Uniquely Milwaukee

Milwaukee zookeeper Katie Coutant assures us the animals at Milwaukee County Zoo are still getting top notch care, despite the zoo being closed due to COVID-19.

Dr. Malika Siker is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and the Associate Dean for Student Inclusion and Diversity at Medical College of Wisconsin. Hear her thoughts on establishing and maintaining a growth mindset during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Malika Siker is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and the Associate Dean for Student Inclusion and Diversity at Medical College of Wisconsin. Hear her recommendations on mental health and making better use of time.

A grocery store clerk in Waukesha says she is seeing community coming together at the store amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She shares her personal experience as an essential worker.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to know how you're doing. Learn how to record your voice and send it into our Community Stories team.

Conversation with Jeff Frank about the importance of local storytelling

"Gretel" an anthem for girl empowerment

It's time working moms get their recognition

Public Allies creating a representative milwaukee through art

Every day during Black History Month, we've been highlighting a different artist who helped shape the sound of Milwaukee music. And for this artist -- Berkeley Fudge -- we have proof of his influence on a current Milwaukee artist. Listen to our interview with hip-hop artist Klassik.

Throughout Black History month, we're honoring artists who shaped the sound of Milwaukee music. In this segment, we go back to the early 1990s to meet Kali Tribe, the first hip-hop group from Milwaukee to appear on BET. They stopped by Radio Milwaukee to speak with 88.9 DJ Marcus Doucette live on the air.

'In My Mind' StorySlams

MKE Black, app highlighting black owned businesses

Milwaukee OATS, local screen printing shop

Black Like Me, a dance exploration of a hate word

Milwaukee’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood is now home to The Retreat, a space that serves as “both a position and a place.” Located at 2215 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and owned and operated by Milwaukee change leaders, Dasha Kelly Hamilton and Kima Hamilton (who is also an 88Nine DJ), The Retreat was created as a “space for ideas to plan and play, and a place for people to gather and grow.” Listen to our interview with Dasha.

Black Lens presents shorts by black women for black women

Bougie Berries, Milwaukee black-owned dessert boutique

Changing the conversation about addiction

Chef Latinos Wisconsin, from recipes to representation

A new exhibit at Jewish Museum Milwaukee showcases an incredible find: a teenage girl's diary uncovered from the rubble at Auschwitz.

For the past few years, moms who are part of Safe & Sound, a non-profit organization that works with residents, law enforcement and community partners to create a safer neighborhood, have had weekly parent meetings to bring attention to issues that happen throughout the neighborhood.

The annual model train show is back at the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, or "The Domes," this year with a cinematic twist. Hear from the artist who made it come to life, plus a few attendees who made the trip from Central Wisconsin.

Milwaukee Area Technical College provides students with an alternative career path with its RevUp program. RevUp, which began in 2017, is a training program for highly skilled technicians to fill a variety of jobs in the automotive service industry. The program offers two-degree programs, a two-year associate degree, and a nine-month technical diploma.

Every month in Madison and Milwaukee, you're invited to network with Wisconsion LGBTQ business owerners. Learn about the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce's monthly Coffee Connection series.

In 2014, the presidential commission report named Wisconsin as best practice in regards to an election data-gathering program. The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board was also recommended as the best model to follow for performing a survey and auditing polling places. In just six years, there has been a significant decrease in providing a range of accessibility throughout polling places.

Allied in the Fight: Jews, Blacks and the Struggle for Civil Rights, an exhibition presented by Jewish Museum Milwaukee, is back as a traveling exhibit for local organizations to use to foster discussions.

For three decades, Milwaukee has celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday with a celebratory event hosted at the Marcus Performing Arts Center. The free program is packed with performances from numerous cultural arts organizations but at the core of the event, the main focus is the contest winners.

Within the Milwaukee area, one in three Milwaukee families who are renting spend over 50 percent of their total income on housing alone. According to data, residents living in Harambee, the median household income is roughly $20,000. The average price point for a small one-bedroom apartment is around $850, at it's lowest.

Ruben Flores grew up almost like every other kid in Milwaukee. He went to Riverside High School and became valedictorian. He loved playing the piano and was passionate about robotics. In 2009, during his senior year of High School, just like his peers, he was applying for college and had ambition but he was faced with the information that he was undocumented.

About 10 years ago, Lynn Tachick started her own pottery business and like most people who open up shop, she didn’t realize her home pottery studio would turn into a space breast cancer survivors to share their stories.

In 1984, Robert Berry, a Milwaukee public school teacher, helped to start a tradition at his Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts. He added a student-run dinner theater to its annual productions where students would serve attendees a catered meal before the opening night show. Even after switching schools a retiring, he is continuing the tradition alive at Clement Avenue Elementary. Meet Mr. Berry in this audio story.

Where do people go in the daytime if they are homeless or in a housing crisis to work and improve on their situation?

The year 2015 was the year of self-publishing blogs. It was during that period of time anyone can make something or say something as long as they have the means to connect to the internet. That’s exactly what Julia Nusbaum did, she found an avenue that was untapped and decided to roll with it. Nusbaum is the founder and editor of chief of HerStry, an online literary magazine that provides a platform for women to write. Both here in Milwaukee and globally.

Have you ever watched a good film and think to yourself, “I wonder how that was made? Who are the brains behind this project?” If you’re anything like myself, you might go on a tangent and start thinking about local filmmakers, how they might make it to the big screens and how they could walk among us waiting for the big opportunity. Now you don’t have to wonder because Saint Kate Hotel presents a monthly curated screening known as Saint Kate's Filmmaker Show + Tell, where local filmmakers show their work and talk about it afterward. Filmmakers Kristin Peterson and Martin Kaszubowski are the ones behind this simple yet brilliant idea.

Black Arts MKE is a non-profit organization that collaborates with artists and art organizations here in Milwaukee. Executive Director, Barbara Wanzo said the main goal of the organization is to spread representation by providing a space for African American artists to be creative.

The Milwaukee initiative to add colorful lights to the Hoan Bridge keeps moving forward. Thanks to a major gift from an anonymous donor via the Greater Milwaukee Foundation last month, the organization Light the Hoan is about halfway to its more than $4 million fundraising goal. Learn how it is tapping into young local talent to program how the lights will respond.

This past weekend, The Milwaukee Public Library hosted an event called “The story of Menominee with Richard Plass” to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Plass is a Menominee, Stockbridge/Munsee Indian from northern Wisconsin who was raised on the Menominee Indian Reservation. His Menominee name translates to the one who changes feathers.

Although the weather outcast was rainy, chilly and gloomy, it was balanced by the cozy atmosphere within the 10th annual hovercraft market, Milwaukee’s annual holiday shopping extravaganza. Located inside the Pritzlaff Building there were more than 100 local vendors selling goods that ranged from pottery, prints, jewelry and many more. The filled space was booming with energy and community.

Afternoon host Ayisha Jaffer and Nate Imig traveled to the Schlitz Audubon Center to learn about its raptor program, featuring hawks, owls, eagles and falcons. Go behind the scenes.

Milwaukee's eviction crisis continues

If you only had three minutes to grab your personal items from your home before fleeing your country, what items would you grab? Would you grab documentation? Would you grab sentimental items like your grandfather's watch or a family photograph? Can you even pack up your life in three minutes? What about half an hour, is that enough time?

Social roles and norms are the root substance of Vaughan Larsen’s work. Larsen is a Milwaukee based artist and photographer, primarily focusing on self-portraiture dealing with queer identities and relationships within society with their latest project being Rites and Parenthood.

Victress Vibes, co-founded by Courtney Hellendrung and Alaina Landi, is a sustainable hand-printed clothing brand aimed to share the stories of women.

More than one million immigrants arrive in the United States each year and Milwaukee's diversity is because of the immigrants that live within our city. This year we partnered with Ex Fabula and No studios to bring Community Stories Live event called “Coming to Milwaukee, Immigration Stories”, where multiple Milwaukeeians share their experiences with immigration. Iuscely Flores is a UW-Milwaukee student, she came to America when she was four with her parents from Durango, Mexico. When she was nine, they settled in Milwaukee. This is her full story.

The COA Youth and Family Center, established in 1906, has been serving low-income families and children in Milwaukee for 113 years. The center is divided into three divisions; early childhood development, youth development and community development. The youth development sector focuses on preteens and teens through afterschool and summer programs, one being the Kohls Explore Your Future Program, an afterschool STEM program.

torically, Hmong people were once a stateless group living in the mountains of Laos and Thailand. In the mid 70s, The Hmong people were political refugees in the United States as a result of their involvement with the American military. Roughly more than 130,000 refugees settled in the States after being sponsored from schools and churches.

First Stage presented the production “On the Wings of the Mariposa” by Alvaro Saar Rios on Oct. 18. The play is an adaptation of the children's book “Ghost Wings” written by Barbara M. Joosse and follows 10-year-old Pilar who struggles with the passing of her Abuelita. Pilar uses the associates the scent of her grandmother's scarf in order to keep her memory alive.

Libraries are an integral part of a community. Beyond just storing thousands and thousands of books, Milwaukee Public Libraries, across 13 branches have programs that cater to everyone.

Helium books, co-founded by Jacob Carlson and Ian Buchanan, is a free library book delivery service here in Milwaukee. Just like the name Helium, their mission is to uplift readers through the power of reading.