City Life

Madison Commons Media Digest March 25, 2019

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Top Story
Judge blocks GOP lame duck laws curtailing Tony Evers' powers Mark Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal, March 22
Madison Mayoral Race
Mayoral candidates debate issues of racism, mass transit, and public market, Haidee Chu, Isthmus, March 19
2020 Election
Winning Wisconsin is on the minds of many Presidential candidates, including Beto, Jessie Opoien, The Cap Times, March 17. Wis Politics
Robin Vos refuses to testify on the redistricting case, Associated Press, March 21. Gov. Evers moves to withdraw from Obamacare lawsuit, Jessie Opoien, The Cap Times, March 21. MoveOn's Ben Wikler running to lead the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Jessie Opoien, The Cap Times, March 22. Jobs & Economy
Unemployment in Wisconsin drops to 2.9 percent, Channel 3000, March 21.

City Life

Dining in the Dark for Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired

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The Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired is hosting a Dining in the Dark event on March 21. The unique experience will happen on Charlie’s on Main in Oregon, and will start at 6:30 p.m. and end around 9:00 p.m. 

The guests will enjoy an Italian inspired four-course meal while blindfolded prepared by chef Dave Heide, followed by a showing of “Sound of Sunshine Sound of Rain.” Dinner costs $60 per person and a wine pairing is available for $20, and proceeds benefit the Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired. “You have this really powerful opportunity to experience food through all of your other senses and to really have that exquisite multisensory experience with food,” said Denise Jess, executive director of the Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired. “To notice what implications it has to not see the food, both in what the gift of that might be and what the loss of that might be.”

This is the second time Dining in the Dark is held at Charlie’s on Main, with the first time being in March 2018. The first time the Council held this type of event was about six years ago in Appleton at a restaurant called GingeRootz Asian Grille.

City Life

Demeter Foundation to Host Wellness Workshops Aiding Women Transitioning from Incarceration

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The Demeter Foundation will be hosting a four-week workshop series starting next week entitled “Creating a Healthier Lifestyle: Holistic Wellness,” for women with the lived experience of incarceration. The registration deadline for the series is Thursday, March 21. Participants can sign up by completing the registration form and submitting it to the Demeter Foundation. Each of the series’ eight sessions will focus on one of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Eight Dimensions of Wellness, such as environmental, financial, and emotional wellness. Participants will also have the opportunity to share their experiences and connect with others who have experienced incarceration.

City Life

Mifflandia Project Guides the Future of Mifflin Street Neighborhood

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The City of Madison began laying the groundwork for updates to the historic Mifflin Street neighborhood with its 2012 Downtown Plan, but from then until 2018, not much happened. Plans were made and forgotten, sometimes conflicting with each other along the way. But in the fall of 2018, the city launched the Mifflandia project, a planning initiative aimed at creating a real, viable plan for the area by engaging neighborhood residents. Organizers hope aspects like free food and a relaxed atmosphere can attract residents who would otherwise have little interest in the planning process. The first meeting last October, for example, offered donuts as attendees were polled on topics like housing styles, affordability, sustainability, and business types residents would like to see in the Mifflin neighborhood.

City Life

March 2019 Backyard Heroes

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Community Shares, a partner of Madison Commons, recognizes two volunteers each month. The volunteers come from Community Shares' member groups and are selected for their service to the community and to community issues. Nadya Mariam Ponce, WORT-FM

Nadya Mariam Ponce helps as a radio presenter on WORT's En Nuestro Patio ENPA, a Spanish language radio program that is produced by a team of volunteers and has become an important part of WORT. She is also one of the organizers of Madison's first Latinx community cycling club, BiciClub Latino de Madison. Ponce supports strongly the LatinXs on the Trans community and is always willing to help.

City Life

Madison Metro Bus Lines Poetry Project Now Accepting Submissions

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Here’s your chance, Madison, to share your poetry stories about your favorite Madison places with the thousands of Madisonians who ride the bus every day. Madison Metro Transit and Madison’s poet laureate, Oscar Mireles, are inviting members of the community to send short poems, haiku, prose poems, or excerpts from longer poems, 3–15 lines total, to the 2019 Bus Lines open call for poetry. “In the past, we’ve had over 300 submissions,” Mireles tells Madison365. “The winning poems will be put either on the back of a bus or the fare card/transfer card. Or they will be put on the ride guide, the booklet that has all of the bus schedules for the city, or on the webpage.”

Mireles is the first Latino to hold the position of Madison’s poet laureate, a position he has held since January of 2016.

City Life

Finding Success As a CEO of Tomorrow

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Amara Stovall is an eight-grade student at Wright Middle School and student writer at Simpson Street Free Press. Amara has launched a business intended to change the lives of survivors affected by police brutality. Her business dream is now a reality. At the age of 13, Amara Stovall joined a High School program called CEOs of Tomorrow. The program helps students create businesses that solve social issues.

City Life

Community Shares of Wisconsin to Hold Fifth Annual Big Share

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The Community Shares of Wisconsin will hold their 2019 Big Share on Tuesday, March 5, marking the fifth year that the fundraising event has taken place. The purpose of The Big Share is to raise funds and bring awareness to 70 nonprofit organizations aligned with CSW’s goals to promote social and environmental justice in Wisconsin. Through the ongoing support of longtime partners and sponsors such as Madison Community Foundation, the Big Share has raised over $1.2 million for participating organizations in the past. This year, organizers hope to break past donation records with the goal of collectively raising $500,000. 

As part of the event, there will be the opportunity to match donations and win prizes. Another highlight is the creative strategies employed by participating organizations to give potential donors a sense of their mission and impact.

City Life

Frigid Winter Threatens and Unites Madison Community

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In the early hours of January 26, the temperature in Madison reached minus 20 degrees due to the polar vortex. By the time Tom Wilson was walking his dog that Saturday morning in his neighborhood on Proudfit Street and West Main, the temperature had only risen to about minus 13. As he plodded through those frigid conditions Wilson noticed a man and a woman on a corner who looked to be in some distress and walked over to see if something was wrong. “Can you help me?” the woman asked. She explained she had found the man out in the cold, incoherent, and she didn’t know what to do.

City Life

February 2019 Backyard Heroes

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Community Shares, a partner of Madison Commons, recognizes two volunteers each month. The volunteers come from Community Shares' member groups and are selected for their service to the community and to community issues. Ingrid Rothe, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin

Ingrid Rothe is the Chair of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin’s legislative committee. She is a quintessential, volunteer grassroots League leader. Her work in the nonpartisan organization includes advocating for active participation in government.