Operation Fresh Start is a youth development program (Watch our Video!)
addressing core issues facing low-income communities: education, employment, crime prevention, affordable housing and leadership development. At OFS, low-income young people ages 16-24 work toward their GED or high school diploma, learn job skills, and serve their communities by building affordable housing. In the process, they fundamentally change their lives and roles in society.

OFS is also a non-profit builder of affordable housing (view available homes now),
each year constructing new or remodeling 8-9 homes. These homes are sold on the open market to low- and moderate-income buyers. OFS is able to provide financial assistance to make the homes more affordable to buyers.

OFS Trains Young People for Green Collar Jobs:
Operation Fresh Start engages young people in job training and service projects that help protect our environment at the same time they prepare youth for jobs in the emerging Green Economy.

We accomplish these goals in several ways:

Applying rigid insulation

All renovated or newly-built OFS homes are certified "Green Built," and all newly-built homes are also Energy Star certified.
Wisconsin Energy Star certification assures that the homes meet high standards of energy efficiency. The Green Built Home certification is more comprehensive, assuring that homes meet a set of basic requirements regarding energy efficiency, water conservation, stormwater management, selection of sustainable materials, indoor air quality, and waste reduction and recycling practices. OFS crew members are carefully trained in the principles and practices of green building. Since 2002, OFS has constructed 35 new Energy Star homes. We have also certified 29 homes as Green Built - 15 new homes, and 14 renovations.

Preparing to remove giant burdock

Conservation and Stewardship
Operation Fresh Start partners with local government and non-profit agencies to complete projects that protect and improve the natural environment. OFS crews construct and maintain trails and boardwalks; remove non-native plants; conduct controlled burns to restore natural areas; and, plant and protect native wetland and upland plants. Examples of the crews' work from 2008 include:

• 500 5-gallon plant patches planted in Madison's Owen Park ponds.
• 1,725 long leaf pond plants planted in Owen and Kettle ponds in Madison.
• 500 lotus planting structures constructed, seeded, and placed in Cherokee Marsh.
• Owen ponds inoculated with aquatic insects and amphibians dipped from Kettle Pond.
• Black oak and other invasives removed within the oak savannah at Riverland Conservancy in Merrimac
• Board walk repaired and stabilized along the Ice Age Trail in the Riverland Conservancy.

Career and Educational Guidance
Operation Fresh Start provides classroom instruction to help young people gain the practical skills and credentials needed to succeed in the modern workplace. OFS staff members provide career guidance to young people, exposing them to job opportunities in demand in the region, including career-track green-collar jobs.

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Operation Fresh Start in the NEWS:

Gates Foundation Awards Operation Fresh Start $570,000 to Help Youth Graduate from College.
"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $570,000 to Operation Fresh Start to be used over 3 years to provide follow-up support and financial assistance to OFS graduates entering community college. The funds, which come through YouthBuild USA, are part of an ambitious $69 million effort by the Gates Foundation to double the number of low-income students who earn a college degree or vocational credential by age 26. " Read the entire Capital Times story...

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Operation Fresh Start and Wisconsin Fresh Start: Helping Young People Across Wisconsin
"For more than 30 years Operation Fresh Start has been an essential part of the Madison community. It has provided opportunities for about 7,000 of Madison's troubled youth to learn marketable skills to contribute to society. "It began in 1970, when a retired Madison police officer grew tired of seeing the same young men going in and out of jail and he decided to give them a new outlet. This program began as a way to simply teach the male offenders carpentry, but he quickly realized there was more to be done than learning a new skill. Many of these young men were homeless or experienced troubled family life, leading this Madison volunteer to realize that this was quickly becoming more than a carpentry class. " Read the complete CLARION article....

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Thanks to American Family Insurance, Courtier Foundation, and Interactive Media Solutions (IMS) for their generous support in the creation of this website and the OFS video. Thanks also to Tilt Media for their effective work in capturing the spirit of our program in the creation of the video!

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