88nine: Community Stories

It's kind of a Milwaukee thing - riding a tavern shuttle to the Summerfest grounds or to a sporting event. Do other cities offer shuttles like we do? What's it like to be a driver? We asked someone who does it every day.

Artists Working in Education (A.W.E) is a nonprofit organization providing free art services for the Milwaukee Community. This summer they celebrate their 20th year of their mobile truck art studios. Teachers and interns drive to different Milwaukee County parks and teach free art lessons for kids age four to 14, and kids walk away with a fun, artistic experience and a project to decorate their homes with.

Steve Radtke has always been a maker. When he thinks about his first memories, he sees himself in the basement of his childhood home with his dad building random things. Radtke grew up during a sci-fi film renaissance. He grew up around the characters and futuristic technologies in "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Ghost Busters" and more. His love for these stories and characters would become a lifelong fascination with recreating the different gadgets he was seeing on-screen.

Over 1,300 dentists, students and volunteers came together Friday and Saturday to provide free dental care through Mission of Mercy (MoM). MoM is a nationwide event that started in Virginia in 2000, and came to Wisconsin for the first time in 2009. This year’s event was held at the Expo Center on Wisconsin State Fair grounds.

This weekend, UW-Milwaukee and the Milwaukee VA Medical Center will host an all-day summit focused on black veterans and mental health. In this story, a veteran who dealt with anxiety and depression shares his personal story.

MPS students will be heading to college with a total of $86.2 million in scholarships, the highest-ever for the district.

Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology ready to take over. It’s being used in the healthcare field to teach future surgeons and doctors how to conduct medical procedures. Some professional athletes and teams utilize VR to practice plays in different environmental conditions. In Milwaukee, a small community of VR lovers are working to create interactive documentary experiences within a VR headset.

Shawn Dekay and Flow Johnson are both owners of creative spaces in Milwaukee. Dekay owns Dream Lab, a café and studio located on 5th and National and Johnson owns After Gallery in Riverwest. Together, the duo gathered volunteers in Milwaukee to participate in #lunchbag, a national movement to end hunger one brown paper bag lunch at a time.

Cancer survivor Dan Knuf shares his personal story of beating the disease with life-saving treatment, developed from research conducted at MCW & Froedtert.

The United Community Center’s boxing program is the stomping grounds gym to a number professionally competitive boxers – thanks to Coach Israel “Shorty” Acosta.

Milwaukee Parkside's Agriculture Program

Just in time for Pride Month: Meet high school junior Nikko Nelson who was voted prom queen by her fellow students in Mequon, WI. Now, she is accepting another award from Pridefest Milwaukee.

Milwaukee native's legacy lives on through scholarship for journalists

Cheryl Sterrenburg loves reptiles. She remembers picking up a garter snake as a young girl for the first time in the suburbs of Chicago: “The other girls called me a tomboy,” she said with a laugh. “I took it as a compliment.”About five years ago, Sterrenburg took her love for education and reptiles and created RETC which stands for Reptile Education Through Contact.

Alicia Carr recognizes the rarity of her demographic in her chosen field.At age 51, the Atlanta-native was drawn to technology and decided that her next career path would be as a mobile developer.As an African-American woman in her 50s she prepared herself for the challenges she would face entering a field largely dominated Silicon Valley youth.

On Saturday, May 12 the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee (HPGM) will host their annual HPGM Five Star Gala to raise money for resources Latino students in Milwaukee can greatly benefit from.

Opera instructor Nathan Wesselowski teaches 6th grade students at Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts how to produce their own opera based on their curriculum.

88Nine's Nate Imig speaks with Holocaust survivor Estelle Laughlin prior to her appearance at Alverno College's annual day of remembrance. This radio piece features select parts of his extended interview, which can be heard here: https://radiomilwaukee.org/story/community-stories/holocaust-survivor-estelle-laughlin/

It is becoming increasingly rare to hear firsthand from someone who experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. Listen to Estelle Glaser Laughlin, 2018's featured speaker at Alverno College's Holocaust Remembrance Service.

Listen: For the second year in a row, a collective of Wisconsin musicians will release an album on Record Store Day, benefiting a statewide charity. Milwaukee artist Zach Petrini is featured on the album and talks about Wisconsin Vinyl Collective Vol. 2.