one we share: to create art that heals hearts, sparks conversations, and leaves lasting impressions.

In a season when our community is holding a lot, that feels exactly right.

Come be part of it. Community is the cure.

We're grateful for the support that comes from within this community.

Big thanks to DJ Fusion and 93.1 JAMZ for having our founder Anthony Cooper Sr. on the air to talk about the work we do and the road ahead. Support like this, from voices our community knows and trusts, means everything.

DJ Fusion will also be with us on August 27 as we gather for our Inaugural Gala. We're honored to have him.

Thank you for standing with us and for lifting up this work.

We are honored to announce our keynote speaker for the Focused Interruption Inaugural Gala.

Michael-Sean Spence will take the stage on August 27 at Atwood Music Hall.

Michael-Sean is the Managing Director of Community Safety Initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation's largest gun violence prevention organization, and the founder of the Everytown Community Safety Fund. That fund has invested more than $15 million in 142 community organizations across 72 cities, including more than $600,000 right here in Wisconsin to strengthen this work in Madison and Milwaukee.

His belief is one we share: the people closest to the challenges of gun violence are also closest to the solutions. Having him in the room is a powerful affirmation of the work happening in our own community.

Join us on August 27. Tickets at focusedinterruption.org/gala.

Ten years in. Just getting started.

Out of respect for our community, tomorrow's Community Picnic at Elver Park is cancelled.

Madison is is processing the events of this week and this is not a moment for celebration. It is a moment to be present with one another, to check on our neighbors, and to hold space for a family in pain.

We will announce a new date when the time is right.

To anyone who needs support in the days ahead, our violence prevention workers are on the ground and available. You are not alone in this.

Thank you to our partners for understanding.

Our community is grieving.

A young man lost his life while being arrested on Williamson Street. Many of us have now seen the video, and we want to name plainly how heavy that is. Footage like this does not simply inform us it wounds us. It reopens what so many in our community have carried privately for years, sometimes for decades, without ever having the space or the safety to heal. For some, watching brings back a name, a face, a night they have never stopped reliving. That pain is real. It is generational. And it deserves acknowledgment, not silence.

So please be gentle with yourselves, and with one another. If you have not watched, you are under no obligation to. If you did, and you find yourself shaken, angry, numb, or unable to sleep, know that this is a human response to something inhumane. Check on your people. Check on our young folks especially. Reach out for support if you need it, and let no one carry this alone.

To his family: we see you, we mourn with you, and we hold you close tonight. Corey Ruiz was somebody's son, and he mattered. Whatever you need in the days ahead, this community will be standing with you.

Focused Interruption and our community partners are on the ground tonight, walking alongside this family and everyone affected. Their message is one of love, presence, and peace: you are not alone in this. Our violence prevention workers, our faith leaders, and our neighborhood organizations are here to listen, to support, and to help hold us together. Lean on them. That is what they are here for.

We are calling for a full, transparent, and independent investigation for the footage and the truth to be examined completely and honestly, and for the findings to be shared openly with the public. Accountability requires trust, and trust requires the truth. We will remain engaged at every step, and we ask that justice be served.

Tonight, we ask you to come together in prayer. Pray for this family. Pray for peace in our streets. Pray for the healing of wounds old and new. Pray that justice is done. Let us stand strong, steady, and united.

- Anthony Cooper Sr
President and CEO

Free Community Picnic this Saturday!

Join us July 25, 11 AM to 2 PM at Elver Park.
Food, face painting, and fun for the whole family. Everyone is welcome.

Thank you to our partners: Madison Police Department, Madison Community Policing Foundation, Madison Children’s Museum, Madison Mallards, and Madison for More Neighbors.

Elver Park, 1250 McKenna Blvd, Madison

We are proud to announce our Master of Ceremony for the Focused Interruption Inaugural Gala.

Shiva Bidar-Sielaff will lead the evening on August 27 at Atwood Music Hall in Madison.

Shiva is the UW Health Vice President for Social Impact and Belonging and Associate Dean for Social Impact and Belonging at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. For nearly three decades she has been a champion for equity, community, and belonging in Dane County. She has served on the Madison Common Council, co-chairs the Latino Health Council of Dane County, and sits on the board of Access Community Health Centers. She is exactly the kind of leader who belongs in this room.

Join us for an evening that celebrates ten years of community violence intervention work in Madison. Tickets are $100 at focusedinterruption.org/gala. Please share and let anyone you know who should be in the room with us to check out the site and get tickets while they last!

Ten years in. Just getting started.

Summer is here and so is The Club.

Focused Interruption is partnering with Boys and Girls Club of Dane County to bring free summer programming to teens at two Madison locations through August 14. The Club Teen Center runs Monday through Friday with supervised transportation provided on Mondays and Fridays, daily dinner and snacks, positive adult mentorship, and field trips including Sky Zone and Kalahari.

Completely free. Open now through August 14.

Monday and Friday, 3:00 to 9:00 PM, transportation provided

Tuesday through Thursday, 3:00 to 8:30 PM

The Erica and Anthony Fleming Boys and Girls Club, 2001 Taft Street, Madison
Allied Family Center, 4619 Jenewein Road, Fitchburg

Register at bit.ly/SummerCampBGC or call (608) 257-2606.

Today's the day! Lunch or dinner plans? Make it count.

Focused Interruption's fundraiser night at Panera Bread City Station is today, Wednesday June 24 from 4 to 8 PM at 656 West Washington Ave in Madison. Dine in and 25% of your order goes directly to our work in Dane County.

Can't make it in person? Order online or delivery all day with code FUND4U at checkout.

Show the flyer at checkout for in-cafe orders. See you there!

Today, at Focused Interruption, we pause to recognize the profound weight and undeniable joy of Juneteenth.

​On June 19, 1865, the news of emancipation finally reached the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas—more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. We celebrate this day because it reminds us of a fundamental truth: freedom is never truly real until it reaches everyone.

​As we celebrate, we must also hold space for the heavy reality of our history. We honor the countless ancestors we lost along the way to the brutal systems of chattel slavery and systemic oppression. We remember the immeasurable pain endured and the deep, generational sacrifices made by Black people just to survive. The road to liberation was paved with heartbreak.

​Yet, the story of Black history is not defined by defeat. Through centuries of unimaginable hardship, we have continually overcome. We have survived, rebuilt, and thrived—fueled by an unyielding, radical love for one another and for the generations to come. It is this powerful, enduring love that turns deep pain into brilliant resilience.

​Today, we interrupt the noise of the everyday to celebrate that resilience. We honor the tears of the past, celebrate the freedom of the present, and commit to the ongoing work of liberation fueled by love.

​Happy Juneteenth.

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