Operation Fresh Start gets huge gift

By A. David Dahmer

The Madison Club Foundation has presented a check for $58,000 to Operation Fresh Start (OFS). The formalities took place at a press conference Nov. 6 at an OFS work site, a house on Madison's south side that is being built by the young builders of OFS.
"This contribution to us is one of the largest contributions in the history of Operation Fresh Start," said Connie Ferris Bailey, executive director of Operation Fresh Start. "We are so appreciative of it. What we are trying to do is to expand the number of opportunities for young people in our community as we continue to work to try and bring on additional groups."
Operation Fresh Start (OFS) is an organization that serves Madison's disconnected youth by giving them valuable experience and skills to become self-sustaining, positive members of the local community. Participants work together to build affordable homes for low- and moderate-income first-time home buyers in the Dane County area. In the process, the participants acquire vocational training, gain self-confidence, and learn to be part of a team.

This crew of young builders is building a new affordable-home porject at 620 Cedar St.

The Madison Club Foundation's large donation will enable OFS to continue its work with at-risk youth and to "adopt" a new affordable-home project at 620 Cedar St. and a crew of young builders to work on it.
Young home builders, staff, and other representatives from OFS were on hand at the Cedar Street construction site. Harley Bethel, who has been with Operation Fresh Start for about nine months, told the people gathered at the press conference that this is the second house that he has worked on with OFS. 
"Before I came to Operation Fresh Start, I sold drugs and I stole. I didn't care about anybody in my community except for my friends. I was getting bad grades in school," he said.  "Now that I've been in Operation Fresh Start, I've been helping people and going over and beyond what people think I can do."
In addition to job training, OFS also provides youngsters with the daily classroom education they need to complete their high school diplomas or equivalency degrees (GEDs or HSEDs).
"All I used to know was hate, hate, and more hate," Maurice Clark said. "I've been through a lot — from drug deals to battery, to misdemeanors to felonies — but none of this was me. Not only has Operation Fresh Start given me a fresh start, they've [also] helped me find myself."
Jonathan Barry, director of development for Operation Fresh Start, thanked the Madison Club Foundation, which raised the money at its Charity Gala on Oct. 18, the fourth annual event of its kind hosted at the Madison Club. The black-tie event attracted over 200 guests from the Dane County area and included an address by Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.
Bailey was also very pleased.
"One of the things that we want to do is to dedicate this home as the Madison Club Foundation home," she said, "and we will provide pictures of its progress …
She added that OFS also offers opportunity for direct, personal involvement from the community: "All of our young people are eager to have the adults in the community open their hearts and heads and experiences to mentor," she said. "Those opportunities are there, also."
Bailey explained that the finished house will have two bedrooms. She said it would be an incredibly efficient home for a family and would be both Energy Star-certified and Green Built-Certified.
There will be an open house when the home is completed, Bailey said, which will be several months from now. "These young people will have a chance to show the community what they've done — not just in their own personal growth, but in helping supply affordable housing in our community," she said.
Each year, Operation Fresh Start enrolls 120 young people, who complete eight to 10 affordable homes. Since its inception in 1970, OFS has served more than 6,500 Dane County youth ages 16-24. Eighty percent of all OFS participants have completed the goals of the program, defined by either job placement or graduation to post-secondary schooling. Follow-up studies have shown that two-thirds of OFS graduates have no further criminal justice contacts, need no additional public assistance and have achieved long-term self-sufficiency by holding down a job or going on to post-secondary schooling.

 For more information about OFS, call 244-4721. OFS headquarters are at 1925 Winnebago St.