Urban Triage Inc., a Madison-based nonprofit founded in 2019, has expanded its programming to meet the needs of vulnerable communities and communities of color.
Urban Triage’s programs are designed to help people become self-sustaining, find affordable housing, become educated about healthy lifestyles and provide mental health support. The organization’s goals are to “promote positive health outcomes and reduce significant health disparities at the community level by meeting basic needs and then engaging communities through educational opportunities and effective advocacy at multiple levels.”
Since the pandemic, Urban Triage has focused on helping people experiencing homelessness find stable housing as part of Dane County’s Dane Core 2.0 program, which was approved by Madison’s City Council and the Dane County Board to provide funding for housing assistance.
Urban Triage serves the county at large and got involved in late 2020 after the original Dane Core program came under fire for only allowing certain organizations – such as the Tenant Resource Center – to distribute funds to housing-insecure people.
“During COVID-19, we entered the housing world,” Grayson said. “We always did eviction prevention on a grassroots level. Madison’s housing scene doesn’t have any Black agencies in homelessness. The Tenant Resource Center and Community Action Coalition had gotten a big blowback, so Urban Triage came on the scene.”
The second iteration of Dane Core addressed the issue of solely allowing one or two organizations to deliver financial assistance. Urban Triage was chosen as one of the organizations that would receive county and city funding for homelessness support.
“We were shocked. We were not expecting this. We get the money and everybody’s mad. City officials are mad, nonprofit agencies used to getting the money are mad,” Grayson said
Grayson said Urban Triage originally did not intend to be a service provider for housing but its reputation as a grassroots and Black-led organization led Dane County to trust they would deliver.
Some of Urban Triage’s employees have lived experience with homelessness. Few, if any, had experience doing work in housing insecurity. Grayson said it was extremely challenging to both train employees and herself.
“We don’t just provide services, we do the transformative piece,” Grayson said. “Not just with our clients, but with our staff. We hire the people we serve and they have lived experience. But when you do that, you also take on their trauma.”
Because of staffing challenges, Urban Triage struggled initially to process housing assistance at a quick pace. But they continued training and doing the work, and now have helped more than 3,000 people attain secure housing.
“What made our program different is we literally worked with people who were homeless and used that money to help landlords house people,” Grayson said. “Because we had all this money and could pay security deposits up to three times the amount to help landlords take applicants, we built great relationships with landlords.”
According to Grayson, those relationships are the reason Urban Triage continues to be chosen by the county to provide housing assistance.
Urban Triage has come under fire for its mishandling of funds, but Grayson said people need to better understand their process. The organization uses all of the money it receives to immediately help people with down payments, rental support and other housing needs.
“If we had unlimited funds to help everyone who needed help, we would probably process about $200,000 a month,” Grayson said. “So, the demand is super high. It’s bad out there.”
Urban Triage lends financial support on a first-come, first-served basis. Grayson said they don’t hold on to any money and if they’ve run out of cash it means they helped all the people they could.
Grayson bristled at recent coverage of Urban Triage in the media, saying that old foes in the community tried to paint an inaccurate picture of Urban Triage to news reporters.
“If you look at Dane County, we’re always under attack and scrutiny,” she said. “Of course, it’s anti-Blackness and sexism and all that stuff.”
While grassroots programs are at the core of what they do, over the last few years, Urban Triage has become well-known for hosting big events where building community and providing resources are emphasized and appreciated. In May, Urban Triage hosted its first-ever Black Brilliance Gala, an all-black formal affair. This past summer, Urban Triage hosted its fourth annual Summer Kickback event where over 1,000 people came out to Penn Park on Madison’s South Side to enjoy free food, music, and games and check out Black-owned businesses. In fall, they hosted the Urban Triage’s 3rd annual Urban Harvest Festival.
While Urban Triage’s Annual Harvest Festival celebrates urban agriculture, community, and collaboration across systems and agencies, Urban Triage’s Supporting Healthy Black Agriculture (SHBA) is an agriculture program launched in 2021 that is essential because, Grayson says, “healthy food goes hand in hand with affordable housing.”
SHBA teaches people how to grow food and gives Black residents an opportunity to use green space while directly addressing health disparities and social inequities.
The program is run at the Farley Center in Verona (Urban Triage also owns about 2 acres of land in Madison). It is a 12-week program that includes classroom learning in addition to getting people outside into fields with experienced gardeners and farmers.
“People are learning the history of Black agriculture and how post-traumatic slave syndrome factors in,” Grayson said. “Half the program is spent in classroom settings. Everyone receives stipends for being involved in the program and we connect people with mentors.”
Additionally, Urban Triage grows nearly 10,000 pounds of food per year, which it gives away to residents.
(Photos courtesy of Urban Triage)
“People’s health is really based on their ability to self-actualize and take care of themselves,” Grayson said. “That’s what agriculture ties into. Every Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. we do that stuff and do a potluck, which is our way of creating community in our organization and reflects what we stand for. We can’t just talk about it, we gotta be it.”
Nearly all of Urban Triage’s work is grant-based. The organization continues to grow each year and Grayson said that growth will always include some pushback from people in the community.
“We’re the only Black organization in these spaces,” Grayson said of several programs run by Urban Triage. “We’re delivering on our word.”
Urban Triage is currently raising money through Giving Tuesday for all of its programs here.
