Nestled in the Greenbush Neighborhood at the heart of downtown Madison sits Bayview, a small community whose history juxtaposed collective progress and challenging barriers but has always served as a sanctuary for people of color, immigrants and refugees.
The land on which Bayview rests is home to communities that trace back to the Oneota and Ho-Chunk peoples. These tribal communities occupied the land for hundreds of years before being forcibly removed in the early 1800s.
From 1910 to 1962, Jewish, Italian and Black communities inhabited the land until the desire for urban renewal removed and displaced the residents. These decisions, made without the consent of the former residents and centered around contentious issues such as affordable housing and racism, sparked community activism that created The Bayview Foundation in 1966.
Now, Bayview is a nonprofit organization that provides supportive services and affordable housing to low-income residents. Bayview has “86 two- and three-bedroom townhomes and apartment units and a community center located in the middle of the housing development,” according to its website.
After years of planning, Bayview began its redevelopment project to upgrade its housing units and community center. With a history so rooted in displacement, Bayview wanted to ensure its redevelopment would not displace its residents.
To achieve this goal, Bayview chose to redevelop in a phased approach, with all of the improvements being guided by the people that live in Bayview townhomes. By the end of redevelopment, projected to complete in 2025, Bayview will go from housing about 300 residents to more than 500 residents and open a community center about twice the size of its current design.
Bayview and its residents also pride themselves on the artistic approach they’ve taken while redeveloping.
“By the time this whole redevelopment is done, we’re gonna have 20 public art pieces inside and around the campus,” Bayview Development Director Katherine Davey told The Daily Cardinal. “It’s almost going to be like a public art garden.”
The creation of one artistic piece visible while driving past Bayview a mural called “Hope Finds a Home” showcased on the side of a housing unit that faces Regent Street, involved heavy community input, Davey said.
“That mural came from hours of meetings with residents to choose the theme, to develop the concepts and then there were three community artists who worked with people to actually paint the segments,” Davey said.
The nonprofit also provides community members a plethora of services, Bayview Program Director Nate Schorr told the Cardinal.
“So much of what we do from a programming side, from just a community center in general, is to attract people here with different services,” Schorr said. “We have a community meal every day, and it's just so people can bump into each other and know their neighbors, know their community and know people who are different from them.”
Interactions between people at Bayview are less transactional because of how people at the community center and in the townhomes constantly contribute back to the community, Schorr said.
Schorr believes Bayview’s true sense of community building is what sets it apart from other nonprofit organizations and community centers in Madison.
“There is an underlying ethos to the work that we do here, which is being a place that people feel accepted and comfortable, where they can get the services they need and where they can come for not necessarily a prescribed purpose, yet still feel connected to other people,” Schorr said. “Bayview is a place that is open to the whole community.”
