This story is part of a two-year (2024-26) series prioritizing solutions to housing insecurity through collaborative storytelling. For more information about the series, please see the project overview. For questions or comments, please contact Sue Robinson at robinson4@wisc.edu.
The Homeless Services Consortium (HSC) of Dane County is a partnership of agencies, funders, city and county employees, advocates and people with lived experience of homelessness working together to prevent and end homelessness in Dane County.
The consortium is comprised of a board of directors as well as a number of different committees, all of which are guided by a community plan, Dane Forward: A Five-Year Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.
The plan is data-informed, produced from focus groups, one-on-one interviews and surveys, and it includes the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness. It is a revised version of the original plan to address homelessness, Safe & Sound: A Community Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in Dane County, WI, which was developed in 2016.
The Community Plan Committee for the HSC is co-chaired by Torrie Kopp Mueller, continuum of care coordinator with the City of Madison, and Jani Koester, a transition education program teacher in the Madison Metropolitan School District.
It is important to everyone that is a part of HSC to include a variety of different voices. Johneisha Prescott, a housing program specialist for Dane County, attends committee meetings to voice concerns for the people she represents.
“Part of my role is to help provide support and assistance for people experiencing doubled up homelessness, and so I wanted to make sure that there is support and a voice for that population within the community,” Prescott said.
Michelle Hemp, a nurse at UnityPoint Health - Meriter, joined HSC when she struggled to get in touch with patients who were experiencing homelessness. Her support provides a voice to healthcare access for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Every individual on the Community Plan Committee is dedicated to working to prevent and end homelessness.
“We are a very passionate group of people —folks that get involved in this work and actually be attending these meetings and speaking up have a passion,” said Takisha, a member of the Community Plan Committee and Lived Experience Council, who asked that only her first name be used for privacy. “It means a lot to them and also the community.”
The committee meets monthly to track what has been accomplished and creates an annual progress report for the HSC Board of Directors. The agenda and minutes for each meeting, as well as the “Year One Implementation Plan” and “Year One Implementation Plan Summary,” can be found linked on the Community Plan Committee webpage.
At the committee’s April meeting, facilitated by Sarah Lim, a community development specialist with the City of Madison, discussion centered around local presentations, responses from a survey on housing and support models and a tracking document created by HSC board member Beverly Priefer.
Members of the committee provide presentations for different community groups and organizations in Dane County. The presentations consist of a slide shown to share about the community plan and answer any questions the audience may have. If you would like a committee member to present for your group or organization, please contact HSC by email at hsc@cityofmadison.com.
The tracking document is a comprehensive document for all of the committees to more interactively collaborate and stay updated on which committee is working on what tasks and its progress on said task, Priefer said.
If you are interested in being a part of the Community Plan Committee or looking for other ways to get involved with HSC, please send an e-mail to hsc@cityofmadison.com.
