Goodman Community Center

Celebrate the power of community and TEENworks at the Be the Good Fundraising Dinner — an evening designed to nourish, delight, and connect.

👩🏾‍🍳 Dinner starts at 5pm on Friday, May 8.
🎟️ Ticket sales end midnight on Friday, April 24

Find your seat at the table at goodmancenter.org/bethegood 🍽️

Middle school took the open time of their end of January no-school day to go ice skating at Monona's Lakeridge Skating Rink ⛸️The trip was many student's first time on the ice, but their courage shined through the wobbly skates. They learned from each other and built confidence with every lap.

Be ready to vote in tomorrow's primary.

Coach Vern, a large, bald black man in black t-shirt over a maroon long sleeve leads an end of session huddle with the elementary and high school students. Everyone has their fists in the middle of the circle, starting a cheer to hype themselves up. The elementary schoolers are grouped towards the middle while the teens encircle them from the outside.

The camera is facing the backs of the elementary schoolers who appear to be practicing their dribbling in an activity with the teens. All youth appear focused while Vern stands back and watches, giving helpful encouragement.

A group of three kids and two teens are in the middle of a basket shooting drill. From the sidelines, Vern, who is wearing black track pants and a black t-shirt over a maroon long sleeve shirt, is encouraging a small black boy in faded blue jeans, sneakers and a white tshirt whose back is to the camera while he faces the basketball hoop and is about to shoot his basketball. On his right is a black teen boy in red sweatpants, a white t-shirt, and black slides and socks. The teen is mid dribble and also appears to be encouraging the boy as he starts to shoot the ball. Behind both of them is an orange traffic style cone and a white girl with light brown hair in a ponytail wearing a basketball jersey with "JOHNSON 1" on the back. She appears to be watching the pair of boys work on shooting from her spot on the gym floor. Running into the shot from the far right side is a slightly older elementary kid wearing a black pants, white sneakers and a red t-shirt, their 4c hair gathered up off their neck. This child looks ready to shoot from their place further away from the basket.

Vern, a tall white teenage boy in a black t shirt, and a medium height black teenage girl in a pink hoodie and white sweatpants appear to be leading a group of 6 (5 elementary students and 1 teen example) through an activity. The group of six each have their arms spread out in some capacity beside them as a part of the activity. Vern's left hand is up as if he's just followed through on a shot at a basket.

High school manager Vern and TEENworks participants just finished their tip-off session of Small Ball basketball in January.

Open to 2nd-4th graders, Small Ball built elementary schoolers' coordination and teamwork skills while creating letting teens practice leadership.

(Cries in the hopeful end of long term splash pad malfunctions 😭🤞🏽)

It’s cloudy, sure…maybe a little chilly for August…but OUR SPLASH PAD IS FINALLY OPEN 💦

Weekdays, 9am-8pm.

Who remembers shaving cream tables?? 🤩 The iconic sensory activity is still a hit here in 2025, letting preschoolers explore textures, get creative and lets them practice spelling their names in a fun, tactile new way.

For mothers day, some high schoolers went to Four Acres Farm to pick from their 30,000 tulips and learn about what it takes to keep a large scale farm up and running. Owners Erin and Carlos were incredibly kind, letting the group in for free and take flowers home to give to their mother figures🌷

Photos: Beth Skogen Photography

EAST SIDE NEWS COVER STORY: The Great Dayne does great things at Goodman Community Center 🏈💥🥣

Read the full story of Ron and the rest of our program kitchen team at tr.ee/MayJuneESNCover

Cooking Club has been on a roll with the recipes this season 🍽️👨🏿‍🍳 Middle schoolers made wontons and egg rolls for Lunar New Year, hand pies and beignets among other recipes during LOFT after school

Encourage courage, curiosity and connection for Madison's east side by becoming a sustainable monthly donor for our center 💙✨ $5/month is all you need 🔗 goodmancenter.org/donate

Community center addresses social isolation among older adults Goodman Community Center offers free lunches, fitness and wellness programs and group activities.

Our Older Adult Program is on Spectrum News for all the great work they're doing to fight social isolation in our community 📰 🔗 spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee...

Strengthening lives and securing futures...now with butterflies