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: 

• 1. Humbly observe the issues faced by members of the community. What are the day-to-day struggles that community members are challenged by, some of which our neighbors might be so desensitized to that they've accepted them as unavoidable?

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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 ideology into the foundation of this group, and believe thoroughly that this kind of ground-up, dynamic approach 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 fates 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. The issues we're advocating for can be contentious, and the loudest voices often have the most say, for better or worse. To help balance the conversation, attend and register for city meetings where these topics are being discussed. 

  • • Good projects often need community support to get approval. We keep an eye out for opportunities to show that support, most typically at meetings of the Plan Commission, Transportation Commission, and Common Council; click each link for a description of their responsibilities. Consequential meetings are shared in the Discord and during monthly meetings. The city has created a walkthrough of Common Council agenda structure, available here.

    • Meeting registration is the vector for sharing that support. There are three ways to do so:

      • • Registring to speak (Yes to: 'Do you want to speak?'). This is arguably the most effective method, and will add your name to a list of registered speakers for the agenda item. Council/commission members are shared that list shortly before the meeting. Each registrant has 3 minutes to speak. It's worth noting that this removes an item from the consent agenda (a list of items that are passed all at once without discussion). It can be helpful for certain items to remain on this agenda and be passed without much fanfare.

        • Submitting written comment (Emailing the address listed on line 6). Council/commission members receive each of these comments when sent, and a report of all written comments is also publicly available after the meeting. This is suggested if you have something to share but either don't wish to speak or don't want the item removed from consent agenda.

        • Registering in support/opposition (No to: 'Do you want to speak?'). Members receive a tally of registrants in support/opposition of every agenda item. Selecting 'no' or '[...] available to answer questions' will not remove an item from the consent agenda. You do not need to attend a meeting to register in support or opposition.

• 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. Send an email with any content to strongmadison+subscribe@goups.io to join our mailing list and receive monthly meeting reminders

Got questions? We'd be happy to answer them: strongtownsmadison@gmail.com.