THE MEADOWS

The Meadows in Darlington, WI won a 2023 Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Award in the Rural Area category.

The Meadows provides 32 affordable homes serving agricultural and farm workers and their families in Darlington, Wis. The Meadows is the first development in Wisconsin to be financed with both the Housing Credit and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Farmworker program. The agricultural industry is critical to the Darlington community and region, and co-developers Cinnaire Solutions and Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program, Inc. (SWCAP) developed the property with the unique needs of members of the farmworking community in mind.

Given the large immigrant farmworker population in the region, SWCAP facilitates on-site the Multicultural Outreach Program, a volunteer-led initiative that provides ESL courses and advocacy services to immigrant families, the majority of whom are Latino farmworkers. Residents also have access to the Farm Well Wisconsin program, which provides mental and behavioral health services to farmworkers, as well as continuing education and financial literacy programming.