Chris Collins
Dana Stokes (left) with housemate Candace Howard and Howard’s children Chaniyah, Larya and Thaddius (left to right) back at home after an afternoon of music and face-painting at AtwoodFest.
There’s something special happening at the old Schoep’s Ice Cream factory on Madison’s east side.
The nearly 90-year-old brick building at the corner of Ohio and Lafollette avenues has been a whirlwind of activity over the past several weeks — landscaping, remodeling, fresh coats of paint — all in preparation for the new tenants who began moving in last month. By this fall, the cozy duplex will serve as a permanent, supportive home to four single mothers and their 10 children, all formerly homeless and looking for a fresh start.
The Catalyst Project is a new nonprofit born from a nearly 40-year friendship between Susan Donahoe and Barb Boyeson, both former teachers. Donahoe, who retired recently from a position as an early childhood project director for a regional education service agency, and Boyeson, a family advocate for the Dane County Parent Council’s Early Head Start program, used to spend countless hours talking about ways to help the children and families they served as well as the frustrations they often encountered working within the social services system.
“We were always asking, ‘How could we do better for families?’” Donahoe says. “What came out of [these discussions] was a firm commitment to building a community home for young, single mothers.”
Meanwhile, when Donahoe’s daughter, Anna, graduated from UW-Madison with a social work degree and started looking for a job, she struggled to find a position that fit with her philosophy and career goals. Too often, she says, programs that are intended to provide support end up failing participants because of stringent rules and requirements.
“I don’t like [the idea of] the social worker as the expert who comes in and says, ‘Let me tell you what’s best for you and your kids,’” Anna says. “It works better as a partnership.”
Anna knew that her mom had been talking and dreaming about founding a community home. The pair decided to seriously explore the idea.
They started laying the framework, but there was one major issue looming — they needed a house. What happened next was a sad — but ultimately serendipitous — twist of fate. Anna’s boyfriend’s father died, leaving behind a house in Chicago. Her boyfriend then sold the house and said he would use the money to help Catalyst Project get started. The Donahoes started looking for houses last fall, and fell in love with the old Schoep’s factory. The property is large enough to subdivide, it’s within walking distance of a food pantry and family programming at the Goodman Community Center, and the neighborhood is safe and welcoming.
“It really fit the bill,” Susan Donahoe says.
With a house secured, the trio shifted focus to finding residents. Boyeson drew from the network of mothers and children who are enrolled in the Early Head Start program to identify potential candidates. The EHS program has no formal relationship with Catalyst Project, but Boyeson says the connection provides “another layer of support” to help the families succeed.
“We really look for moms who are ready to make changes, but who are not ready to do it for themselves,” Boyeson says.
Funding for the Catalyst Project comes mainly from resident program fees and individual donations. Several local agencies and businesses have also pledged time and services to help the nonprofit get started.
The families were initially scheduled to move in at the beginning of August, but since they needed housing immediately, the first two families arrived in July. Dana Stokes, 24, has an 18-month-old son and is expecting another boy on Sept. 5. Her housemate, 24-year-old Candace Howard, is the mother of five children: a 9-year-old, an 8-year-old, a 4-year-old and 10-month-old twins.
Stokes and Howard have much in common — both are originally from Chicago, both are African American and dedicated to building better lives for their children. Howard, who has lived in Madison since 2003, was at one point living in a car with her five children. She’s had significant setbacks — she dropped out of high school to care for her children, and she’s had criminal charges that led her to be fired from her job and lose her apartment. She was “on the verge of giving up,” but she held it together against all odds, eventually going back to get her degree. She hopes a stable home will provide better opportunities for her children.
“Most black kids don’t even know about gardens,” says Howard, whose oldest son has already shown interest in the hot peppers growing in a planter outside. “I don’t want my kids to make the same mistakes I did.”
Stokes moved to Madison in 2015 seeking better opportunities for her and her son, but struggled to find work and permanent housing. Even so, she enrolled her son in Early Head Start.
“Everything I do, it’s all about him,” she says. Stokes moved back to Chicago when she found out she was pregnant again and considered trying her luck somewhere like Florida or Georgia, but then she got a call from Catalyst Project letting her know that she finally had a place in Madison. She boarded the first bus back to town.
“It’s like a breath of fresh air,” she says of her new home. “And it makes me want to help others.”
