Focused Interruption

Focused Interruption tabled at the Northside Festival at Mallard Stadium on September 12, one of our favorite annual community events.

We connected with more than 70 neighbors across every age group, from babies to seniors, sharing information about our programs and answering questions about our agency. A lot of familiar faces stopped by to say they already knew and valued our work, and a few new folks asked how they could get involved or volunteer.

It's exactly the kind of event that reminds us why we show up: real conversations, real relationships, right in t

Thank you, Northside Festival, for having us again. 🧡

On September 12, we stood with the Black Opioid Coalition at Penn Park for an Overdose Awareness Gathering.

Miss Hunt and Miss Adams led the gathering with urgency and compassion, reminding everyone that today's opioid supply, often laced with fentanyl, is not the drug supply of the past. The message was clear: stigma kills, compassion saves, and awareness is prevention.

We're proud to stand alongside the Black Opioid Coalition in this work. 🧡

As summer winds down, Focused Interruption spent two afternoons doing what we do best: showing up in the neighborhood.

At Meadowlands Apartments, about 50 residents joined us for canvas painting and a pizza party, five parents stayed to paint alongside their kids. At Harmony Apartments, 32 community members came out for the same, and we saw something especially encouraging: strong participation from dads, who don't always get the space or invitation to show up at these events in the same way.

Painting side by side with a parent, sharing a meal, being present in the neighborhood before anything ever goes wrong, that's what prevention looks like at Focused Interruption. It doesn't always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like pizza and wet paint on a Tuesday afternoon.

Thank you to every family, at Meadowlands and Harmony, who made these afternoons what they were. 🧡

Save the date: Guns to Gardens is back on October 17.

From 9am to noon, Focused Interruption is partnering with Messiah Lutheran Church, St. Paul A.M.E. Church, and RawTools Inc to give our neighbors a safe way to turn in unwanted fi****ms and see them transformed into garden tools. It's community violence intervention (CVI) work at its most hands-on, turning what once caused harm into something that helps things grow.

📍 Messiah Lutheran Church, 5202 Cottage Grove Rd, Madison
🕘 9:00am – 12:00 noon
Scan the QR code on the flyer to donate.

Guns to Gardens has partnered with us for years, including as a donor to our 10 Year Anniversary Gala silent auction this past August. One of their pieces, a disarmed firearm sculpture, was won at the auction and then donated right back to us. It now greets people as they walk into our office, a daily reminder of what's possible when a community chooses to transform instead of just react.

Thank you, Guns to Gardens, for the partnership, and for everything October 17 represents. 🧡

Huge congratulations to Dr. Corinda Rainey-Moore, a longtime member of our Focused Interruption board, on receiving the 2026 Reverend James C. Wright Human Rights Award from the City of Madison's Department of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission. 🧡

The award honors people who reflect Rev. Wright's legacy of justice, equity, compassion, and service, and there's no one who embodies that more than Corinda. Her work in community health engagement and her years of advocacy across Madison have opened doors and built trust for people who need it most.

In her own words: "James C. Wright’s legacy reminds us that leadership is measured not by titles, but by our willingness to serve others with integrity, courage, and compassion."

Congratulations, Corinda. We're proud to call you a partner in this work. 🧡

Our 10 Year Anniversary Gala silent auction offered more than incredible items, it offered moments of real care, and we want to make sure Calm Soul Studio gets the thank-you they've earned.

Calm Soul Studio donated a private yoga session for four, with a full menu to choose from: power flow, vinyasa, and restorative practice, plus chair adaptations for anyone who needs them. That kind of intentional, welcoming care reflects exactly what we hope to build in this community.

Thank you, Calm Soul Studio, for supporting Focused Interruption and for showing up for wellness in Madison. 🧡

Turn your spare change into real change.

Focused Interruption is now on RoundUp.org, and it might be the easiest way yet to support this work.

Here is how it works: link your Visa or Mastercard, and your everyday purchases automatically round up to the nearest dollar. That spare change, a few cents at a time, comes straight to Focused Interruption to fund outreach, youth mentorship, healing, and safer neighborhoods across Madison.

You will not even notice the difference in your day to day. But it adds up to real impact in our community.

It is free, secure, tax-deductible, and you can cancel anytime. Your card information is never stored or shared.

Ready to make your spare change count?
Sign up here: roundup.org/nonprofits/focused-interruption-inc-wi-madison-6s17yw4

Every little bit builds something bigger.

Today, we pause to remember.

We honor the lives lost on September 11, 2001, the families forever changed, and the courage of those who gave everything to help others.

Twenty-five years later, we hold onto what that day also showed us: that in our hardest moments, communities come together, neighbors show up for one another, and healing begins with connection.

Today, we remember. And we hold one another close.

Stay connected with Focused Interruption.

The work doesn't stop, and neither does the story. From the neighborhoods we serve to the people doing this work every day, there is always something happening, and we would love to keep you close to it.

Join our email list for updates on our programs, our events, and the impact we are making together across Madison and Dane County.

It takes just a few seconds, and it keeps you connected to the work that is changing lives.

Sign up today on our homepage: focusedinterruption.org, just wait for the form to pop up.

We are so proud of our own Delilah McKinney!

Tomorrow, Delilah is a keynote speaker at the inaugural Recovery Conference for Incarcerated Women, hosted by the Wisconsin Women's Resource Center. She's opening the conference and hosting a healing circle, "Reclaiming Our Spirit: A Journey of Healing and Renewal."

Delilah is a Certified Peer Support Specialist and Community Engagement Coordinator with Focused Interruption. Coming from the Oneida Nation Reservation of Wisconsin, and as a directly impacted woman herself, she walks alongside people facing the very challenges she has known. She meets people exactly where they are, with honesty, strength, and heart.

Her healing circle draws on Indigenous grounding and renewal practices to help these women reconnect with who they are beyond their past. That is the heart of this work: reminding people they are never as far from themselves, or from hope, as they may feel.

Thank you, Delilah, for showing up for our sisters and for carrying this work far beyond our own community. We're honored to have you on this team!