Partnering to Make a Difference!
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Outreach Committee Report to St. Andrews Vestry
The Vestry charged the Outreach Committee with designating a Black-led business with whom St. Andrews could partner to support the mission of that business as it relates to systemic inequities in the lives of Black people in the Madison-Dane County area. The Outreach Committee (Father Andy Jones, Toru Blagogee, Penelope Johnson, Anne Keller, Donna McDowell, Judy Mills, Leanne Puglielli, Casey Reiser, Heidi Elder Ropa, Julia Stanley, Bonnie Tompkins, and Shevanthi Weerasinghe) met over the course of several months, choosing an area of interest on which to focus our search and locating appropriate businesses in the chosen content area. After consultation with several Black religious and community leaders, the committee decided to focus on housing. An area of enduring racial exclusion, housing has been systemically denied to Black people by US federal, state, and local laws. These laws and covenants have prevented Blacks from developing the kind of generational wealth to which prosperous White people have grown accustomed.
Two organizations rose to the top of our search. They are Madison ROOTS, LLC and OWNIT: Build Black Wealth. Committee members studied these businesses in depth and met with leaders from each group. Both organizations are inspiring and deserve the interest and support of the larger community. Both organizations seek to assist Black people to own their own homes and to be empowered through financial literacy. These organizations coach families in financial literacy and help families enter into not only buying arrangements, but also rent-to-own arrangements.
The Vestry charged the Outreach Committee with designating a Black-led business with whom St. Andrews could partner to support the mission of that business as it relates to systemic inequities in the lives of Black people in the Madison-Dane County area. The Outreach Committee (Father Andy Jones, Toru Blagogee, Penelope Johnson, Anne Keller, Donna McDowell, Judy Mills, Leanne Puglielli, Casey Reiser, Heidi Elder Ropa, Julia Stanley, Bonnie Tompkins, and Shevanthi Weerasinghe) met over the course of several months, choosing an area of interest on which to focus our search and locating appropriate businesses in the chosen content area. After consultation with several Black religious and community leaders, the committee decided to focus on housing. An area of enduring racial exclusion, housing has been systemically denied to Black people by US federal, state, and local laws. These laws and covenants have prevented Blacks from developing the kind of generational wealth to which prosperous White people have grown accustomed.
Two organizations rose to the top of our search. They are Madison ROOTS, LLC and OWNIT: Build Black Wealth. Committee members studied these businesses in depth and met with leaders from each group. Both organizations are inspiring and deserve the interest and support of the larger community. Both organizations seek to assist Black people to own their own homes and to be empowered through financial literacy. These organizations coach families in financial literacy and help families enter into not only buying arrangements, but also rent-to-own arrangements.
Madison ROOTS are “a team of Black investors seeking to amplify the wealth of Black families using home ownership as a catalyst.” (from their website) ROOTS currently owns a four-unit apartment building and their intention is, with the help of further community investment, to buy more apartment housing. In this way, Black families or individuals can move from rental to ownership. Our choice to support Madison ROOTS is based on their all-Black leadership, Vanessa McDowell (CEO, Madison YWCA) and Kamal Calloway (Exact Sciences….), respected persons and business leaders in the community. And it is based on their traditionally and culturally driven approach of working with families by building strong relationships.
The St. Andrews Vestry commits to our baptismal covenant, to seek and support Christ in all persons, by supporting financial strength and the ability to build Black wealth. The Outreach Committee suggests it is proper to support ROOTS’ methods of engagement by which Black community members may sense respect as well as support.
The parish of St. Andrews will be offered opportunities to learn more about the history of barriers to Black property ownership and to join in actions to support Madison ROOTS.
The parish of St. Andrews will be offered opportunities to learn more about the history of barriers to Black property ownership and to join in actions to support Madison ROOTS.
Website
St. Andrew's Monthly InGathering for March and April has been designated for Madison ROOTS.
You may place checks in the offering plate with "InGathering" or "ROOTS" in the memo line
or you may give online on our website.