Goodman Community Center 2024/2025 Fiscal and Program Year Reflections and Review

Goodman Community Center’s fiscal and programmatic year begins on September 1st. As we approach the transition to our next year, we want to reflect on this very eventful past year. It’s been a time of opportunity, joy, and also painful challenges.

Over the past 71 years, Goodman Community Center (GCC) has experienced tremendous growth: in mission, scale and even of its physical campus. Since moving to its current location and expanding to include the Brassworks building, Goodman has emerged as a powerful force for good on the Eastside of Madison. We want to make sure we are here for our community for the long haul by ensuring sustainable systems across our operations.

During the 2024/2025 fiscal and programmatic year, as part of our ongoing strategic plan, Goodman worked to realign our efforts to focus on our core programs, letting go of some projects and reallocating resources to others. We also made substantial improvements to our financial control processes, increasing transparency and ensuring the integrity of our systems. The result is an organization that is leaner, stronger, and better able to respond to the needs in our community in accordance with our “Goodman 6” values: community, integrity, respect, caring, equity and trust.

Refocusing on Goodman’s core systems and programs

This past year, GCC staff and board focused on improving fiscal controls and strengthening our core programs.

After the painful revelation last summer that a staff member misappropriated funds, we engaged in a complete review of our financial controls. This has resulted in renewed commitment to a fully transparent system that ensures fiscal accountability at every level of the organization.

This was also a year of refocusing on our four core programs: food, children and youth, older adults and creating community spaces. We reallocated staff and resources, engaged with community partners, and improved our internal systems, all to improve the efficiency of our operations and the quality of experience for our program participants. We also let go of some work that wasn’t directly aligned with those goals. We’re already starting to see the success that comes with greater clarity of purpose.

Focus on financial accountability

The revelation of financial theft by an employee demonstrated a need for increased monitoring of our financial systems and improved accountability measures at all levels of the organization. We have reviewed and enhanced our financial controls and are working to explain the controls to the community.

Formalizing financial approval processes

We reviewed our process for approval of monthly financial statements and enhanced our internal approval procedures by involving multiple budget managers in reviewing expenses, requiring staff to document journal entries and provide documentation and supporting materials. We also have ensured that all duties are segregated within the finance team. The Vice President of Finance and Executive Director review monthly financial statements and expenses. Additionally, the GCC Board Finance Committee reviews monthly financials.

The monthly close process also includes a review to ensure compliance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These steps are designed to improve the accuracy and reliability of financial reporting, ensure ongoing compliance, and prevent future restatements.

Adding additional layers of review

We implemented detective controls to ensure that general ledger activity is routinely reviewed. The VP of Finance completes these controls including account reconciliations (such as regularly comparing account balances to catch discrepancies), variance analysis (comparing actual financial results to budgets or prior periods to identify unusual trends), periodic internal audits or reviews (evaluating transactions and controls to detect errors or fraud), and the review of supporting documentation (spot checking invoices, receipts, and expense reports for accuracy and appropriateness). The VP of Finance also documents the completion of this monthly process, and this work is further reviewed by the Executive Director and the Board Finance Committee. This formal, documented review process provides reasonable assurance over the accuracy and appropriateness of transactions and strengthen overall internal controls.

GCC also established formal review procedures to ensure that expense reports accurately reflect compliance with GAAP. We enhanced our internal approval procedures by involving budget managers in reviewing expenses, establishing journal entry documentation and supporting materials, and further segregating duties within the finance team. This includes an invoice review and approval process by budget-responsible staff prior to payment and finalization, along with a formal monthly review by the VP of Finance, Executive Director and the Board Finance Committee. These measures improve the accuracy and reliability of financial reporting.

Finally, we made the decision to move toward simpler software products serving specific needs.

The changes to these processes are designed for full transparency and accountability at all levels of the organization to help us increase effectiveness, efficiency and to be a better steward of the resources entrusted to us by our community.

Filling bellies and fulfilling needs with food programs

Food is essential. GCC operates a community food bank, teaches teenagers how to succeed in the food service industry through our TEENworks program, and operates the program kitchen, which cooks meals for participants in our own youth and older adult programs as well as for several other community partners. Across our food programs, this year we’ve found new efficiencies, allowing us to do more or maintain current services despite increasingly limited resources.

New Director of Community Food Resources

Recognizing the importance of food to Goodman’s core mission and the parallel systems we need to address the growing needs, Goodman recently promoted our former food pantry manager, Francesca Frisque, to become a new Director of Community Food Resources. This new position will enable us to increase efficiency across our food programming and better meet the needs of the organization and the people we feed.

Program Kitchen menus that satisfy both tastes and budgets

Despite rising food costs, our Program Kitchen team has managed to continue to earn high praise from diners. Our Nutrition Administration Manager and Kitchen Manager have become adept at creating menus that utilize the same ingredients in creative ways, reducing cost without sacrificing quality or taste. Their logistical talents and professionalism are huge assets to the program kitchen and to all of Goodman.

Adapting to greater need in the Fritz Food Pantry

For the third year in a row, the Fritz Food Pantry broke its own records for shoppers, reflecting a troubling increase in food insecurity in Madison and nationwide. Rising costs for food as well as housing and other expenses have made more people struggle to put a meal on the table for themselves and their families. More need creates a need for more food and also longer wait times at the pantry.

At the same time, the regional architecture that has helped supply our and other food pantries for years is increasingly unstable. This past year we were informed by our partners that we would need to start sourcing or buying many staple foods like milk and eggs that —due to COVID-era funding which expired and not renewed — we had previously been able to receive for free.

To meet these challenges, while still serving our growing population of shoppers with dignity and giving them the healthy selection of foods they need, we’ve adapted to better utilize the space, people, and resources we have.

Dedicating new space for the food pantry

This year we dedicated additional space in the Ironworks building solely to the pantry. Previously, the Grace room served as the pantry’s reception and waiting area but also hosted fitness and rental events when the pantry wasn’t open. While it is a loss of revenue to remove a large room from our rental offerings, that investment has significantly improved the customer experience and allows for greater efficiencies for staff.

New Rapid Pantry Program

To reduce wait time, we piloted a “rapid pantry program.” Instead of waiting to personally shop for all groceries, customers can now receive pre-picked bags of food, customizing their selection with choices like protein type. The rapid pantry has been a very popular choice, particularly for working families.

Retail Rescue now a pantry staff position

We invested in our pantry by adding retail rescue as a new staff position. Our retail rescue coordinator works with 17 local grocers and other businesses to collect and use good food which would otherwise be discarded. Previously this work was done by volunteers but making it a staff role gives business partners the consistency they needed to significantly increase their contributions. We are now collecting over 25,000 pounds of retail rescue food a month, right when we badly need it.

The food pantry is a core priority for Goodman, and we remain determined to keep meeting the needs of our community. As a result of these investments in the food pantry and improvements to efficiency, we’ve been able to maintain the same pantry hours and the same high-quality choice of food and goods while serving more people.

Creating connections in the Older Adult program

Years of hard work building and refining our Older Adult program led to gratifying success. The program continues to see max attendance for our weekday lunch program, and many other activities are well received and well attended.

Fighting social isolation

A particular focus of the Older Adult program this year has been fighting social isolation. Social isolation is a significant public health threat, linked to a wide variety of physical and mental problems and can even contribute to early death. Older adults are particularly at risk for social isolation. This year, as part of a collaboration with other local programs that support older adults, we expanded our Phone Pals program which trains volunteers and pairs them with older adults for weekly phone conversations. We created a new flyer to advertise the program and distributed it with partner organizations to raise awareness of the program.

We also launched an awareness-raising campaign about social isolation, including talking to local media about the issue, featuring it on the cover of Eastside News, and hosting a community chat on the topic. The community chat featured a panel discussion with the head of our Older Adult program, Gayle Laszewski, as well as staff from the City of Madison and NewBridge Madison.

Max attendance for Older Adult weekday meals

The high quality of Goodman meals combined with rising food insecurity has led our Older Adult weekday meal program to become the single largest Dane County meal site. This year, we consistently reached our capacity for diners, with older adults coming for the delicious, affordable food, but staying for the connection and camaraderie around the tables.

Caring for children through every part of growing up

Goodman’s children and youth programs serve kids ages 3 to 18, providing critically needed childcare, and supporting kids in every aspect of their development into mature, resilient young adults.

Record attendance in many programs

This past year saw several of our children and youth programs reaching record numbers for daily attendance. Our 4K program, which operates in partnership with Madison Metropolitan School District, reached its highest-yet attendance. The middle school program also reached its highest enrollment and our highest daily attendance since before the pandemic. As attendance reflects the quality of the program offered and how valued it is by children and their parents, we were particularly pleased to reach these numbers.

Creating classrooms with neurodiversity in mind

To ensure that every child in our programs is able to learn and grow, this year we began a new partnership with a local pediatric therapy provider. Their experienced staff will observe the physical spaces and behaviors in our Elementary Afterschool classrooms and coach our teachers on ways to make their classrooms neruo-sensory friendly and teach techniques to support all students. All our youth staff also participated in neurodiversity positive training.

Expanding multigenerational learning with TEENworks

Within TEENworks, our job-readiness program for high school students, we added a new track focusing on teaching teens to work with younger children. This not only gives our teens experience applicable to many future jobs but also provides our younger kids with even more mentoring, diverse program experiences, and a greater sense of community. To support this new track, we reallocated a staff position to add a manager focusing on this work. We’re pleased with how this new effort is already strengthening the sense of community across GCC’s programs.

This summer TEENworks is hosting a career fair for middle and high school students, where the teens can learn about future career paths from local companies and organizations. This career fair expands upon a similar program run previously for Girls Inc students.

Sparking a love of reading with *START Literacy

This past year also saw tremendous strides for our new *START Literacy initiative. Literacy rates are at crisis levels in local schools and across Wisconsin, as well as nationwide. *START Literacy aims to change that immediately for Goodman’s enrolled students by giving them the intensive tutoring they need to develop word attack strategies and build reading confidence. Additionally, through the *START Training, tutors learn to guide young readers with adaptable strategies, positive motivation, and effective techniques in a safe, supportive environment. This year, thirty tutors completed their training in two cohorts. We’re already hearing reports of significant progress from the teachers and parents of the 20 students who were enrolledreceived tutoring.

Staff who are legends in their own time

The consistently high-quality of our programs for children and youth is built upon the talent and passion of the staff who run these programs. Goodman has been fortunate both to be able to attract high quality new staff — in part thanks to the continuation of our living wage initiative — and retain longstanding staff whose decades of experience make them both invaluable leaders within Goodman and pillars of the community.

Once again, a member of GCC’s youth programs was named as a recipient of the Madison Out-of-School Time (MOST) awards. Ashley Rounds, GCC’s Enrollment Shares Specialist, was recently named as an Outstanding Youth Worker for her work with GCC’s Preschool, 4K, and Elementary programs. Ashley joins GCC’s Howard Hayes and Arthur Morgan, who were named as MOST “Legends of After-School-Time" in 2024 and 2023 respectively. It is gratifying to see the hard work of our staff and their extraordinary service to our children and youth be honored city-wide.

Concluding a 10-year partnership with Girls Inc.

For 10 years, Goodman was the local affiliate for the Madison chapter of Girls Inc. We are proud of the work we did with Girls Inc, though operating two organizations with two sets of priorities under one roof proved complex for both organizations. Most Girls Inc affiliates are stand-alone agencies, and our community center setting led to unique barriers and complications.

After extensive consultation and collaboration with the Girls Inc national headquarters over the course of a year, we came to an agreement to conclude the affiliation at the end of August 2025. We are finishing with a very successful collaboration with Madison School and Community Recreation to produce two summer TGIF events. Starting in September 2025, Madison-area Girls Inc programs will be coordinated by Girls Inc of Southeast Wisconsin, ensuring that local girls will still have access to Girls Inc programming, while reallocating Goodman’s resources back to our core programs.

Connecting the community while supporting Goodman’s mission

As a community center, Goodman serves as a hub for community gatherings and events and a source for local news and inspiration. From weekday yoga classes to weeknight bluegrass jam sessions, the rooms of our historic buildings are busy with events created by and for community members. We’re also honored to provide spaces for significant moments for community members, from baby showers, to weddings, to funerals. We further connect the community through art in the free, public Ballweg Gallery, and by offering hyper-local journalism through Eastside News.

Finding efficiencies and focusing on Good Works

Community rentals are a significant source of revenue for GCC. Our hospitality team focused this year on providing exceptional quality of services, while ensuring that our rental programs support our mission. They conducted a review of our services and rates to best make use of our spaces and resources. Our new policies ensure that we make space for the events which generate the most revenue, while also being able to welcome smaller community-focused gatherings and nonprofit partners.

One of the changes included a requirement that catering in our largest event spaces on Saturdays during our peak-rental months be provided by our Good Works Catering team. Led by professionals, Good Works employs students through our TEENworks program to teach culinary and serving skills. Some program graduates have gone on to further culinary training, while others are now employed in the hospitality industry.

Our communications team also worked to improve Goodman’s website calendar, to better showcase community events happening at Goodman. This calendar provides a service to our neighbors looking for interesting and enriching activities nearby and to all the partners hosting public events at our center.

Celebrating 100 Years of Eastside News

This past year we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of Eastside News, which predates Goodman Community Center by decades. A special retrospective issue republished historical articles and reflected on the history and evolution of both the paper and Madison’s east side community. The paper’s contributions to Madison were recognized by the city of Madison during a proclamation issued by the mayor in November.

As local newspapers shrink and radio and TV cut local coverage, the role of Eastside News and other hyper-local outlets is more critical than ever. Goodman is proud to continue to be a home for Eastside News as a source of news, culture and connection for the whole east side community.