Odyssey Project

“Odyssey has changed my life, the way I see the world, the way I think, and the future of my family,” wrote a Latina mother.

“Odyssey has given me hope. I look forward to a never-ending journey of education to better myself as a man and father,”  wrote an incarcerated father.

“Odyssey was that catalyst that said, ‘Hey, you can go out into this world and be successful,” said a Black alumna. “My mind is opened, and there’s no stopping me now. Turns out I AM college material.”

“Odyssey is the major reason I succeeded,” said a Black single mother who went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “It was my foundation, my steppingstone, to overcoming so many obstacles.”

Those and other student comments testify to the transformative power of the UW Odyssey Project, which takes a whole family approach to breaking the cycle of generational poverty by providing free access to education, giving adult and youth learners a voice, and increasing confidence through reading, writing, and speaking. Now in its 19th year, Odyssey offers a jumpstart to college for students facing adversity and barriers to higher education through a free yearlong humanities course in South Madison. Odyssey has empowered over 550 low-income adults to find their voice, develop a new sense of hope, and transform their lives. Graduates have gone from homelessness to UW master’s degrees, from incarceration to meaningful careers as counselors, teachers, journalists, entrepreneurs, and nurses. They report life-changing effects not only for themselves but for their children: “My four-year-old daughter will follow after me and go to college someday.”

Madison has among the worst racial and socioeconomic disparities in the country, laid bare and amplified by Covid-19. Odyssey addresses those systemic inequities by providing free college courses and wraparound support to adult learners who historically have faced adversity and barriers to higher education. All students live near the poverty level and over 95% are Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American, or Asian American. Many have faced obstacles such as eviction, teen pregnancy, domestic abuse, addiction, incarceration, and other challenges. Odyssey succeeds because it provides both the educational programming and wraparound support needed to propel students towards college degrees and better-paying jobs. It succeeds because it values and empowers students, using the arts and humanities to bring about a transformation of self that truly changes lives and breaks cycles of poverty and racial oppression. Odyssey succeeds because it empowers students holistically, providing wraparound services to support their practical needs like housing and food, offering connections to a social worker to address mental health concerns, and encouraging students to explore and ultimately transcend past trauma threatening their futures. “Odyssey helped me unwrap my gifts and rewrite the story of my life.”

You can read graduates’ remarkable stories in the Spring 2021 On Wisconsin article, “Finding a Voice, against All Odds”, and learn more about Odyssey’s impact and the four parts of its successful program on their website:

Odyssey Course is a two-semester, six-credit UW course exploring literature, philosophy, history, art, music, and writing; students receive free tuition, textbooks, and dinner.

Onward Odyssey support graduates as they pursue college degrees and other dreams through advising, tutoring, targeted courses, and financial resources.

Odyssey Junior gets the next generation excited about learning and more hopeful about their futures through a weekly literacy and arts enrichment program.

Odyssey Beyond Bars extends Odyssey’s award-winning programming to incarcerated students, offering UW-Madison courses at several Wisconsin prisons as it seeks to expand statewide.

All donations you make to Odyssey through the compassion offering will be used for grocery and gas cards, WIFI access, childcare help, and other basic needs for our Odyssey families struggling to keep going in school despite the higher cost of living, lost wages, and closed schools and daycare facilities due to COVID. Thank you for supporting the UW Odyssey Project this month!

Watch Video