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- Tuesday (Dec 12 & 19) 6 – 8pm
- Thursday (Dec 14 & 21) 6 – 8pm
- Saturday (Dec 16 & 23) 10am – 2pm
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- Send a check to 304 N Third St., Madison, WI 53704
- PayPal at paypal.me/occupymadison
- Venmo @Occupy-Madison
And more . . . come check us out and see our progress at our fundraiser on November 5th at 1901 Aberg Ave noon – 4. . If you can’t make it you can donate here! Or PayPal at paypal.me/occupymadison or Venmo @Occupy-Madison, You can also send a check to:
Occupy Madison
304 N Third St.
Madison, WI 53704
More importantly, please come check out all our progress and plans! We’d love to see you!
Save the date! We’re having our first live plant sale since the pandemic. Stop by on Saturday May 6th from 10am – 2pm, peruse the plants, enjoy music by Sunshine Daydrink (noon – 2) and partake in some light refreshments.
If you can’t make the plant sale, you can order pre-sale online starting Monday April 17th or you can stop by the store Tuesday and Thursday 6pm – 8pm or on the Saturday 10 – 4. We hope to announce additional hours soon.
On Wednesday, December 28th we purchased a new property to build our tiny houses and to create a third tiny house village! Our first village will be 100% done in the spring, adding the final (9th) house. Also this spring we will finish the landscaping and exterior work at 1901 Aberg for our second village.
Meanwhile, starting in January we are going to be working on starting the process of building our larger tiny houses to replace the conestoga huts. We will build the components in the basement at our new property while we apply to rezone the property.
Conestoga Huts to the left, “larger tiny houses” below.
Read more about it:
If you missed our holiday sale last weekend, we’re sorry to miss you! However, we do have some last hours before the holidays where you can stop by and purchase items for loved ones AND help raise funds for Occupy Madison.
Our Store Hours are as follows:
There are lots of items made by residents and supporters to choose from including:
We also have t-shirts and postcards and much more!
These beautiful bouquets of flowers that you can pre-order here https://checkout.square.site/
Grown with the help of Moonflower and our very treasured Chavva Isreal of Occupy Madison
Pick up at either of the following locations August 4 – October
Pre-ordered $15.00 bouquets will be available for pick up starting August 4th thorough October.
Flowers (if not sold out) can be bought or picked up at our store at 304 North Third Street. Our hours of operation of our store is the following. Keep in mind we only have flowers available on Saturday as to guarantee freshness.
Occupy Madison is currently taking applications for currently homeless individuals to join our two villages!
Occupy Madison is taking applications for the fall. We currently have 8 – 10 openings at our properties located at 1901 Aberg Ave. and are hopeful that we may be able to obtain another property within the next year. We are inviting people who are experiencing primarily unsheltered homelessness to apply to be a member and start earning sweat equity towards living in one of our current villages or a potential 3rd village.
About Occupy Madison
Living in our villages is a commitment! Community living is not for everyone, it requires agreeing to our community agreement, participating in weekly meetings and contributing to the village you live in by doing chores and tasks. Occupy Madison is a 100% volunteer run organization where the people who live in our villages run the villages, are board and committee members doing all functions of the organization.
Living at Occupy Madison has always been free to the people living there. However, people have to become members, become active members by earning “sweat equity” towards their homes and remain active participants in the governance and decision making in the organization. Membership is obtained by attending orientation, attending two General Membership Meetings and being voted in by the current membership. Sweat equity is earned by participating in meetings, helping build items we sell in our store, participating in work days and helping us get our coffee cart up and running. Our goal is for residents to earn enough money through village sales and fundraising to create sustainable villages.
Since 2014 Occupy Madison has housed 42 individuals. We are happy to report that while we consider this a permanent housing option for folks, we have also had 11 people who have stayed with us get into housing. 4 people have gotten into treatment or are in the criminal justice system. While we have asked some people to leave, to the best of our knowledge only 2 people are currently experiencing homelessness. And sadly, two of our community members have passed away.
Current waiting list folks need to re-apply so we know they are still interested, but will be prioritized.
Currently, we have about 180 people on our waiting list! However since October 2020 when we started the waiting list, we know that some people have gotten into housing, some people have moved out of town and sadly some people have passed away. Additionally, we are experiencing difficulties reaching the people on the waiting list due to phone numbers that have changed and emails that are no longer read. In order to ensure we are reaching those who currently want to live in a tiny home in our cooperative villages, we are inviting people currently experiencing homelessness to re-apply for current openings at both 1901 Aberg and 304 N 3rd St. People who have expressed interest in the past will be prioritized in the order that they were on our original waiting list.
How do I apply?
Our preferred way is to indicate interest by filling out this google form. We understand not everyone has access to a computer or phone that can fill out the form, so you can also call or text 608-305-4707 and leave your name, best way to contact you (phone or email preferred but other ways accepted and you may use the phone or email of someone who can get a message to you quickly), your current living situation (street/tent, vehicle, shelter, staying with friends or family, expecting to be homeless soon, etc) and if you have previously expressed interest by emailing or leaving a voicemail.
1901 Aberg Occupy Village
If you are interested in the 3202 Dairy Drive City run campground run by MACH OneHealth/Kabba Recovery Services, speak to an outreach worker, Beacon or shelter staff to take the VISPDAT as they use Coordinated Entry to accept residents.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has proposed using federal spending for the needs of the houseless in Madison and specifically Occupy Madison. The mayor’s blog post can be found here.
The part of the post that impacts the organization:
Homelessness Support – $8,650,000. Funding supports a variety of strategies to support persons experiencing homelessness in Madison such a permanent men’s shelter and additional tiny houses, including an Occupy Madison Solar Project that will reduce housing costs.
We have been talking about having a solar array for years, and funding has always been a major obstacle. Our proposal is to have a solar array on the rooves of the main buildings at both villages and panels on every tiny house. This will not only cut operational costs so funds can be directed towards getting people into houses and a healing community, but we will also be doing our part to contribute to a green infrastructure.
We are currently working on finishing Phase 2 of OM Village, adding another shower, laundry facilities, a kitchen, and a community room to the existing building. After this is complete, we will be able to move four more people into the village and focus on building 22 tiny houses to replace the conestoga huts at the village on Aberg Avenue. Simultaneously, we are looking at more properties in Madison to put more tiny houses to get the unhoused into housing.
Link for how to get a tiny house here. How to volunteer and donate are on this site in the menu above.
The residents of Occupy Madison’s Aberg Ave Village would like to invite you to an open house/block party on Saturday, June 5th, from 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
There will be music, games, tours will be given, and art will be for sale as well as items made by Occupy Madison’s members and volunteers. This event is child and pet friendly, so feel free to bring the whole family and get to know your neighbors!
Plants are now available for sale here! Be sure once you are there to click on “order now” to see all the plants!
This year we are using Purple Cow organic soils
Our plant sale will be fully live later this week, but for now, we know we have a certain amount of plants available and will be adding several more.
If interested in the sneak peak, you can view what we now have available. Be sure to also check back later in the week!
At this point, any plants ordered by Friday (5/7) at 10pm can be picked up Saturday after 12pm.
Plants ordered on Saturday (5/8) can be picked up on Sunday (3/9).
After that pick ups will be as follows: