How You Can Help
Thank you for your care for the future of Madison, and your willingness to positively contribute to that future. We've created this collection of actions to be taken by passionate individuals who are looking for guidance on what can be done to help our effort.
The challenge of smart, human-centric city building is immense and complex, but our approach doesn't need to be. The strong towns ethos suggests the following four steps:
Humbly observe the issues faced by members of the community. What are the day-to-day struggles that community members face, some of which our neighbors might be so desensitized to that they've accepted them as unavoidable?
Identify the next smallest thing that can be done to ease those challenges. Even something as simple as clearing debris from a sidewalk to give pedestrians space from traffic could have an immense positive impact on our neighbors' lives.
Do that thing, do it now. Why wait? The core idea of the 'next smallest thing' is that actions should be able to be implemented quickly. Many parts of our city work in less agile ways, and while there is signifance to larger-scale changes, it's important for us as citizens to act more quickly where we can.
Repeat what works, scrap or improve upon what doesn't. Iterate on existing approaches and find the way to best utilize your time and resources.
We've integrated the above approach into the foundation of this group, and believe thoroughly that this kind of ground-up, dynamic method is crucial to achieve our vision of a more human-centric, resilient Madison. Below are steps you can take to turn that idea into tangible action.
How can I promote positive change?
Talk to your alder. The fate of most policy changes rest in the hands of the Common Council, comprised of 20 alders from across the city. They are eager to hear what's important to their constituents, so reach out and share your thoughts. If you're not sure who your alder is, click here.
Attend city meetings. These issues are contentious, and the loudest voices often have the most say, for better or for worse. To help balance the conversation, attend and register to speak at city meetings where these topics are being discussed.
Join your neighborhood association. This is a great way to have conversaions in small groups, where folks can openly ask questions and gather opinions from others living close by. Click here for a map of associations
Network with like-minded community members. We've started a Discord server with people from across Dane County to serve as a resource for information, ideas, and support. Attend one of our meetings to join the conversation and find folks in your area to work alongside.
Got questions? We'd be happy to answer them: strongtownsmadison@gmail.com