Dane County Homeless Justice Initiative

We are back with another fundraiser!

Our goal is $5,000! Funds raised will be used to purchase hygiene supplies, colder weather clothing, tents, tarps, and sleeping bags. Please consider supporting our work as the colder weather comes in. Many of our unhoused neighbors are exposed to the elements as a result of the new men’s shelter.

We have officially reached our summer fundraiser goal!

Your donations directly funded 50 sleeping bags, 50 large tents, 90 small tents, 50 reusable water bottles, 100 tarps, and 2 major clothing restocks at Dig N Save, all which were given out over the course of 15+ distributions this summer!

We are so grateful to have such an active and caring community committed to supporting our unhoused neighbors. We could not do this work without your meaningful support. Thank you!

While the summer fundraiser has ended, our work has not. Check out our pinned post to find donation locations, or DM us to get directly involved at any time.

Keep an eye out on our social media for our next fundraiser!

We are SO close to meeting our Summer Fundraising goal! Consider helping us with one last final push before August ends!

Venmo: @ DCHJI

As we grieve the murder of one of our neighbors, Corey Ruiz, the Madison Police Department has continued to sweep encampments across the city, inflicting deep trauma upon our unhoused neighbors.

This state violence must end.

We need to take care of each other.

So, what can you do?

Contact your alder and the mayor’s office and demand that the city stop sweeping encampments and arresting people for simply not having a home.

Find your alder: https://www.cityofmadison.com/council/council-members/find-my-alder

Contact the mayor: https://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor

We will continue to post tangible action items you can take to support our community.

The Dane County Homeless Justice Initiative joins our community in mourning the sudden and tragic loss of Corey Ruiz. Like many members of our community, Corey experienced homelessness. He struggled to find stable housing and to access the support and resources that so many people need to survive and recover, including addiction treatment and mental health care. His story is not unique.

We know firsthand the hostility that unhoused people often face. We have seen the tension between wealthy homeowners and people seeking shelter or services in neighborhoods like Tenney-Lapham. We have watched neighbors and city leaders oppose shelters, encampments, and supportive housing. Madison spends $98.3 million each year on policing while more than 700 people remain unhoused. At the same time, Dane County found the money to build a new jail with 825 cells.

We cannot police our way out of a housing crisis. The solution to homelessness is housing.

Corey’s death must be a wake-up call for our entire community. We cannot continue responding to homelessness through criminalization and policing while failing to provide the basic resources that keep people alive. Real public safety means ensuring that everyone has access to housing, food, health care, addiction treatment, mental health services, and supportive communities.

If we truly want to prevent future tragedies, we have to invest in what saves lives: permanent affordable housing, low-barrier shelters, addiction treatment, mental health care, food security, and community-based support.

DCHJI encourages our community members to join the encampment at W***y and Baldwin in solidarity.

Only we’ve got us.

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