CONTACT: Martin Day
Leadership Greater
Madison (LGM20) Social Services Team
Email: mday@mge.com
Phone: (608) 252-5633
Community leaders gather for Summit on Homelessness in Dane County
Leadership Greater Madison hosts day-long educational summit
MADISON ― Service providers, local leaders and concerned citizens gathered today for a full-day summit exploring homelessness in Dane County. Today’s summit was hosted by the Social Services team of Leadership Greater Madison (LGM) and culminated an extensive examination of the issue of homelessness and how it impacts Madison and Dane County.
“More communities around the country are looking for a way to solve the problem of homelessness, not just manage the problem,” said summit keynote speaker Steve Berg, Vice President for Programs and Policy with the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “Those that have had success have focused on an organized, systemic approach. You need good programs, but you also need everyone pulling together toward the same goal.”
More than 30 speakers representing various service providers and sectors of Dane County spoke to the approximately 100 summit attendees and participants about such issues as specific data on homelessness in Madison and Dane County; city and county goals; shelters; affordable housing; homelessness and schools; criminal justice; business and community perspectives; medical needs; veterans; and the faith community. Det. Maya Krajcinovic with the Madison Police Department shared luncheon remarks on how human trafficking affects homelessness. A photo exhibit showing the many faces of homelessness was on display throughout the summit courtesy of photographer Glenn Austin.
“There is no single face of homelessness. Thousands of men, women, children and whole families in Dane County have nowhere to call home and many other thousands are only one crisis away from homelessness,” explained Lt. Kelly Donahue with the Madison Police Department and member of the LGM20 Social Services team. “This summit was designed to bring together individuals and organizations to explore the issue and look for ways to help prevent and stop homelessness.”
The Summit on Homelessness in Dane County was a community effort involving speakers from more than two dozen local government and nonprofit groups and was sponsored, in part, by Alliant Energy Foundation, Inn on the Park, Madison Gas & Electric Foundation and Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S. C. Leadership Greater Madison is a joint effort of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Wood Communications Group.
“Dane County has dozens of organizations and hundreds of volunteers working to end homelessness, but unfortunately the number of people needing assistance keeps growing,” said Phil Bower with Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek and LGM20 Social Services member. “The LGM20 Social Services team realized that as a neutral group we could help bring together service providers, local leaders, businesses and concerned citizens to share information, engage in frank conversations and share ideas that will help improve life for homeless people and the community at large.”
LGM20 Social Services team members who coordinated the Summit on Homelessness in Dane County include: Phillip Bower, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, S.C.; Martin Day, Madison Gas & Electric; David de Leon, Alliant Energy; Kelly Donahue, City of Madison Police Department; Sarah Sosa-Acevedo, Madison Children’s Museum; Pat Steele, Northport Community Learning Center; and Patrick Sweeney, Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Leadership Greater Madison (LGM), now in its 20th year, provides advanced leadership training to help future community leaders become more aware of the issues affecting the Dane County area and the opportunities that exist to get involved. The program focuses on helping participants learn how to develop in-depth analysis of, identify resolution management approaches to, and communicate about critical public issues while placing special emphasis on contemporary issues, challenges and opportunities, as well as ‘real world’ options and experiences. This includes responsibility for developing and implementing a capstone project addressing a current issue.
