Community & Culture : Inside Out

In the heart of Madison, Wisconsin, Urban Triage stands as a beacon of transformation, resilience, and empowerment. As a Black-owned and Black-led nonprofit organization, Urban Triage is reshaping communities, challenging systemic injustices, and providing life-changing resources to individuals and families in need.

A Mission Rooted in Transformation

Urban Triage is more than an organization—it’s a movement. Founded on the principles of transformational education and social justice, the nonprofit is dedicated to dismantling barriers and equipping Black individuals with the tools they need to thrive. Through innovative programs, advocacy efforts, and community partnerships, Urban Triage fosters personal growth, leadership, and economic empowerment.

Key Programs Driving Change1. Supporting Healthy Black Families (SHBF)

This 12-week personal leadership workgroup provides Black families with the tools to break generational cycles of trauma, embrace self-discovery, and implement sustainable life changes. Participants learn how to overcome depression, isolation, and systemic challenges while strengthening their community bonds.

 

2. Youth Housing & Transitional Support

Urban Triage’s Youth Transitional Housing Initiative is a game-changer for young adults aged 18-21 aging out of foster care. This initiative provides safe housing, life skills training, trauma recovery support, and mentorship, ensuring a smoother transition into adulthood.

 

3. Housing Navigation Services

Urban Triage leads the fight against housing insecurity through Housing Navigation Services (HNS), offering direct assistance to those experiencing homelessness. This initiative, in collaboration with Dane County Human Services, connects individuals to emergency shelters, permanent housing, and essential support services.

📍 Service Locations & Hours:

• The Beacon Day Shelter: Mon-Tues (8:30 AM - 4:30 PM)

• South Office: Wed-Fri (By appointment only)

• 5 Door Recovery & Porchlight: Select days available.

🔗 Get Housing Support

4. Supporting Healthy Black Agriculture

Through its Farm Business Development Program, Urban Triage empowers Black farmers by providing land access, sustainable farming education, and economic development opportunities. This program has already distributed over 5,200 pounds of fresh organic produce, free of charge, strengthening food security in underserved communities.

Celebrating Achievements & Recognitions

Urban Triage’s impact continues to grow, with several major awards recognizing its community-driven work:

🏆 2024 Nonprofit of the Year Award

🏆 365 Leadership Community Choice Non-Profit Award

🏆 Human Rights Award for Housing & Advocacy

🏆 Impact Award for Community Change-Making

These accolades reflect the organization’s unwavering commitment to housing justice, education, and economic empowerment for Black communities.

Ways You Can Get Involved

Urban Triage thrives through the support of community members, donors, and volunteers. Here’s how you can contribute:

🤝 Volunteer: Teach life skills, mentor youth, or assist with housing programs.

Sign Up Here!

💰 Donate: Become a sustaining donor and help fund transformative initiatives.

 Give Today!

📢 Spread Awareness: Share Urban Triage’s work within your network to increase impact.

A Future Fueled by Community Power

At Urban Triage, change isn’t just a dream—it’s happening right now. By supporting this Black-led organization, you’re investing in a future where equity, justice, and empowerment drive our communities forward. Join the movement and help transform lives today.

📍 Urban Triage, Inc.
📞 (608) 299-4128
✉️ [email protected]
🔗 Learn More & Get Involved

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Alnisa Allgood founded Collab 4 Good using technology to drive Black entrepreneurs to bypass systems that would normally repress them, by creating their own business, taking control of their future. 

 

When it comes to the social good sector ie, nonprofits, public institutions, and social entrepreneurs, Collaboration 4 Good’s mission is to change the foundations and philosophy that if you work in a nonprofit you have to be a volunteer, work free, or at a reduced rate--a consistent thread that she feels feeds into racism, sexism, and other isms.  It also takes away from mental health, and makes the social good sector weaker. 

 

Collab 4 Good enables existing nonprofits and social good sector businesses to restructure, offering employees a liveable wage that enables sustainability within the business model.   Entrepreneurial mentoring teaches new nonprofits and social good businesses that same philosophy.  In a technology driven society, Collaboration 4 Good is a necessity. 

 

Alnisa is a tech geek at heart, which really, is what led to Collaboration 4 Good. For most of her adult life, Alnisa has owned her own technology consulting company, Non Profit Tech.   The two companies work together very synergistically.   Non Profit Tech is a consulting agency using earned income to provide tech services in the social good sector.  Some of the services offered include digital marketing, social media posting, database design, web design, network & system administration, and user support/training for remote work.  Alnisa’s quality of work and solid reputation has led to international acclaim; she is now providing services globally.

 

Black women in history are generally hidden. For instance,  activist, author, and lawyer, Pauli Murray.  Pauli  wrote a book called “States' Laws on Race and Color” later referred to by Thurgood Marshall as the “The Bible” of the civil rights movement.  Pauli Murray fought at a time when white supremacy argued that separate could be equal.  Separate will NEVER be equal.

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Meet James Bloodsaw, proud owner of Just Veggiez, a vegan catering and meal plan/delivery service.   Providing healthy versions of your regular favorite everyday food, James opened his business in 2018.  

Macaroni, chicken sandwiches, drumsticks, Korean BBQ, salads, lasagna and even desserts. James confidently believes anything can be turned into a plant based meal. 

Just Veggiez is staying innovative and creative in the face of the pandemic.  Offering meal plans, prep, and delivery in the general Madison area, as well as doing “pop up shop” style service at The Garver Feedmill.  Just Veggiez vegan/plant based meals are affordable, healthy, and delicious! 

James encourages everyone he talks to, to try vegan. Even 1 day a week, you’ll start to feel the difference and see the difference. Eventually you’ll eat vegan 2 days a week, then 3, and so on.  What you put in your body is what you get out of your body, you’re going to feel great, energized, and add time to your life.

 

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Doctor Sagashus Levingston is the founder and owner of Infamous Mothers LLC, an education, media, and technology company building health and wealth within the context of work & entrepreneurship for a strong community of Black women. For over 5 years, she's been connecting and empowering women who have been stigmatized, then managed to overcome the stigma and do something very extraordinary in our society.

 

  "An Infamous mother is BADDER THAN BAD! In literature, this woman had to be more than an outlaw…she had to be infamous. She had to be someone who had been seen as both morally deviant or reprehensible AND as someone who was integral to stopping a genocide, changing policy, sparking a revolution."

- Doctor Sagashus Levingston

 

While working to become a doctor, Levingston passed through several of the best institutions in this country to receive her education. Starting at Holy Angels Catholic School on the south side of Chicago, Lake Forest Academy Boarding school for high school and then transitioning to higher education via University of Illinois at Chicago for her undergrad degree.  Passing through these institutions, and others, she realized she was taught very little about Black writers during enslavement.  It was years later in her career when she was teaching that led her to discover that Frederick Douglas was not the only Black author to be published during slavery.  This knowledge led her to pursue her Masters degree at the UW of Madison, WI--where she lives as proud mother of 6 children.

 

 

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Meet Kingsley Gobourne, owner of Artemis Provisions, a family owned, farm to table service offering a variety of locally grown meats & cheeses.

Today, farmers are very disconnected from the end consumers and not always rewarded for their hard work. Before the products reach a consumer, they go through processing plants, packaging plants, wholesalers, and grocery stores before eventually reaching the end consumer.  Kingsley created Artemis Provisions to close the gap from farmer to consumers. In the face of a pandemic, the farm to table concept has flourished. 

 

The saying “you get out, what you put in” really rings true when it comes to your food and your health.  When we look at our communities and, more specifically, our Black communities, the effects of highly processed and high sugar/high carbohydrate diets are clear. Illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and other long term health ailments are rampant–the data is scary. Artemis enables consumers to be connected to where their food is coming from as well as being better connected to their health and wellbeing.   

 

“Once you see and taste the difference that locally grown produce provides, you will never return to the store for your meat, eggs and cheese again.”

 - Kingsley Gobourne owner of Artemis Provisions

 

 

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Since 1995, China Moon has bartended for dive bars, house parties, underground events, celebrity bashes, and fine dining establishments in NYC and the Midwest. She’s an old soul with a heart for gardening, reading, music, dancing, animals, and, putting her passport back in rotation.

She holds a degree in Hotel & Restaurant business management, was the Private Dining & Event Manager at The Edgewater Hotel from 2016-2018, and is a member of the Beta Beta Psi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.

China Moon is an eager reader (and dotes on Stephen King and Dean Koontz novels.) She loves aged Brugal Rum on the rocks with lime. An Intoxicologist through and through, China Moon is known for concocting something from nothing with whatever is available in the place!

Bartender 608 Intoxicologists and Cocktail Caterers, LLC. is a liquid catering company that has been in business since May 2007 here in the Midwest. We make it our mission to excel by adding creativity, tasty ingredients, and a fun, professional workflow to the mix.

FINALLY! Be a guest at your own event; you name the celebration, describe the look and feel you are going for, and simply relax.

…Then, relax some more. We will take care of every cocktail detail of your memorable event. With our unparalleled service, you can count on us to provide you with everything you need for your big event.

When you return the bar and beverage planning and catering contract to Bartender 608, you are guaranteed one of the best events you will ever attend!

Yours in Good Spirits,

~ China Moon 

 https://www.bartender608.com

 

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Dr. Jasmine Zapata, also known as Dr. Jas, is an author, a community advocate, and the owner of Motivational MD Publishing.

A direct descendant of slaves, she felt heavily impacted when learning the repercussions of slaves learning to read, write, or self-educate in any way. Black slaves, if caught trying to read or learn, would be beaten, whipped, or could have fingers chopped off as punishment. The white citizens caught helping slaves with their education would face fines. Slaves were held back from education because their oppressors knew that if the enslaved were educated, they would know the severity of their situation and rebel. This oppression has led to generations of racial inequality. 

“Never stop learning! Our education is our ticket to freedom. Education will take you so many places.” This is advice Dr. Jas received from her grandfather, who lived through the civil rights era. Taking that advice to heart, she’s been in school from age 5 all the way through age 32.  

Motivational MD Publishing is Jasmine’s own form of resistance. She has helped birth a new generation of authors by recruiting like-minded writers and providing a method to share Black stories, truths, and traumas, helping guide these new authors through the process of publishing their own books. Motivational MD Publishing is about empowering, healing, and uplifting the next generation of youth. In 2017 Dr. Jas authored an empowering book series for girls. Beyond Beautiful – A Girl’s Guide To Unlocking the Power of Inner Beauty, Self Esteem, Resilience & Courage, which sent her on a 14 day national tour spreading the strong message to our nation’s young women. This February, during Black History Month, Dr. Jas is releasing Beyond Beautiful 2 – A Girl’s Guide To Studying Self-Care & Staying Focused During Difficult Times.

You’re invited to the virtual book launch celebrating Beyond Beautiful 2 – A Girl’s Guide to Studying Self-Care & Staying Focused During Difficult Times.  RSVP for FREE today at www.beyondbeautifultour.org for the launch party on February 13th at 3pm CST.  

 

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Greg Doby, also known as G!Nx, is the owner of Unidec music, a creative company in Madison, WI offering mentoring and professional services for aspiring artists & producers.  G!Nx is the first producer from Madison, WI to have major label placements.  Notably, one of the beats he wrote was purchased by Lloyd Banks of G-Unit, bringing the midwest sound into New York Hip Hop. The same beat later became the song “Karma” ft Avant, and went Platinum on the charts, solidifying G!nx as a certified national producer and inspiring youth for generations to come.

 

G!Nx produced for one of  the first Hip Hop groups in Madison - The Fresh Force, whose members included Johnny Winston Jr, Richard Henderson, Erin Hynum, Oren Ben-Ami and Emanuel Whitfield.  Fresh Force was signed to DJ International in 1990 and all members of the Force have continued to be strong, iconic, Black Men in the Madison Community. 

 

G!Nx also pioneered the first independent record label in Madison, WI - Regime Records.  Artists include the likes of Rob DZ, The Crest, Ghetto F.A.B., Keon Andre and Club Mecca.  The foundations of Regime Records laid the way for Unidec Music to thrive. 

 

G!Nx partnered with another local Black business, DLK Printing, to create an AfroCentric clothing line.  Black Power Gear makes a statement and celebrates African American culture with custom retro clothing and instills positivity. 

 

www.unidecmg.com

http://www.fresh-force.net/

www.blackpowergear.com

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Barbara Boustead, the owner of Mary’s Daughter LLC, offers day to day money management services for seniors and veterans.  Providing peace of mind for her clients and reducing their stress, Mary’s Daughter is the culmination of Barbara’s life mission, which has always been to be of service to others. 

The importance of generational wealth and saving for the future is something Barbara instills in her own children. According to Barbara, one of the best ways to start building generational wealth is to buy a home. Most people are happy to settle for getting a paycheck and going out to buy a new car.  Barbara wants to make your money work for you in the long run; she helps make sure those instant gratification purchases are held to a minimum. 

Trauma from slavery passed down generation after generation, gentrification of suburban neighborhoods, and other racial inequalities for Black Americans makes owning a home much harder for Black folks. Barbara recommends a few different local programs to help first time home buyers realize it is possible!

Mary's Daughter LLC
6709 Raymond Rd,
Madison, WI 53719

(608) 515-4083

www.marysdaughterllc.com

 

 

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Raymond Rankins is the owner of a commercial cleaning company called Squeeky Clean LLC.  Offering services that include day porters, stripping and waxing floors, tile and grout cleaningSqueaky Clean now in the pandemic, offers a 360 Degree Electrostatic Spray Sanitizer that kills Covid on contact! Call 608-772-7113 for more information.

An entrepreneur at heart, Raymond, along with his wife, ventured into real-estate investment properties.  Currently owning 5 properties, the Rankins’ have successfully built wealth that will last for generations while truly leading by example.  Raymond, also an animal lover, recently began breeding Goldendoodles under the Name Wisco Doodles. This particular breed make excellent therapy dogs.  

Squeaky Clean llc

608-772-7113
[email protected]

WiscoDoodles
https://www.instagram.com/wiscodoodles/

 

Over the month of February, DJ Fusion will connect with unique, local, Black-owned businesses, each of whom will share a piece of Black history that is personal to them or something that may not have been taught, traditionally, in schools.

Learn More at – https://www.madtownjamz.com/bhm/

 

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