MUM's History
For over 30 years, Madison-area Urban Ministry has been a regional leader in discerning community needs and forging community collaborations to address those needs. MUM is often the leading community voice for people in poverty or disenfranchised.
The organization began as an experimental urban ministry in 1970, a collaboration of the United Church of Christ (UCC), Church Women United, and a neighborhood association formed to provide programs and services on Madison’s near Eastside.
Working with local schools, neighborhood associations, the business sector, university community, city, county and state government, nonprofit agencies, and its own broad base in the faith community, MUM has designed and developed programs to meet the needs of seniors, at-risk youth, the homeless, and stressed neighborhoods.
During its history, fourteen innovative and community building non-profits in the area were conceived and hatched by MUM. These include Family Enhancement, Transitional Housing Inc., Madison Community Health Center, and the Older Adult Coalitions. In addition, several community partners have emerged from MUM’s commitment to social justice. These MUM “spin-offs” include the Befrienders Program, Coalition of Older Adults, Family Enhancement Center, Madison Community Health Center, and Over 50 Employment Service. Many community-based organizations serving the Dane County area, such as Youth Services of Wisconsin, are serving greater numbers of youth with parents in or released from prison. They support this proposal because they see a strong need for services to this population.
Since 1990, MUM has been working with all these sectors, plus criminal justice agencies, the courts, and the corrections community, to develop programs to assist returning prisoners in the reintegration process.
MUM’s latest project is Mentoring Connections. This initiative provides mentoring services to children in Dane County who have an incarcerated parent. It is a broad-based partnership involving the faith community, youth-serving agencies, organizations ministering to prisoners and their children, corrections and health and human service agencies, and university resources.