a reflective journal about social action from JustDane
Dear Friends, Thank you for celebrating our 50th anniversary Just this past month, I met with a non-profit housing developer to talk about ways we can with us last year. Your continued support is what collaborate to make sure their tenants know sustains us, strengthens us, and gives us hope. about our services and how to connect with us. With your help, we were able to offer supportive We already have multiple Reentry Simulations and employment training services to people scheduled for the community in 2025, including held in the Dane County Jail. We conducted a one in a local high school. Our Just record number of Reentry Simulations, helping Conversation series resumes this month and educate the public about the challenges faced will offer a total of four community by people returning home from incarceration conversations about our criminal legal system. and the way in which each of us can be an We will stand with our neighbors who may be advocate for real reform in the threatened by proposed federal, criminal legal system. On December state, or local policy changes. “Now is the accepted time, We will walk side-by-side 21st, 2024, we held the not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. with our program 16th annual Longest It is today that our best work can be done and not Night Homeless Persons’ participants, as well some future day or future year. It is today that we fit Memorial Service, as our partners, ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. recognizing, celebrating to support one Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and mourning our another as we and tomorrow comes the harvest and the play time.” continue to work for neighbors experiencing - W.E.B. DuBois diversity, equity, inclusion homelessness who died and justice in our City, during the year. In 2024, we remembered 42 individuals. County, State, and Country. Mourning the loss of our neighbors is important but does not bring justice. With your help and by joining our voices with so many other partner agencies in the community, we saw an increase in funding for truly affordable housing. While we haven’t completed our annual year end and fourth quarter reports quite yet, we are likely to have surpassed our 2023 service levels across programs and initiatives. All of that is because of your partnership. Now, as we move into 2025, a year fraught with uncertainty and anxiety, we also look for new opportunities that will present themselves.
The work to create a community in which everyone is valued, heard, respected, and has the opportunity to succeed and thrive has never been easy. It likely will be harder over the next few years. We are a persistent people here at JustDane, 50 years and counting as we pursue our mission of helping to transform individual lives and social systems to create a more just and equitable community. We are so grateful for your support, your persistence and your work in our community. BY LINDA KETCHAM
Winter 2025