Announcing Neighborhood Improvement Grant Recipients

Our Giving Committee has compiled the rankings from the June Neighborhood Association Meeting, and has awarded the following grants. Congratulations to these fantastic organizations supporting people in our neighborhoods.

Our annual giving process is funded by profits from Eken Park Festival as part of our charitable mission. This year, we distributed the full $4,500 that we budgeted.

The 2025 grants are going to:

Emerson Elementary PTO: $500

The Emerson Elementary PTO is teaming with the Girls on the Run team at Emerson for their community impact project to repaint the USA map on the Emerson Elementary blacktop. The community impact project will be executed on Thursday May 15th, weather pending. Repainting the map has been on the PTO’s to do list for the last year and the Girls on the Run team decided to repaint the map for their community impact project. The PTO is asking to be reimbursed for the cost of the paint and supplies. Supplies will be purchased May 14th, so our cost is not yet know. This project will be enjoyed by all those the visit Emerson Elementary. The school and MSCR regularly use this space as well as families using the playground equipment.


Madison Public Art Project: $1,000

“The mural, Siempre Aprendiendo, is unveiling May 31st, 2025 at 2200 Pennsylvania Ave. The full project scope can be found here: https://www.madisonpublicartproject.org/siempreaprendiendo This grant request is for funding to complement the mural, once installed, to offer community programming including guided mural tours, Paint in our Pocket Park! days, and a future Aldo Leopold bench making workshop which will offer additional seating in the gardens for the public to enjoy the mural installation. These workshops will be offered for 2025/6. All MPAP community programming is created to support diversity, inclusivity, and equity through public art offering creative and exciting new ways for the community to join together! “


Moms on a Mission Madison: $1,500

Moms On a Mission Madison is a grassroots organization ran by Moms and former moms of East High School students. For 5 years we have been doing violence prevention and intervention outside of East High School by providing snacks and other support for students in order to reduce student contact with police. 


Sherman Middle School: $1,500

I am an 8th grade Special Education teacher at Sherman Middle School. Over the past year I have been working on finding learning opportunities and ways to fundraise to make field trips more accessible for all of our scholars. Many of our students struggle with paying for our field trips, so I have tried to do as much work as possible to lower the costs.  Our end of year field trips are the last opportunities our 8th graders will have to spend time with each other before they transition to high school. While most of them will probably go to East, they may not see each other there, or they may move to another high school. Any funding that can help our students have affordable trips would be a huge help. Our two trips planned will be on June 6 and June 10. The first one will be a walking field trip to Warner Park for the students to take part in a kickball tournament on the baseball field that the Mallard’s play on. They will be tie-dying shirts that will then be personalized for the game. Our second trip will be to Kalahari Resort for the students to enjoy a water park adventure with their peers before their 8th grade promotion.


Want to get more involved in the decision-making for these funds? Join the Giving Committee by sending them an email. They’ll soon be evaluating this year’s process and proposing changes for the future.

Volunteers needed for Eken Park Festival

Eken Park Festival 2025 Volunteer Sign Up

Eken Park Festival 2025 is back in Eken Park on Saturday, August 16th.  

This fun, family-friendly event only comes together with the hard work of volunteers. There are a variety of important jobs that need to be filled. Please consider signing up! If you won’t be around the day of the event, there are flyering opportunities in the weeks before the event.

Thank you in advance,

Eken Park Festival Planning Committee

Click on this link to sign up:

Eken Park Festival 2025 Volunteer Sign Up

More details:

Here’s how it works in 3 easy steps:

1) Click this link to see the available spots on SignUp: https://signup.com/go/VCaycer

2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.

3) Sign up! It’s easy and you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on SignUp.

Note: SignUp does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact the festival committee to sign you up manually.

Eken Park Fest is this Saturday, August 17

Our North Street Neighborhood Association’s annual Eken Park Festival is coming up this Saturday from 11am to 8pm…now in the actual park! That’s right, the festival will be held in Eken Park for the first time. Tell your neighbors, tell your friends. Everyone is invited. The day will be full of music, good food, kids activities, and beer. Keep reading for all the details.

Music lineup presented by Benchmark Exteriors:

12 pm Kid Jordan and the Second Line
1:40 pm Pink Halo
3:10 pm Nester
4:45 pm Kat and the Hurricane
6:30 pm The Periodicals

Kids Activities presented by Liz Lauer and Lauer Realty

Listening Lawn presented by Ella Apartments
Bring your own chair or blanket and relax!

4:00 pm Kids of All Ages Parade led by Kid Jordan (crowns, tiaras, and festival best encouraged)

The City of Madison Water Wagon will be serving up H2O please bring your reusable water bottle or glass-free drinkware.

Food truck favorites presented by Northstreet:

El Sabor de Puebla
Just Veggiez
Melly Mell’s
Teddywedgers
The Chocolate Shoppe
Mentoring Positives

This FREE festival is completely volunteer-run. Volunteering is a great way to get to know your neighbors. There are still some volunteer slots available

To learn more about the festival and to sign up for volunteer slots, visit the Festival Page. For full information about the day’s events, visit the Eken Park Festival Facebook Event.

We’ll see you on Saturday!