Engaging in Solidarity Through Hope, Equity, and Relationships
BUILDING COMMUNITY SINCE 2004
Standing for Justice
in the Fox Valley
ESTHER unites faith communities and neighbors to advocate for housing, immigration, and economic justice across Winnebago and Outagamie counties.
Housing Advocacy
ABOUT ESTHER
Rooted in Faith,
Driven by Justice
ESTHER — Educating, Serving, Transforming, Healing, Empowering, and Reaching — is a broad-based community organization rooted in the faith communities of the Fox Valley.
Since 2004, we have united congregations across denominational lines to build collective power and advocate for systemic change in housing, immigration, economic justice, and public health.
20+
20+
years of work in the Fox Valley bears that out.
CURRENT WORK
The Mental Health Task Force
At the center of ESTHER's mental health organizing is our Mental Health Task Force — a community-led group of neighbors, advocates and leaders who gather regularly to listen, develop strategy and take collective action.
Task force members come from a wide range of backgrounds: faith communities, healthcare, education, social work and lived experience. What brings them together is a shared conviction that mental health in the Fox Valley deserves a community response — and a commitment to being part of building that response.
The task force is not a closed group. If mental health justice is something you care about — if you have personal experience, professional knowledge or simply the belief that our community can do better — there is a place for you here.
Ready to make a difference?
Monthly meeting discussing issues and working for change related to mental health services, criminal legal system, child welfare, and related topics.
6:00 PM · Second Monday of each month
First Congregational United Church of Christ
724 E South River St, Appleton
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Mental health is a justice issue.
Too many people in the Fox Valley are navigating mental health challenges without adequate support — not because they are weak, but because our systems were not built to truly serve them. The crisis is real. And for too long, it has been treated as a private matter, something to manage quietly and carry alone rather than address together.
We believe that is not enough.
At ESTHER, we see mental health as a justice issue. The conditions that shape mental well-being — access to care, economic stability, housing security, belonging, safety — are shaped by policy, systems and the choices communities make together.
Healing is deeply personal, yes. But the structures that make healing possible or impossible are shaped collectively. And those structures can be changed when people organize around them with clarity and courage.
We do not organize to fix what is broken in any individual. We build the relationships, leadership and collective power that make a more just and supportive community possible — for everyone. We choose hope as a practice, not a passive feeling.
22+
YEARS OF ORGANIZING
40+
MEMBER CONGREGATIONS
1,000+
NEHEMIAN ACTION
ATTENDEES
3
COUNTIES SERVED
22+
YEARS OF ORGANIZING
40+
MEMBER CONGREGATIONS
1,000+
NEHEMIAN ACTION
ATTENDEES
3
COUNTIES SERVED
Ready to make a difference?
Join hundreds of neighbors building a more just Fox Valley.
Ready to make a difference?
Join hundreds of neighbors building a more just Fox Valley.
HOUSING ADVOCACY
Fighting for Safe,
Affordable Housing
We partner with tenants, landlords and local government to create lasting solutions to the Fox Valley’s housing crisis — from emergency rental assistance to long-term policy reform.
ISSUES & ACTIONS
Welcoming Immigrants
 and Refugees
ESTHER stands with immigrant and refugee communities by providing resources, legal guidance and a powerful collective voice at the county and state level.
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