Recent and Current Projects

Much of the work of Progressive Dane is done by committees and task forces. Committees and task forces each focus on a specific topic or issue and meet regularly. Committees focus on organizing and party-building, while task forces focus on issue campaigns and policy development.

See a list of all the committees and taskforces

See the full calendar for the month

Summaries of each taskforce's projects

Economic Issues Task Force

Progressive Dane's Economic Issues Task Force (EITF) works to promote economic development that benefits the general public in ways that favor and further the creation of family-supporting jobs; equal opportunity; a rising standard of living; a more equal distribution of wealth and workers' rights. Development should also preserve the environment; strengthen neighborhoods; be guided by local resident associations; follow neighborhood plans; pursue transit, bicycle and pedestrian friendly designs; and should improve the quality of life of all city residents.

Recent activities include providing input to and monitoring of the city’s creation of an economic development plan, monitoring the implementation of a local preference purchasing policy for the city and working towards a buy local ordinance for the county, working towards the successful completion of a pilot project to make unlimited bus passes available to employees of small businesses, creating a TIF 101 training session and working with neighborhood groups on TIF and other economic issues.

We can always use new people and new ideas. Please consider joining us at
our monthly meeting every second Thursday the month, 5:00 p.m. at the Social
Justice Center or contact chair Rick Richards, syzygy1@charter.net,
(608)255-5023.

Education Task Force

With no contested school board races, the next major activity for the Task Force will be preparing and presenting a School Budget 101 seminar for interested community members. Late February or early March is the target date. This will be prior to the Board of Education budget deliberations because part of the seminar will be aimed at educating for effective public input to the Board. Thanks to the votes of PD electeds on both the Board and the Common Council and the efforts of PD activists, Madison Metropolitan School District will be able to use a Tax Incremental District windfall to avoid the usual draconian cuts for the 2008-9 budget, but there are sure to be some proposals in need of attention. The following year will require a large operating budget referendum or double the usual same service cuts (over $10 million).

Cooperation among the district, the city and the county remains a concern. A proposed summit of these governing bodies addressing education seems to have stalled. The Task Force will continue working with our representatives on each body to try to restart the process. Good schools are at the heart of our communities and we need to get everyone moving forward together.

The Task Force is always looking for ideas and energy. Please join us at our next meeting on Wednesday January 30th, 6:00 p.m. at Edgewood College. For more information contact TJ Mertz @ tjemartz@sbcglobal.net.

Elections Committee

Over the past few years, the Elections Committee has helped elect six people to the city council, three to the school board, and six to the county board, helped pass recent MMSD referenda, and trained dozens of volunteers to staff and work with local campaigns.

Currently the Elections Committee is working on the 2008 spring elections where all members of the county board, two seats on the school board and a school referendum will be on the ballot.

This group meetings at 8:00 p.m. the 1st Wednesday of the month at the Social Justice Center. For more information Lukas Diaz at diaz_luke (at) yahoo.com.

Housing Task Force

Housing Task Force members work to influence city and county housing policy through participation on committees, public hearings, forums and discussions with policy makers. The task force continues to work on issue surrounding access to safe, affordable housing. In the past year we worked with Sup. Ashok Kumar to change the County's Fair Housing Law as well as to help create a county Affordable Housing Trust Fund. At the City we worked with Ald. Konkel on Allied Drive, various small tenant landlord laws, and attempted to pass a borrowing program for affordable housing.

This group meets the 3rd Sunday of every month at 7:00 p.m. in the Social Justice Center conference room. For more information contact Jacque Pokorney at juju_jacque@yahoo.com.

Media Committee

This group is currently meets quarterly and works on line to promote the work of the policy committee and Progressive Dane statements. While the co-chairs are the official spokespeople for the organization, this group works on strategy for press releases and decides when and how to respond to various attacks on us. Ideally, it would also be a group that helps elected officials write press releases on their issues, helps with writing op-ed pieces, and helps get letters to the editor from the membership. It's a small group in need of some new energy as there is much work to be done if volunteers want to help do it. If you're interested in joining, please contact Brenda Konkel at (brendakonkel@gmail.com.

Policy Committee

The policy works work with our endorsed representatives, committee and task force chairs, and membership to better push forward agendas as well as help frame the public conversation around those agenda. They also organize the 101 educational series and try to inform work with the task forces to inform the membership about issues they are working on. The specific type of work will change depending upon the issues we are working on. Recent brainstorming retreats have produced a list of important issues all needing attention. Join in and help move forward our priorities.

This group meets the Sunday before the Madison City Council meetings every month at 4:00 p.m. in the Social Justice Center conference room. For more information contact Brenda Konkel at brendakonkel@prodane.org.

Public Safety Task Force

Concerns associated with criminal activity and how to best utilize community resources to combat the problem have become an important focus for Dane County. The Public Safety Task Force hopes to implement progressive change within the handling of our community justice system, with focus on treatment rather than incarceration for non-violent offenders, educational and vocational opportunities for offenders to stop crime at the source, and maximizing judicial efficiency.

The Public Safety Task force aims to increase the use of community policing, the support the rights of the accused while maintaining a safe, livable environment for citizens.

This group meets the 2nd Tuesday of every month in the Social Justice Center conference room at 6:30 p.m. For more information contact Jessa Lutz at jessa.lutz@gmail.com.

Steering Committee

This group is elected annually by the general membership. There are 10 seats but currently only 8 seats are filled. This group deals with the daily and weekly business of the organization including supervising the staff, coordinating the various groups within the organization and trying to make sure there is good communication, and this year, we are working primarily on two things: recruiting more members and energizing the membership.

The Steering Committee meets the Monday a week before the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 at the conference room at the Social Justice Center. If you're interested in joining, please contact any steering committee member or the co-chairs Jacque Pokorney (juju_jacque@yahoo.com) or Lukas Diaz (diaz_luke (at) yahoo.com).

Transportation Task Force

The Progressive Dane Transportation Task Force has been hard at work during the year 2007 and foresees a busy 2008 ahead. Last year the Task Force engaged these issues and committees:
- Platinum Bike City Committee-spoke one-one-one with most of the committee members about progressive priorities for bikes;
- Submitted comment to Milwaukee St. traffic calming group;
- Submitted report, "Build a Better Bus System" to the Long Range Metro Transportation Planning Committee;
- Worked with the Economic Development TF to formulate the employer discount bus pass pool;
- Monitored and submitted comment on MPO Plan & Transport 2020 and the Capital Area Regional Plan Commission progress;
- Helped the Madison Area Bus Advocates get off the ground; met with mayor about supporting bus service;
- Created Green Scissors & Road Diets Campaign Plank for PD candidates.

We'd love to have you join us in creating a more just & humane transportation system! Our meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of every month at 5:30 PM at the Escape Java House at 916 Willy St. Please feel free to e-mail Aaron Crandall at aaron.crandall@yahoo.com.