By Justin Markofski
NPC Excutive Director
It’s A Wonderful Life is a 1946 classic film about a man George Bailey who gave up his personal dreams to help others in his community. The film depicts George at a moment of crisis where he is contemplating suicide until an unlikely guardian angel named Clarence Odbody intervenes. Clarence shows George what the world (and specifically his hometown Bedford Falls) would be like if George didn’t exist.
I recently took up that task of trying to imagine a world (Northside in this case) without the Northside Planning Council (NPC). Like Bedford Falls in It’s A Wonderful Life, it appears the Northside as we know it would be far less recognizable and less desirable without NPC’s work. It is very likely that without even realizing it, every Northside resident would notice the change personally.
What are some of these changes we would see in a world without NPC?
No Northside News
No candidate forums for local elections
No North Star Awards
No Northside Festival
No more FEED Kitchens and the many dozens of new, diverse food businesses serving the region daily
No new restaurants and food establishments graduating out of FEED into their own space (35 and counting would not exist from the past 12 years of FEED)
Fewer jobs available
No job training apprenticeship experience through FEED Bakery
No more yummy FEED Bakery cookies, brownies and treats at local stores and the Northside Farmers Market
These absences are only some of the current list of what would disappear if the Northside lost NPC as the resource, connector and facilitator whose mission continues to be to improve the quality of life and foster equity on the Northside of Madison, with an impact that now extends beyond our borders.
The above does not even consider the critical community resources that would not be present if NPC’s entire history and legacy of work disappeared. Imagine no more Warner Park, no Troy Gardens, no Northside Farmer’s Market, far fewer Neighborhood Associations and an absence of leadership and vital voice facilitating meetings, dialogue and engagement on key topics throughout the last 30 plus years.
It’s A Wonderful Life concludes with a joyous scene where the community of Bedford Falls comes through for George Bailey and his family’s time of crisis and shows an outpouring of love and support to cover their financial needs and express their gratitude for his years of helping make their lives better through his work. We find ourselves here at NPC at a moment of critical importance as we need to secure the financial support that will sustain our existence and our work for years to come.
We feel confident asking you to support our work and invest with us in the impact we create. A robust NPC will have resources to best execute our programs for the greatest benefit to our community. A robust NPC can help nurture the economically vibrant Northside that businesses need to thrive. A robust NPC is critical to effective relationship to our local government including our elected alders who we can support and who in turn can support us.
Most of our revenue as a nonprofit is generated by earned income sources including FEED Bakery sales, FEED Kitchen rentals, and Northside News advertising. Less than 10% of our entire budget comes from individual donors and we would like to ask you to help increase this critical community support by joining our team and our mission to see the Northside thrive. Please consider a donation today, as well as other ways you can strengthen and support our work. Thank you, Northside. We are all better together. Donate at northsideplanningcouncil.org
