Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Housing

Housing

For this blog, I recruited the help of Stephanie Bradley Wilson the Director of Health Equity and Violence Prevention of Common Wealth Development, CWD.  Stephanie will introduce us to Justice Castadeña!  
 

Believe it or not, I met Justice at an Allied area meeting a few weeks after becoming Alder.  Shortly after we had a 1-1 call, since then Justice has been a great resource of information on the topics of housing, zoning, development, and youth employment.  I don't know why we hadn't crossed paths before but I am very fortunate to have access to his knowledge, feedback, and advice today.

Common Wealth Development, CWD, is a private non-profit community development organization incorporated in 1979. Its mission is to support and preserve the vitality of neighborhoods in the Madison Metropolitan area. CWD's work serves as the foundational bedrock of healthy community and economic development, with projects aimed at improving the housing and business climate of our neighborhoods through a people-first approach centered on racial equity and community-level health improvement.

Since February 2017, Justice Castañeda has been the executive director of CWD. Justice was born and raised in Madison attending primarily east side schools. After getting into a fight at East High school, charged with a felony that was later dismissed, Justice joined the Marine Corps and served for 8 years. He returned to Madison 18 years later to take the executive director role at CWD bringing his valuable experiences, skills, and influence to the organization.

Under Justice's leadership, CWD's trajectory has continually moved the organization forward leveraging resources to support housing, employment, and business incubation in the metro Madison area for the economic development of low to moderate-income people.  Well-educated and trained, UC-San Francisco, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a former Marine Staff Sargent, Justice brings a blend of ideas, concepts, and compassion to his work. Justice is also a Ph.D. student in UW-Madison's Urban Regional Planning Program.

In southwest Madison, Justice has forged relationships with other non-profits, businesses, and City and County governments to increase housing and employment opportunities. These relationships have resulted in increased connectivity and collaboration to improve the lives of low to moderate-income people.

In 2021, CWD opened The Alliance, an 11-unit affordable housing site, 5802 Raymond Rd, which includes commercial space that co-locates Common Wealth staff along with partners from Joining For Forces for Families, Children's Hospital, and the Early Childhood Initiative. Together these resources help individuals and families navigate through systems to meet their needs. CWD also has other properties it owns and manages in the Meadowood neighborhood and throughout the Madison Isthmus area.

Justice continues to shine a light and offer solutions on land use issues, education, youth, and violence prevention efforts to make Madison a place where all its residents can thrive.

From Justice:  "Common Wealth continues to move forward through the ongoing weight that is COVID-19, and we are ever appreciative of our community and supporters.  I, personally, am extremely humbled by the Common Wealth staff; I am so fortunate to be able to work with such a dedicated group of professionals, who collectively have been my rock over these past 24 months. They are truly amazing, and the work that Common Wealth is known for would not be possible without them. My most sincere thank you to all the folks I get to work with, and to all of our residents, small business owners, and program participants, for making 2022 a great year for Common Wealth Development. Oh...we're hiring! Common Wealth currently has openings in our Youth Workforce Development and Housing Operations sections. If you know of anyone who is looking to join the team, have them check out the postings here."

Get involved . . . Volunteer!

• LOUD – Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development 

  • When: Nov 02, 5:00 PM – Nov 05, 8:00 PM

  • Where: 100 S Baldwin St, Madison, WI 53703, USA

• ADULT WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Common Wealth's Adult Workforce Development program Is fully operational and ready to help with your employment needs. Call or email us to set an intake appointment and to discuss how we can help or visit us at JOB SHOP at the Meadowood Neighborhood Center 5734 Raymond Rd Madison WI, 53711 Every Wednesday from 9 am until 1 pm 

• VITA is looking for volunteers