by MOSES Publications | Jan 17, 2026 | Criminal Legal System, Events, Organizations and Alliances, Policing, Racism and Racial Equity, Yearbook
On Jan. 17, 2025, JustDane and the Madison Justice Team hosted “A Just Conversation on Discretion, Charging Disparities, and Racial Dynamics in Criminal Justice.” This event featured a panel of experts on different aspects of the criminal-legal system, especially as it operates in Dane County.
- Detective Sgt. Kenneth Mosley, a member of the Madison Police Department since 2007, emphasized the MPD’s efforts to reduce racial disparities in the ways police treat civilians.
- UW-Madison Sociology Professor Emeritus Doug Maynard shared the results of a national study of racial patterns in traffic stops and his own study of how police officers can inadvertently trigger resistance by the way they address drivers.
- UW Criminal Law Professor Larry Glinberg, who has experience both as a prosecutor and as a defender, addressed the problems created by D.A.s who “stack charges,” piling up charges and increasing the severity of penalties in a way that may not improve public safety but definitely feeds mass incarceration.
- Attorney Jack Idlas, a criminal-law specialist currently working as a public defender, described the nearly impossible job of providing adequate representation for most indigent clients, given the size of a typical caseload and the inefficiencies and other barriers built into the system.
- Federal District Judge James Peterson suggested that the best way of reducing disparities in sentencing would be to give judges more discretion. Imposing mandatory guidelines and minimum sentences, he argued, has been a major contributor to mass incarceration.
by MOSES Publications | Jan 17, 2026 | MOSES leadership, Yearbook
Dear MOSES Family,
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to each of you for your hard work, unwavering support, deep dedication, and steadfast determination. Because of your commitment, we continue to build collective power and move closer to dismantling the unjust systems that harm our communities.
As we reflect on this past year, my heart is filled with gratitude, hope, and renewed determination. The journey toward justice is never easy, yet each one of you — members, volunteers, partners, and supporters — has shown what is possible when ordinary people unite with extraordinary purpose.
In 2025, MOSES continued to build collective power to dismantle the systems of mass incarceration and mass supervision and to eradicate the racial disparities in our community that contribute to them. These systems have harmed our communities for far too long. We lifted our voices at the Capitol. We met with leaders and decision-makers. We listened to the voices in our congregations, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our homes. And just as importantly, we cared for one another — offering strength when the road was hard and celebrating every victory, large or small.
This yearbook is more than a collection of photos and events. It is a testament to who we are: an organization rooted in faith, collaboration, courage, and deep love for our community. It reminds us that justice is not a moment — it is a commitment. It is the steady work of people who believe in equity, dignity, and the boundless potential of every human being.
Looking ahead, we will continue to challenge systems that do not serve us. We will continue to uplift voices that have been ignored. And we will continue to embody the values that guide us: strength, equity, and solidarity.
Thank you for standing with MOSES. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for believing that change is possible — and for working every day to make it real. Together, we will keep pushing forward until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
With gratitude and determination,
Saundra Brown, President
MOSES – Madison Organizing in Strength, Equity, and Solidarity
by MOSES Publications | Jan 17, 2026 | Advocacy, Community Issues, MOSES leadership, Yearbook
MOSES Advocates to Restore Safety-Net Funding to 2026 Dane County Budget
Creating the 2026 Dane County budget was a difficult process. For starters, there was a $31-million deficit, driven by rising expenses — especially in health care – that bumped up against state-imposed revenue caps. County Executive Melissa Agard requested that all departments take a 4% cut off their base, and all departments complied except the Sheriff’s Office; Sheriff Barrett argued that any change to his budget would reduce public safety. Agard then cut an additional 4% from all Purchase of Service (POS) agencies, which primarily affected human services. (The Dane County Department of Human Services (DHS) uses POS agencies to implement many of its programs; examples of POS agencies are Journey Mental Health and JustDane.) The additional 4% was on top of cuts the DHS had already made — cuts that had already affected the POS agencies.
In addition, the executive budget did not adequately deal with a pending crisis in the homeless-shelter system. The current men’s shelter is being replaced with a new purpose-built shelter, which, while much better, has a capacity of only 250. Unfortunately, there is not adequate funding to run this shelter, and the need has soared to as many as 400 men per night. Because of the increased need, an overflow shelter is now needed for the coldest months of the year.
The situation was looking very discouraging, but then a bold proposal came out of the Health and Human Needs committee (HHN), which is chaired by Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner. She suggested amendments to address the POS cuts, the homeless concerns, and several other issues that had not been addressed in the executive budget. Heidi worked with the Public Protection and Judiciary committee (PP&J), chaired by Supervisor Richelle Andrae, to introduce budget amendments to fund the needs listed above by cutting unfilled positions from the Sheriff’s Office. MOSES members attended HHN and PP&J meetings and gave testimony in support of these amendments. Dozens of other people, many representing organizations, also testified in support.
The amendments passed HHN and PP&J and then went to the Personnel and Finance committee (P&F), where, again, MOSES members organized to give spoken testimony and to register written support in favor of the amendments. After extensive discussions led by County Board Chair Patrick Miles, the PP&J amendments were replaced with a one-year compromise amendment proposed by the Personnel and Finance Committee (P&F). This amendment froze but did not cut 20 Sheriff’s Office positions, which are unlikely to be filled in 2026. P&F also found additional savings in the budget, which, when combined with the funding from the frozen Sheriff’s Office positions, restored most of the funding needed for the HHN amendments. Both Sheriff Barrett and HHN Chair Wegleitner said that they could live with the compromise, although the Sheriff continues to criticize it.
MOSES members testified to the full County Board in favor of the P&F compromise amendments. On Nov. 6, the day of the vote, MOSES organized a rally in front of the City County Building. The rally was well attended; it included representatives from over half of our 22 member congregations and drew significant media coverage. After a lengthy and contentious debate, the County Board approved the compromise and passed the budget with a 32-5 vote.
The 2026 budget helps to preserve Dane County’s safety net. It won’t take any Sheriff ‘s deputies out of the jail or out of rural communities. Public safety is much more than law enforcement; preserving the safety net is an essential part of public safety. We need a permanent solution to our safety-net needs, because a budget deficit similar to that of 2026 is projected for 2027.
by MOSES Publications | Jan 17, 2026 | Reviews, Yearbook
when they call you a terrorist: a black lives matter memoir
By Patrisse Khan-Cullors
Patrisse Khan-Cullors, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, is an outspoken activist fiercely defensive of her people – the people who are living Black lives in America. In this memoir, she paints a vivid picture of what it’s like to grow up Black and poor in America as the War on Drugs rages, what it’s like for your mom to work several jobs to keep a roof over the family and food in their bellies, what it’s like when your older brothers are harassed by the police as soon as they hit their teens, what it’s like to lose your beloved brother in the carceral system and, when you find him, to see him even more damaged by the mistreatment he’s suffered while incarcerated with mental illness. We learn of her passionate support of many who are caught up in the police nets of that time. We read the names of so many Black people killed by the police and feel her anguish over each one. And we begin to wonder, as she most certainly intended us to wonder: Just who are the terrorists?
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, writes: “this is a must-read for all of us; it forces us to face the consequences of the choices our nation made when we criminalized a generation.”
by MOSES Publications | Jan 10, 2026 | Children & Youth, Community Issues, Housing, Juvenile Justice, Literacy, RJAC Racial Justice for All Children, School Discipline, Schools, Yearbook, Youth & Schools
Racial Justice for All Children Task Force Advocates for Children
The mission of the Racial Justice for All Children (RJAC) Task Force is to eradicate the childhood-to-school-to-prison pipeline. We seek to further MOSES’s mission — to dismantle the systems of mass incarceration and mass supervision and to eradicate the racial disparities in our community that contribute to them — by interrupting systemic processes that contribute to youth involvement in the juvenile justice system, and by building systems and practices that promote healthy youth development. We carry out our mission through our three working groups: Education Advocacy (EAG), the Housing Group (HG), and Restorative Justice and School Wellness (RJ/SW).
In 2025, MOSES approved two new issue papers for RJAC. This year we also developed new partnerships that have the potential to help move our issues forward. Our work includes state-level and local political advocacy, as well as grassroots efforts.
Education Advocacy Group (EAG)
Illiteracy is associated with both juvenile and adult criminal-legal system involvement. The ability to read is a prerequisite for success in our society today. For these reasons, implementation of WI 2023 Act 20, the Right to Read bill, has continued to be a major focus of the EAG’s advocacy.
During the first half of the year, we met and had follow-up contact with Cindy Green, assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Learning with the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), to talk about implementation of the new early literacy curriculum and other requirements related to Act 20. We discussed what was going well – the large number of staff who have been trained in the new elementary literacy curriculum – and what has not been going so well – the overall demand this places on staff, and the lack of state funding support. We also discussed where the EAG might have advocacy opportunities.
RJAC continues to look for opportunities to support how parents are informed about their expectations and rights under Act 20. We are concerned that the information sent to parents about students who require personalized reading plans may be challenging for some parents to understand. We were pleased to hear that MMSD plans to retain smaller class sizes at the K-1 levels, which teachers say helps them implement the new literacy curriculum. We are also exploring whether parents are getting all the information about dyslexia that is required under Act 20; Cindy reported very few requests for diagnostic assessments for dyslexia. We wonder whether parents are being adequately informed about what to look for in their children.
In further support of Act 20, RJAC advocated at the state level to ensure that the $50 million allocated as part of the Act was released to hire literacy coaches and fund curriculum purchases. The funds had been withheld by the Joint Committee on Finance, pending settlement of a lawsuit between the Legislature and the Governor. RJAC was successful in getting this issue included in the booklet for Madison Advocacy Day, so that WISDOM members could highlight this concern when they spoke with their legislators. These efforts were ultimately successful.
In the second half of 2025, the EAG focused on forming the Wisconsin Literacy Justice Coalition (WLJC). EAG chair Tracy Frank led this effort by reaching out to about 50 individuals and groups who have been advocating in various ways for literacy improvement. We invited them to consider how we all might better communicate and collaborate in our advocacy. In July, we convened an online meeting to kick off the WLJC. About 15 individuals participated by sharing their priorities, which include continued advocacy around Act 20 and promoting tutoring for students who need extra support that teachers do not have time to provide. Tracy Frank and Judy Fitzgerald were then instrumental in developing an informational event, scheduled for January 2026, to recruit tutors for existing, well-designed tutoring programs.
The Housing Group (HG)
The housing issue paper approved by MOSES this year was quite clear: Housing justice is racial justice for children. Housing justice removes one of the earliest and most devastating barriers to education access, emotional development, and community belonging for Black and brown youth. The issue paper highlights three main areas of advocacy:
- Supporting the work of the Youth Action Board (YAB), OutReach, and Urban Triage to ensure that youth homelessness is rare, brief, and nonrecurring in our community.
The YAB is a group within the Homelessness Services Consortium (HSC), made up of youth who have lived with housing insecurity. Two YAB representatives attended our March meeting to share information about their work. The YAB is leading Dane County’s participation in the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project (YHDP). The YHDP provides system navigation to young people ages 17-24. It has developed the first young-adult drop-in center and the first joint transitional housing-rapid rehousing project for this population.
Our relationship with the YAB led to a significant advocacy effort at the end of the year, when HUD released a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) that significantly changed the requirements for their Continuum of Care grants, the program under which the YHDP is funded. The HG spearheaded a Call to Action, asking MOSES members to contact their members of Congress. As of the time this article was being prepared, HUD had “rescinded” their NOFO in response to grassroots advocacy and two lawsuits, including one in which the State of Wisconsin was a partner. But the ultimate fate of these funds remains unclear.
- Joining other local entities advocating that Madison and Dane County create additional income-based, affordable housing options for low-income families.
The expansion of federally funded public housing ended decades ago. But opportunities remain to work with our local governments to expand truly affordable housing for both single individuals and families. Both Dane County and the City of Madison have funds to support the expansion of affordable housing, and the HG will be exploring how to best advocate in this area. We have been actively partnering with the Dane County Housing Justice Initiative in this effort.
- Advocating for policies and practices to support low-income residents of private developments that provide “affordable” units.
Having affordable housing in place is not the end of the story. Many families who live in affordable units struggle to maintain this housing. The HG believes that the managers of these units can do more to support these families. This can be as easy as allowing kids to print out homework on the office printer or providing resources folks can call for help; i.e., respecting and empowering residents. The manager of one housing development has provided resources and programming such as parent-infant support, visits from the Pinney Library Bookmobile, men’s and women’s support groups, crafting, music, and other opportunities. The HG wants to identify more of these practices and share them with other developers.
HG chair Patti La Cross continues to be involved with the HSC. Her new co-chair, John Lemke, is working to connect with the Affordable Housing Action Alliance. A number of HG members attended the HSC’s annual Homelessness Summit this year. In October, HG members met via Zoom with folks from JONAH, the WISDOM affiliate in Eau Claire, to learn about their impressive efforts to support affordable housing in their community. We anticipate further connections with JONAH and are hoping to connect with other WISDOM affiliates working on these concerns.
Toward the end of the year, the HG learned of a complaint against the MMSD being filed with the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) by the Kennedy Elementary PTO. The complaint stated that the MMSD was failing in its responsibility to provide necessary transportation for students residing at the Salvation Army Family Shelter; Kennedy is their neighborhood school. The complaint demonstrated that when transportation was not provided, kids from the shelter missed 23 more days of school per year. Messiah Lutheran Church, a MOSES member, has been supporting the costs of this transportation for several years. Patti met with folks from Kennedy and Messiah Lutheran and created a letter of support that MOSES sent to the DPI. Unfortunately, the DPI determined that the PTO did not have standing to submit the complaint, so the Kennedy PTO folks are considering their next steps.
Restorative Justice and School Wellness Group (RJ/SW)
MOSES also approved a new issue paper on RJ/SW. The issue paper notes that:
- The school-to-prison pipeline is fed by exclusionary discipline and criminalization of youth in our schools.
- We need to create a school culture and climate that reduces the likelihood of behaviors that have traditionally led to exclusionary discipline and criminalization.
The issue paper supports advocacy with the MMSD, especially through the Superintendent’s Wellness Advisory Group, of which RJ/SW chair Barbie Jackson is a member. The issues identified reflect, to a large degree, the issues that were raised at a January 2024 MOSES listening session on school safety. One example of the need for advocacy is the stated goal of having two Restorative Justice coordinators at each of the four comprehensive high schools. That goal has been identified as completed, although the District has only one RJ coordinator at each school. We hope that our conversations in the Wellness Advisory Group will clarify how the District envisions its work in these areas and will also allow us to push it to do more.
RJ/SW members met with Gina Aguglia, co-director of MMSD’s Office of School Safety. One area of discussion centered on the District’s policies and responses regarding immigration. We learned that the District does not keep information on students’ immigration status and so has nothing to share with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Gina reported that ICE has not made any attempts to enter schools to apprehend youth. The second area of discussion focused on obtaining information about police calls at schools. Gina will be providing us with information, although she underscored that many factors impact how we might understand the data.
RJ/SW members met with a number of MMSD administrative staff in December to review concerns about suspensions, the use of restorative justice, and mental health efforts. Prior to the meeting, Pam Oliver did an extensive analysis of MMSD’s suspension data, which highlighted the racial disparities in suspensions as well as the extremely high suspension rates in some of the middle schools. MMSD highlighted similar information in an Instructional Work Group meeting just prior to our meeting with them. There was considerable discussion about this data and the implications for restorative justice efforts. We tabled discussion on mental health concerns, pending presentations that will be made to the Instructional Work Group at their January 2026 meeting.
If you are interested in getting involved in any of these work groups, check out the RJAC “want ads” in the October/November MOSES newsletter.
