Madison Justice Team Works with the Workers
Goals: To Connect, Assist, Inform
By Pam Gates
Diane Ballweg and Harry Haney, both longtime Madisonians, are the leaders of a relatively new alliance they call the Madison Justice Team. The team meets about once a quarter, to give people concerned about the criminal-legal system and those affected by it a chance to get together, share ideas, and find ways to collaborate. At the last meeting, held Sept. 29 at the UW South Madison Partnership and hosted by the Odyssey Project, over 25 people from almost that many agencies and organizations shared their efforts and hopes: everything from GED studies and employment skills for youth at Operation Fresh Start to a progress report on improvements in the new jail to hopes for the arts as vehicles of healing for those incarcerated – or those in danger of it.
How did the Madison Justice Team get started?
“I went to Harvard,” says Diane. “I won a place in Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, which draws people from all over the world. At the end of the one-year program, each of us had to present a project based on how to make the world a better place. I chose the justice system and based my project on two principles: (1) People can’t act on what they don’t know, and (2) Don’t start yet another nonprofit; rather, bring agencies together.
“I met Harry through Edgewood High School, where I have taught for many years,” Diane continued. “He is the current Board chair at the high school and does the communication work for the Madison Justice Team.”
Both Harry and Diane are very active on boards throughout the Madison area. Diane has worked with Porchlight for years, for example, and says she’s on or has been on “about 20” boards. The two pull agency representatives together in small or large groups, and they also meet quarterly with some of the big players: Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett, Dane County Executive Melissa Agard, a small group from the Department of Corrections, Gov. Evers’ staff. Even these folks are bound by government rules, regulations, and laws, Diane says, and can’t necessarily act as freely as they might personally like to.
Harry has a business background. When he worked at Loyola University in Chicago, he heard a talk on second-chance hiring from a business perspective. The concept, he says, makes both people sense and business sense. His work with Diane and the Madison Justice Team, he says, has been a great experience. “I’ve learned a lot; it’s made me think a lot about how we do things as a society.”
“’No’ doesn’t open any doors,” Diane added.
Madison Justice Team’s purpose
“Our purpose is to be collaborators and connectors,” Diane said. “We’re not competing for clients or funding. Our team helps to bring folks together.”
“At our first meeting, there were about 35 people,” Harry recalled. “Now we have 150 on the mailing list, from 70-plus organizations. Let’s all get connected and learn from each other.”
They cited their recent meeting with local activist Corey Marionneaux, founder and CEO of the Black Men Coalition of Dane County, who is currently making a movie about his life. “We’ll promote it,” Diane says, clarifying how the team fits into the work of its membership. In another story about bringing people together, both mentioned connecting Corey with an agency that needed to move materials but had no way to do it. Black Men Coalition projects didn’t need their vans during the middle of the day, and Corey was happy to help the agency move its materials.
“Our stories could go on and on,” Diane says. “There are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things. I wish we could have the government step in. But there are little things that we can do. You [entities such as MOSES] are the experts; tell us what you need.”
Suggestions for MOSES
I commented that MOSES, an organization of congregations addressing policy, struggles to draw the congregational memberships into its work. Diane suggested that each week one congregation write letters to the editor on selected topics. Write to legislators as well, she said – they track how many letters they get, and on which topics. MOSES could create a simple form on a topic, which individuals in congregations could easily plug into, and Harry and Diane would push it out to the Madison Justice Team mailing list as well.
A current example of a local topic, one that addresses prevention, is funding for public school guidance counselors. Madison Public Schools have one guidance counselor for every 380 students! A struggling student will be hard pressed to find meaningful help in this situation. And we in MOSES know of many, many more situations that need to be rectified.
Thank you, Diane, for this suggestion. It may be a way to mobilize our congregations, who are concerned but busy with many other matters. And thanks to you and Harry for creating the Madison Justice Team!