L. Malik Anderson

This Saturday the “Free The 350 Bail Fund” will host its first of five online concerts as part of a fundraising series to raise money to release residents incarcerated in the Dane County jail system during the global health crisis.
“It’s basically a death sentence that elected officials are serving by leaving people in jail during a pandemic,” Hip hop Artist and Organizer Liam “Lil Guillotine” Manjon said.
The Free The 350 Bail fund prioritizes bailing out Black people incarcerated in the Dan...

The Caribbean Association of Madison (CAM) has begun accepting applications from students in Dane County for their annual scholarship program.
“For the CAM Scholarship, we’re looking for students who have demonstrated some sort of past, current or future interest in improving the well-being of communities of color in Dane County,” CAM Member and Scholarship Committee Chair Keisha Lindsay said.
The organization has awarded thousands of dollars to over a dozen students since 2012. In June, CAM ...

A new emergency initiative provides fresh, healthy, locally grown food to Latino and Indigenous residents and families hard-hit by job loss and food insecurity.
“It’s a program that was really born out of necessity and Latino America always says that necessity is the mother of all invention,” said Mariela Quesada Centeno, manager of Roots4Change / Raíces Para El Cambio (R4C).
Farms to Families / Fondo de Granjas a Familias, created by a partnership between REAP, R4C and Rooted, purchases prod...

Madison Reading Project has raised funds to safely deliver books featuring diverse characters, culturally relevant titles, and bilingual texts to children during the pandemic.
“It’s very important for children to have books in their homes – they can be a form of entertainment and learning while they’re away from the classroom,” says Rowan Childs, the nonprofit’s executive director. “Books right now can comfort children in this time of family stress and provide literacy journeys that invigorat...

Dreamers of UW-Madison will expand their efforts to help undocumented students across Wisconsin.
“Originally, it started in Madison but we’re shifting our focus from UW-Madison to statewide so we’re changing our name from Dreamers of UW-Madison to Dreamers of Wisconsin,” UW-Madison senior and Dreamers of Wisconsin President Cristhabel Martinez said.
The registered student organization began advocating for undocumented students, including “Dreamers” — recipients of the Deferred Action for Chil...

Adelante’s Board announced their endorsements for 12 candidates ahead of the Spring 2020 Election.
“We have a few people that we will be focusing on and supporting moving through the November election,” Adelante Co-founder Gloria Reyes told Madison365.
Adelante’s Spring 2020 endorsements include Savion Castro for Madison School Board Seat 2, Yogesh Chawla for District 6 Supervisor on Dane County Board, Loreen Gage for Monona Grove School Board, Anthony Gray for District 14 Supervisor on Dane ...

Local activist Nada Elmikashfi announced her candidacy for state senate, a seat held by the nation’s longest-serving legislator Democratic state Sen. Fred Risser.
“After careful consideration, I am honored to announce my candidacy for Wisconsin State Senate District 26. Growing up in Madison, I have been raised in a community that looked out for its own because no one looked out for it,” Elmikashfi said in her announcement.
Risser announced Thursday that he would not seek re-election, ending ...

Public health advocates and mental health providers plan to continue serving clients in their time of need while practicing social distancing.
“We told the women that we serve, the volunteers, ambassadors, we told them to mentally prepare for the next several weeks,” said Lisa Peyton-Caire, founder of The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness and Black Women’s Wellness Day.
She and members of her organization began discussing contingencies a few weeks ago, keeping the possibility of a pandemi...

Local pastors are exploring new and innovative ways to reach their church congregations as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
“We’re trying to stay in contact as much as possible. I’m emailing my whole church two or three times a week,” Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church Rev. Marcus Allen said.
Allen contacted several pastors after facing the difficult decision to physically close their doors to the congregation. Allen said he and several other pastors have undergone training on Zoom Video Commu...

UW-Madison’s School of Nursing will host the second annual LGBTQ+ Health Summit on campus Friday, April 17.
“This year we did an open call for proposals to get more community input and broaden it out to diverse populations,” School of Nursing Diversity Officer Mel Freitag said.
All students, faculty, staff, healthcare professionals, and community members were encouraged to apply as individuals and/or groups to present on topics related to LGBTQ+ health. Last year, the planning committee selec...

Women and girls from all over the city attended Girls Inc. of Greater Madison’s Celebration of International Women’s Day at Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center on Tuesday night.
“In 2014, this program had a hundred girls when we became a Dane County community partner, now there are over 1,000 girls,” Goodman Community Center Chief of Development Officer Michelle Green said.
In 2019, the 810 girls from 26 sites from elementary to high school participated in over 12,000 hours of Girl...

Cammie Nicole premiered “Queer Black Love: A Photo Series” at a gallery and reception on Friday night.
“I knew that I wanted the pictures to be intimate and not just focused on the faces. I wanted to capture handholding, legs intertwined and things like that,” she said.
The UW-Madison Gender and Sexuality Campus Center (GSCC) hosted the event on UW-Madison’s campus on the second to last day of Black History Month. The exhibition of photos captures some of the most private moments between part...

The Latino Professionals Association (LPA) held its fifth annual “Brindis Del Exito” on Saturday night at the Madison Club.
“When LPA was imagined in 2014 we never knew what it would become, but we wanted many to be a part of this growth and longevity,” Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County CEO Sandy Morales said.
Morales served as the master of ceremonies for the evening. LPA members, business partners, and community members joined one another in celebration of all the achievements of Lati...

Black community leaders gathered together inside Mount Zion Baptist Church on Wednesday to kick off the 2020 Census count in Madison.
“In a nation that tries to erase us as black people, it is our duty to stand up, be counted and be seen,” YWCA Madison Chief Executive Officer Vanessa McDowell said.
Senior Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church Marcus Allen opened the event with a prayer before numerous community leaders stepped to the podium to convince community members to participate in the 2020...

When UW Athletics Director of Inclusion Sheridan Blanford joined the university in August 2017, she was at the forefront of Diversity and Inclusion efforts in collegiate sports.
“Wisconsin was one of the four departments in the nation to implement Diversity and Inclusion in athletics in the NCAA,” she said.
Blanford served as the Badgers’ Inclusion and Engagement Coordinator during her first year on campus. She worked to enhance the student-athlete experience through a lens of diversity and e...