Funding for Occupy Madison Inc Projects

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.

Plant Sale Preview – Pre-orders now available!

Plants available for sale now! More to come!

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!

Pick up plants as early as this weekend!

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:

    • For orders placed between Monday 12 pm and Thursday 12 pm, pick up is that Friday after 12 pm
    • For orders placed between Thursday 12 pm and Monday 12 pm, pick up is Tuesday after 12 pm

 

 

Wiggie’s Memorabilia Silent Auction

Your man-cave or she-shed need a few new items?  Fan of Dale Klee (old car photos) or Ted Crow (sports caricatures)?  Packer’s fan?  Need a boatload of holiday decorations?  Music fan?  Need a Wiggie’s memento?  Or an old parking meter?  You just never know what you might find in our silent auction.

The auction will be on line 4/20 – 5/14 at midnight, just click here to see all the goodies.  You can pick up your winnings starting 5/15.  All proceeds will go to help with the ongoing costs (water, electricity, toilet paper – the necessities!) of our two villages.

If the silent auction is not your thing, you can donate through the donate button on this page or watch for our spring plant sale coming up May 8th!

Neighborhood Meeting Slides & 1901 Aberg Project Update

So much has been happening we haven’t had a lot of time to write about it!  Tonight we had our neighborhood meeting with Alder Syed Abbas and city staff.  I promised to get the slides from tonight up on the website – so they will follow this write up.

We received unanimous consent from Urban Design Commission on 4/14 to recommend approval to the Plan Commission. We have two more public meetings to go to get permanent zoning:

    • Plan Commission – Monday, April 26th (Agenda is already out and you can register now)
    • City Council Meeting – Tuesday, May 4th.

City staff recommended people send their comments to pccomments@cityofmadison.com.

And without further ado, here are the slides!

Full Presentation of slides

Celebrate Spring! Egg Hunt and Mini-Tour of New Village

Tomorrow (4/3) from 11 – 2 Occupy Madison is hosting a soft launch mini-open house with an Egg Hunt for the kids at 11:30.  The architect will be there with his latest drawing of what the village will look like when completed if we get our permanent zoning.  Looks like the weather will be great!  Feel free to share on Facebook as well!

Spring is here and at Occupy Madison we are ready to celebrate our new home, our new neighborhood, our new community. We are inviting neighborhood residents to come see the village, bring your kids for an egg hunt, preview the permanent zoning plans we have for 1901 Aberg and get to know your neighbors better. Egg hunt will be at 11:30 and there will be prizes for everyone – and secret surprises for whomever finds a tiny rubber duckie or a “Celebrate” message in their egg! Refreshments, and flower wreath making and more!

spring celebration

 

Finally! Sign Up to Volunteer!!!!

Finally!  We have a way for you to sign up for some of the first shifts!  We will add additional shifts as we sort out who is leading which activities.  There are 5 tabs right now:

    • weekday house building (starting Wednesday)
    • weekend house building (starting this weekend)
    • working at 304 N 3rd Street to get ready for 5 transition houses (this weekend)
    • working at 1901 Aberg Ave to build the fence, so we can install the electricity so we can move the newly built houses to the site (Nov 14 & 15)
    • accepting donations for the new village (Nov 14 & 15)
We will be adding more shifts and we’ll notify you when we do.  If you would like to volunteer for an activity that is not on this list, let us know!  We will be following up with several folks today who had specific offers, but if you don’t hear from us, feel free to nudge!
Also, donations of food and drinks for the volunteers would be greatly appreciated!  You can drop donations off a the sites during the work shifts.
Thank you for helping us make this a reality!
The Occupy Family

Occupy Madison COVID19 Pandemic and Community Needs Response

Occupy Madison is honoring our roots and working on ways we can creatively use our assets to support the community by filling gaps to support people in need. Occupy Madison remains open as long as none of our residents are sick but we are exercising the following precautions to protect our family and community members:

  • Our store is closed except for online sales.
  • We have suspended tours of the village and potlucks.
  • Volunteers to care for the plants are welcome at the village unless any resident objects.
  • Shop shifts are determined by the individual shop managers, shifts are limited to 4 people. Shifts will be suspended upon request of any resident.
  • Cleaning
    • Spray down toilets and sinks before and after use
    • Regularly cleaning door handles and surfaces
  • No more than 10 people in the store, shop and public outdoor areas.
  • Use Google hangouts for all meetings, in person visits allowed unless or until residents object
  •  If a resident gets infected by COVID19, the following procedures will be followed:
      1. Designate a bathroom for people with COVID19
      2. Plan to bring food to the person who has to stay in their house
      3. Residents will send Brenda their emergency contacts.

For more information on how we are filling gaps, please see our GMM and Board Meeting notes.

OM Village Fiber Arts Circle

We have a fiber arts community event in the Village!

If you have a project you want to finish or want to start a new one,
If you have always wanted to learn how to knit or crochet,
If it has been a while and you want to try fiber arts again,
For any fiber reason at all, please join us!

OM Village Fiber Arts Circle
Sunday, January 12, 2020 12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

304 N 3rd Street
Madison, WI 53704

Facebook event: Click here
Google Event:

Wanted: Shop Managers and Volunteers

Hello from OM Village!

We are currently in need of experienced woodworkers or people familiar with power tools to function as Shop Managers on various days and times.

The Shop Manager ensures safe operation of tools and advises 2 – 6 volunteers on projects. For more information, see Shop Manager Criteria, Shop Manager Responsibilities, Shop Handbook, and Shop Rules. If you are interested in becoming a Shop Manager for one of the 4 shifts, please email us.

We could still use some volunteers to help make items for the Village Store, designing flyers, sewing (items to sell in the store), planning, and numerous other activities. To see current events you can participate in, visit our Meetings and Events page and fill out the form, or send us an email.

 

Thanks in advance!