Goodman Community Center

05/30/2026

May's Ballweg Gallery exhibit by Urban Sketchers Madison is coming to a close, but this beautiful sketch of our Ironworks building is here to stay.

Created earlier this month by Lily Chang, this piece was generously gifted to the Goodman Center. Find it displayed in the lobby across from the front desk. Thank you Lily and Urban Sketchers!

05/29/2026

“The best camera is the one you have with you.”

Sam from Dutcher Photography facilitated an intro to photography session with TEENworks last week, focusing on the camera pretty much all teens have access to: their phones. Sam gave the teens a few techniques to help them take their photos of friends, sunsets, and stuff to the next level, demonstrating each technique on a photo walk around Goodman’s grounds. The teens also got to ask questions and show Sam some of their own photos.

Thank you to Sam for spending her afternoon with TEENworks, and to her son Ben (who is a TEENworks participant himself) for being the sessions demonstration model.

Check out some of these photos taken by Sam and some taken by staff using the tips Sam shared.

05/29/2026

🚶🏻‍➡️ Our older adult walking club has been getting out and enjoying the warmer weather with weekly strolls through the neighborhood around Goodman led by Badger Volunteer Sama. A recent Thursday afternoon walk to Olbrich Gardens brought sunshine and early spring blooms.

Starting in June, the group will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays to trek the area, weather permitting. Ages 50+ are welcome to join in for a stroll!

05/27/2026

Our Assistant Director of Youth and Community Development Howard Hayes was the special guest on the premiere episode of Brian Emerson's podcast FREE SEEDS 🌱 a gardening and farming podcast.

Howard and Brian dove into the longstanding middle school summer program course 'Garden Fit.' Garden Fit, which Howard refers to as a gardening "choose your own adventure," takes a rotating group of incoming 6th graders to one of Rooted's education community gardens up to 3x per week. But like any good conversation with Howard, the pair also discussed gardening as connection to the land, others, self, and to our ancestors.

You can listen to the full premiere episode of FREE SEEDS online now at wortfm.org (link in bio).

05/25/2026

Goodman Community Center and all its associated programs and services are closed today, Monday, 5/25, for Memorial Day, including the fitness center. Please contact 211 to find open organizations for services.

See you tomorrow, Atwood!

05/22/2026

On Wednesday, the older adult program had a very special conversational presentation with renowned local weather forecaster Scott Rippee of Rippeology . The group talked about our current whether patterns, how this year's super El Niño will impact Wisconsin and the country, and the reasons for our current state of accelerated climate change.

Scott's presentation was incredibly engaging, and brought every audience member into his love of weather. Thank you to Scott for spending your late morning with the older adults!

05/20/2026

Who's that mystery reader in Orange House 📖🤔❓

It's Ms. Catie!

GCC's VP of programming and resident Badger fantatic, Catie Tollefson, read preschoolers a book about Bucky Badger before the class moved into art mode to create their own Buckys 🦡

05/20/2026

Will we see you at the Rippeology presentation today at 11????

Come talk weather and turning retirement into a time for what makes life joyous. This is an older adult event open to community members. No registration needed! Takes place in Ironworks at 149 Waubesa St.

05/19/2026

START Literacy is featured in Isthmus' May cover story 😱📰

As educators nervously anticipate the sunsetting of AmeriCorps partnered tutoring programs and services this June, Madison is asking if "trained tutors [are] an answer to Madison's reading crisis."

Read reporter Jenny Peek's story online now!

The Madison school district’s longtime tutoring program is set to sunset in June due to federal funding cuts. There are differing opinions on what should replace it.

05/18/2026

Child care enjoyed a very special Taiko drum performance from Peaceful Forest, a family group lead by father and legendary performer Takumi Kato.

The triumphant, thunderous taiko drum has been important to Japanese music and culture for centuries, often featured in traditional festivals and theatric performances.

Peaceful Forest brought their electric taiko performance to GCC’s preschool and elementary after school classes as part of their ongoing goodwill tour: 1,000 free performances given across all 50 US states. The family started in 2022 and have checked off 41 states and over 600 performances in roughly 4 years.

Before starting their epic journey of cultural music sharing, Takumi had previously won international taiko drumming competitions and performed for both the Prime Minister of Japan and the Japanese Emperor and Empress.

Thank you to the Takumi and the Kato family for a jaw dropping and electric introduction to taiko. We wish you luck as you continue on your performance journey 🪘