Community Change-Maker Awards: Thursday, September 11, 2025

Change-Maker Award Winners

Mary Ellyn and Joe Sensenbrenner, nominated by Rooted
Winners of the Liesl Blockstein Community Leadership Award

For decades, Mary Ellyn and Joe Sensenbrenner have used their resources to safeguard public lands to ensure that the public has access to viable, beautiful open spaces. Their work through Rooted (and its precursor organizations) encompasses Troy Farm and Gardens and McPike Park in Madison; Clarence & Cleopatra Johnson Park, Brown Street Academy, and Alice’s Garden in Milwaukee; and ultimately the construction of the Badger Rock Center, which houses a neighborhood center, middle school, and now is home to the Lori Mann Carey Elementary School on Madison’s South Side. Through Rooted, Mary Ellyn and Joe continue to connect the community through food, land, and learning.

Joyce Hall, nominated by Freedom, Inc.
Winner of the Sally Sunde Family Advocate Award

Joyce Hall is the Lead Gender Justice Advocate, Program Coordinator, and Organizer for Survivor and Victim Services at Freedom, Inc., as well as a mother of seven. Her lived experiences are a testament to her organizing power and unshakable resilience. As a survivor herself, Joyce made the courageous decision to leave a domestically violent household to protect herself and her children. Today, she provides emergency crisis response, court support, rapid rehousing, and interpersonal violence mitigation for Black, Southeast Asian, queer, youth, and low- to no-income survivors. More than that, she uplifts survivors, helping them transform into leaders within her programs and the wider community.

Ximena Linares-Rodriguez, nominated by Tenant Resource Center
Winner of the Linda Sundberg Civil Rights Defender Award

Ximena Linares-Rodriguez is deeply committed to providing community-centered solutions and equitable access to resources for tenants. She goes above and beyond to ensure Spanish-speaking families can navigate and access critical tenant resources. Recognizing the barriers faced by immigrant communities, Ximena and Tenant Resource Center’s Associate Director, Chrisbelly, partnered with Joining Forces for Families to launch Madison Area Partners and Allies (MAPA). The monthly MAPA events bring together a diverse mix of providers and allies who offer culturally and linguistically responsive support, including bilingual staff and access to a language line. Ximena also collaborated with Drs. Carolina Sarmiento and Revel Sims and students from the Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Studies program at UW–Madison to survey tenants who had accessed TRC services, centering the lived experiences of Latinx renters in Dane County.

Community Shares of Wisconsin Collaboration Award Winners

This award recognizes CSW member nonprofits that demonstrate the power of collaboration with their coordinated efforts to lead impactful social justice change within our community.

This year’s winners are Bayview Foundation and Wheels for Winners.

Bayview Foundation supports its culturally diverse, low-income families in realizing their aspirations by providing affordable housing, fostering cultural pride, and building community through the arts, education, and recreation.

Wheels for Winners supports bicycling through an earn-a-bike program and free bike repair events. The organization provides refurbished bicycles to riders of all ages who earn their bikes by performing 10 hours of community service.

Wheels for Winners understands that bicycles are most beneficial when integrated with culturally relevant services, arts, family support, environmental stewardship, housing advocacy, and food security. Thus, its partnership with Bayview Foundation, which began more than a dozen years ago, has proven to be a natural and impactful alignment that has deepened each year.

Since 2021, Wheels for Winners has collaborated with Bayview to organize a vibrant spring bike distribution event at Bayview’s community center. Wheels for Winners also partners with Bayview to provide free bike repair clinics each summer and trains Bayview staff to make basic bike repairs for residents.

The partnership between Wheels for Winners and Bayview Foundation has also fostered ongoing and crucial conversations regarding the definition and value of community service, because it was clear that Bayview children were serving their community in less formal yet equally significant ways, such as caring for siblings, translating for their parents, assisting neighbors, and maintaining their shared spaces.

Since 2011, Wheels for Winners has provided over 450 bicycles to Bayview bike earners and serviced more than 300 bikes for Bayview residents. Bayview bike earners have completed more than 4,500 hours of community service.

Community Shares of Wisconsin Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Denise Matyka

Denise Matyka has always had a deep commitment to social justice. She has dedicated more than 40 years to empowering communities through nonprofit leadership. Her journey began as a field organizer for the National Organization for Women (NOW) Equal Rights Amendment Campaign in Oklahoma. In 1982, she returned to Wisconsin and was elected NOW’s youngest state president. From 1985 to 1994, she worked to create Community Shares of Wisconsin with Nicole Gotthelf and Marianne Morton. The three led a successful merger of Madison Sustaining Fund and Aid to Wisconsin Organizations to form Community Shares of Wisconsin.

After a period of working in major donor fundraising for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, she joined Project Home in 1996 as Executive Director. Project Home doubled its staff and more than tripled its budget during her 29 years leading the organization. Project Home serves people with limited income in Dane and Green Counties with weatherization, home repairs, and accessibility modifications.

Denise is a longtime volunteer and has served as chair of the City of Madison’s first Housing Committee, chair of the Wisconsin Women’s Network, and chair of the New Harvest Foundation.