Thousands of young adults in Dane County face hidden barriers that inhibit them when entering the workforce.
School conflicts, difficult family situations and housing instability all contribute to academic struggles among high school students.
That’s what draws so many to Operation Fresh Start, a nonprofit (commonly referred to by its acronym, OFS) offering eight unique programs that educate, train, mentor and provide necessary resources to set young adults up for stable careers.
In the Madison Metropolitan School District, the home district of most Operation Fresh Start participants, 46% of students are considered economically disadvantaged, according to the 2024-2025 District Report Card. Many of them are chronically absent, missing more than 10% of school days. Additionally, the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Survey estimated that one in four Madison school district households changed residences in the past year, pointing to a widespread housing crisis.
To combat this, Operation Fresh Start helps young adults from low-income families gain the skills needed for career-track employment.
In their Legacy program, participants spend one day a week in a traditional classroom and three days working on site with their small construction or conservation crews. This alternative hands-on learning style allows many students to connect what they’re learning in the classroom to real-world scenarios.
“They’re out doing some pretty significant conservation land stewardship work throughout the county, but we are not necessarily mass producing carpenters and conservationists,” said Executive Director Brian McMahon. “We’re going to help that young person become as competitive as they can possibly be, in whatever it is they want to go into, for that best-fit next career step or post-secondary step.”
The approach is working. According to recent education reports, the program is seeing a three grade-level increase on average in reading and math.
“I’d say I learned more stuff than I learned in the three years I went to high school,” participant Alex Mora said about Legacy.
In keeping with their “participant-centered” model, each young adult at Operation Fresh Start works with a supervisor to develop an individualized learning plan. The organization prioritizes care and understanding of personal needs and offers individualized support that understaffed public schools often cannot. The participants see this dedicated time as one of the most valuable parts of the program.
“It’s a one-on-one connection with the supervisors and the classroom teachers. They can really help us,” said Silas Rai, a participant in the Legacy program.
For young adults facing financial instability, a strong support network keeps them moving forward. While completing their education, participants of Operation Fresh Start receive a stipend for their work and collaborate with a resource specialist to ensure their basic needs are met.
“We don’t want people to have to choose between getting an education, or getting food or paying rent,” said Hayley Hodsdon, the organization’s communications specialist.
Operation Fresh Start relies heavily on government funding that is essential for sustaining the organization. Still, like many nonprofits, it faces financial struggles that limit its ability to support participants in all the ways it strives to.
“We have a lot of caring people and a lot of ideas. It’s just a matter of how can we make those ideas become reality, and do we have the resources for it?” Hodsdon said.
Despite this, Operation Fresh Start partners with many generous donors and companies in Madison.
Findorff, a commercial construction firm based in Madison, provides on the job training, mentorship and, in many cases, full-time careers for Operation Fresh Start graduates.
“We see a lot of resiliency and maturity from OFS graduates, oftentimes stemming from life experiences that other teens or young adults may not have had,” Jason Henkins, Findorff’s Assistant Special Projects Manager, noted in a written statement. “There’s a lot of creative thinking and problem-solving that comes from taking what might be considered a ‘nontraditional’ path to getting a high school diploma.”
The success of Operation Fresh Start participants is measurable. In 2024, it was able to help 36 earn high school diplomas, 32 earn pre-apprenticeship certifications and 10 obtain driver’s licenses. The construction crews completed three affordable housing projects in Sun Prairie, handling all work except plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The conservation crews improved 553 acres of land at 159 locations across Dane County and planted a significant number of trees and seedlings.
“Our graduates are leaving confident in their learning abilities and becoming lifelong learners. And that’s what it’s all about,” McMahon said.
Supervisors reach out to students for up to a year after they graduate from the Legacy program. McMahon emphasized the collaborative environment the organization fosters and the tight bonds formed by crews. He shared the saying “Once OFS, always OFS,” noting that participants stay in communication long after they graduate.
“ I think I could ask literally everybody here for help, and I think they would do it,“ Rai said.
