Madison Reporter

The City of Madison announced new plans last week to add a library and park center designed for connecting the homeless community with more resources at Reindahl Park.

City officials and residents in Madison are hopeful that Reindahl Park neighbors can use the new facility as a respectful learning opportunity to practice empathy for the city's homeless population while providing a new location for those struggling with displacement in the area, according to NBC 15. 

“It’s really an opportunity for people in this neighborhood to have a lot more community services and a lot more opportunity for community engagement than they have now,” said Madison Public Library Digital Sales and Marketing Manager Tana Elias, according to NBC 15. “We can offer a variety of services and connections but it’s really a bigger conversation to have for the whole city to have a coordinated approach to how we handle people who don’t have homes or are struggling to find long term housing.”

The current plans for the center do not include a facility for people to live in, but Elias emphasized that the goal is to reimagine how the city can help northeast community members find permanent housing. The Imagination Center at Reindahl Park is designed to be a place for all community members to gather and learn while providing a safe place for social interaction, civic engagement and cultural expression, according to the City of Madison.

“I’ve been around long enough to see a lot of promises that are going to happen that don’t end up happening,” said Dairy Drive Shelters Project Coordinator Brenda Konkel, according to NBC 15. “I do think that there’s a real opening here and a real opportunity for us to make this one of those places that is welcoming to everybody in our community.”

Plans to start building the Imagination Center are expected to begin in January 2023 and will be completed by January 2024.