Our Timeline

1970

1970 - Madison Urban Ministry

MUM was formed by First Congregational UCC Servants on the Errands Committee, with other congregations signing on.
1971

1971 - Project home

Project Home, as part of MUM, creats Over 55 Employment Service and spins off from MUM.
1972

1972 - Eastside community health center

Eastside Community Health Center is developed-eventually merged with Mifflin St. Community Health Center.
1973

1973 - Non-Profit Status

MUM is officially designated a non-profit agency.
1974
75

1974-75 - Dialogue

Beginning of MUM and Clergy informational and dialogue Meetings. MUM initiates a year of seminars on Understanding Prejudice and begins producing a newsletter about social action.
1977

1977 - Task Force & Initiatives

MUM Community Education Task Force is formed to block closing of inner-city schools and the Downtown Organizations and Volunteers for the Elderly (DOVE) is formed to provide free meals for seniors twice per year.
1979

1979 - Conferences

MUM forms a Task Force to conduct pilot and 3 conferences 1981 on Power, Poverty, and Politics.
1980

1980 - Wexford Ridge Project

Beginning of Task Force for Weford Ridge Project, which lead to the development of Wexford Ridge Community Center and Food Pantry.
1982

1982 - 1982-Labor Unions

Church Labor Task Force initiated to support labor unions in Dane County.
1984

1984 - Focus on Homelessness

MUM begins to focus on homelessness- leads to development of the Drop in Shelter for the Homeless and Transitional Housing Inc, which later became Porchlight.
1989

1989 - Drop in Shelter

The Drop-In Shelter, in the works since 1984, spun off and became Transitional Housing Inc.
1990

1990 - Housing Coalition

MUM is asked to facilitate the formation of a Housing Coalition to address access to affordable housing, develop a housing project model, and advocate for homeless individuals.
1992

1992 - Budget Cut restoration

MUM and religious communities advocated against budget cuts to welfare benefits to the County Board Supervisors, and some proposed budget cuts were restored.
1993

1993 - Understanding Violence

MUM begins a series of Assembly meetings on the underlying causes of violence. Topics include gun control, international conflict, economic violence, and violence in the home.
1995

1995 - Allied Partners

Allied area Clergy prayer group becomes Allied Partners, MUM’s first Congregational Cluster Group, which eventually supported Allied Neighborhood Association and associated programs.
1997

1997 - Justice Issue task force & Dialogue series

Peace and Justice Group becomes MUM’s Justice Issue Task Force and MUM hosts Dialogue Series: Judgement, Guilt, and Forgiveness.
1998

1998 - Call to Renewal Roundtable & MUM Director Changeover

Call to Renewal Roundtable on racism forms as part of a nat’l. organization, Chuck Pfeifer retires as Director of MUM after 25 years, Rev. Mary Kay Baum begins as Director of MUM, and MUM is changed to Madison-Area Urban Ministry to reflect county-wide work.
1999

1999 - Restorative justice conferences

MUM participates in Money, Education, and Prison and Howard Zehr Restorative Justice Conferences. MUM hosts Dialogue Series “The Peace Filled Community: What Does Justice Require of Us?”
2000

2000 - Family Connections

Family Connections is created to provide monthly transportation for children to visit their mothers at Taycheedah Correctional Institute in Fond du Lac, which ran for 20 years.
2001

2001 - Circles of support & Warming house

Through a combination of private donors and congregations, MUM starts the Circles of Support program and advocates for more assistance for homeless people in our community, leading to the creation of the Warming House.
2003

2003 - Howard Zehr

Howard Zehr, internationally known Restorative Justice prioneer, speaks at MUM’s conference with Returning Prisoner Simulation and in MUM’s video “Today’s Prisoner’s Tomorrow’s Neighbors.”
2004

2004 - Mentoring Connections

MUM recieves a federal grant to start Mentoring Connections, a program to provide children who have an incarcerated parent with a mentor, This program still operates today, 20 years later!