In the autumn of 2015, a group of concerned activists, outreach workers, and medical personnel came together to address a set of major issues in the Madison area. Throughout the city, people experiencing homelessness were going without essential medical care, for everything from diabetes to foot injuries to chemotherapy follow-up. Some existing organizations, as well as trained and untrained volunteers, were trying to help individual sufferers, but nothing existed that truly got at the roots of the problem. From these discussions, Madison Area Care for the Homeless OneHealth (MACH) emerged.

Over the years, MACH has emerged as a community leader in providing and coordinating compassionate, holistic healthcare for individuals experiencing homelessness. The organization now consists of a 230 volunteer mailing list with about 85 active volunteers. At the start of 2022, we have 15 paid staff members: ten full-time and 5 part-time, plus a full-time AmeriCorp Volunteer. Typical office hours are M-Th, 9:00am – 3:00pm, otherwise you can find MACH staff and volunteers out in the community on various service nights or at the Dairy Drive Shelter. The volunteers and staff carry out a variety of services tailored to the unique needs of our patients.

 

STRUCTURE & GOVERNANCE

We welcome passionate community members to join us in addressing the needs and barriers to care. MACH OneHealth governs with sociocracy to ensure inclusive, equitable, non-hierarchical participation and consent in service of our mission.

To learn more about sociocracy please click here for a short and simple introductory video.

 

Organizational Structure

After reimagining our structure in 2021, we’ve welcomed the graphic below to guide our mission and goals.

 

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