Driving past the corner of 6th and Howard, you might breeze by pollinators pollinating, sunflowers bending in the wind and tomatoes soaking up the sun. But, if you stop, you’ll find a window into the natural world and a community coming together.

This is the location of the Garden District Community Garden, a plot of land that has flowered because of the people who power it.

“We have raised beds, and we have in-ground plots,” Dawn Riegel explained. “We don't have an irrigation system, so we have four 250-gallon tanks that we have to fill, which we get a hydrant permit through the city, and that's how we fill it.”

This particular neighborhood garden is a true local hub where anyone can grow food, share gardening tips and much more.

“Our community garden is really a community,” Riegel emphasized. “All the people have befriended each other. You see a lot of people hanging out outside of the garden. They talk gardening a lot, and they hang out in the garden and give tips. We do a lot of events, too.”

They also welcome groups like the Centers for Independence (CFI), a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that supports people with disabilities and behavioral health needs through innovative, person-centered programs. One of those programs, Farm 2 Table, takes an agrarian approach to providing learning opportunities and work skills training for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In this episode, guest host Erin Wolf takes you to the Garden District to find out what brings people to the Community Garden and how they cultivated a real sense of unity in a unique environment.

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Guest host: Erin Wolf

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the support of our Radio Milwaukee members.

Colors do more than just catch our eyes. They can influence our moods and our actions. In Milwaukee's Lincoln Village neighborhood, some hope that colors will make a positive impact on our driving — and our safety.

"People just be reckless driving everywhere,” Malik Hughes observed, echoing how a lot of people in the city feel. “All through the North Side, going through bike lanes, speeding through school zones — they’re just always speeding. That's what our city is really known for: reckless driving."

That unofficial title frustrates the 17-year-old senior at Shalom High School. So he and about a dozen other young people recently headed outside to paint a raised crosswalk and street poles near 8th Street and Lincoln Avenue.

Your Move MKE leads the initiative to paint raised crosswalks like these across the city. With help from a mix of funding sources, the youth-focused nonprofit based on the south side partnered with Milwaukee's Department of Public Works, whose traffic-calming efforts — including 43 projects slated for 2026 — are part of the city's Vision Zero plan to have no traffic deaths or serious injuries by 2037. 

According to data from the Traffic Safety Unit, Milwaukee police have issued more than 1,700 speeding citations this year and more than 9,500 tickets since 2024. Plus, over that time period, drivers have averaged between 20-24 miles per hour above the posted speed limit.

Traffic safety has become a shared priority in the city, including within Your Move MKE, which wants ensure Milwaukee's young people are being heard and are in a position to make change.

“It's so important to keep these kids busy,” co-founder and executive director Raquel Aleman noted. “I always tell the kids: ‘I don't care what you're doing. If it’s painting, breakdancing, rapping, just find something productive to do, master your craft.’

“We're just trying to keep them active, and it’s really important to develop these principles and characteristics within them now — the values of investing in your community.”

To learn more, visit radiomilwaukee.org/ourstories.

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Episode host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

Milwaukee is a city where people love live music, no matter where it’s playing. 

“I will go anywhere where funk music is playing. And if it’s on water, it’s an absolute yes.”

Jade Holcomb said that from her floating seat not far from the concert that happens every Wednesday night during the summer. Organized by FunkClub Wagon, the MKE River Round-Up music series puts that week’s band in a pontoon and invites anyone with a seaworthy vessel to join.

In this episode, we paddle along with one of these weekly gatherings to talk with organizers and attendees about what brings them to Milwaukee's splashiest concert venues.

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Episode host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

Nicole Olive has owned skates for 20 years but never used them until this summer, when someone who was in a similar position a few years ago gave her a reason.

Every Wednesday, Olive and other community members gather right across from the Milwaukee Public Market to attend lessons at Skate on 8’s, a program Arian Rice started after teaching himself how to skate three years ago. While that was satisfying by itself, he gets something even better through the program he leads while spreading a sense of community, one wheel at a time.

“I'm doing this because I love to skate,” he said. “I love seeing people come together.”

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Intern guest host: Justice Durham

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

When Grenesha was 18, she felt the pressure of becoming an adult. Then she retreated.

“I was very isolated, just spent all my time at the library mostly by myself, just reading books,” she said, adding that her isolation led to hospitalization and a bleak outlook on her future. “I honestly didn't see myself past 30. I didn't want to be past 30.”

Then Grenesha heard about Grand Avenue Club — a voluntary, non-clinical mental-health organization. She became a member and has stayed involved for 14 years, moving well past the point where she imagined her road ending.

“Now, this August, I'll be turning 40,” she said. “I went from not having any work skills to having a full resume and being offered jobs. Went from dropping out of college numerous times to now having a degree and continuing on with another degree.” 

Founded in 1991, Grand Avenue Club supports members through the pillars of employment, education and enrichment. Since 1994, it’s been a part of Clubhouse International, a model committed to enriching the lives of people experiencing mental illnesses. 

“We're the only clubhouse in Milwaukee,” Grand Avenue Club associate director Ben Holt said. “This is a model that's been around since the ’50s. Started in Manhattan. There's about 370 or so clubhouses around the world in about 32 countries.”

In this episode, we hear from Grenesha, Holt and others about how Grand Avenue Club helps its members navigate mental illness and recognize their purpose. 

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Guest host: Rachel Tarby

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

It started as an idea. This summer, it broke ground.

NeuVue is a $16.2 million housing project that’s unlike any other in Milwaukee: a six-story building on the city’s North Side intended entirely for young adults in the city.

“Neuvue will help pave the way for self-sufficiency for the young people who will call it home,” said Joann Harris-Comodore, founder and CEO of Neu-Life Community Development, the nonprofit behind the project. “That alone is just so invigorating and so exciting as we move forward.”

In addition to 36 high-quality, affordable apartments ranging from studios to two-bedroom spaces, there will be workforce opportunities in Neu-Life’s Farmfork Culinary School and Cafe; Neu-Media Studios; and amenities like a gym, community rooms, a rooftop garden and underground parking. 

In this episode, we hear from Neu-Life's leaders about the project's potential, and from current and former youth positively impacted by the organization's mission.

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Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

During the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Wisconsin — and especially Milwaukee — emerged as the paradigm for response and ongoing advocacy.

“Forty years. It’s an amazing amount of transformation that happened.”

Brandon Hill reflected on that era from a unique perspective: as the president and CEO of Vivent Health, which helped create an integrated model of care that’s now in six other states and touted nationwide.

According to Hill, 80% of people currently living with HIV in Wisconsin receive some service from Vivent Health, and 95% of their patients are virally suppressed — meaning the virus levels are low enough and not transmittable to others. 

Still, prevention remains a key effort. That means continuing to treat the whole patient and the whole person. In this episode, we talk with Hill and Doug Nelson, who led the organization when it was still the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, about Vivent Health's decades-long mission, as well as its impact on Milwaukee and beyond. 

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Host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Do you remember the games you used to play as a kid? No matter how old you are, there’s a certain nostalgia that comes when those memories resurface. But what if time didn’t matter and, even as you got older, play never stopped?

For 55-year-old Tanya Phillips, a newer member of the 40+ Double Dutch Club, it hasn’t.

“This is like recess for grownups, that’s what it is,” she said. “It’s such a great feeling. I look forward to it every single week.”

The club's Milwaukee chapter started in May 2024. Its captain, Angela Scott, was inspired by the first club in Chicago and its founder, Pamela Robinson, who had no idea that asking her friend to jump 10 years ago would turn into a national movement. Now, thousands of women across the country are part of the sisterhood. 

In this episode, we take you to one of the club's weekly meet-ups, where activities like Double Dutch, Hula-Hoop and hopscotch aren't just child's play.

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Host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Sometimes, returning to one’s roots means an actual return to nature — a homecoming of the mind, body and spirit to where it’s always belonged.

“I do a lot of work putting Black people back in nature,” Tyrone Randle said. “I feel like since slavery happened, we escaped through nature and have not returned to it. There’s this stigma about being outside, about camping, about swimming, stuff like that. But we come from nature.”

Randle was one of six visual artists competing in True Skool’s live mural contest at Milwaukee’s 55th annual Juneteenth celebration. Their assignment was to interpret this year’s theme: “Honoring The Past. Empowering The Future.”

“We really count on these artists to tell a story, because there’s a gap in education,” True Skool co-executive director Shalina Ali said. “A lot of people understand that this is historically about freedom, but there’s a layer of text and information that I think is really beneficial to people being proud of this celebration and understanding why Juneteenth is a celebration for America. This year is the 250th year. What would this country be without a turning point like Juneteenth?”

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Host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Singing in church was Tyler Curtain's first time on stage. Now, the 22-year-old is representing his city on a larger scale. 

“It was really nerve-wracking, but I was excited because whether or not it went the way I wanted it to, I still got my music out there and somebody heard it.”

That’s how Curtain summarized his debut performance at the World’s Largest Music Festival, which just so happens to take place in his backyard. It was the opening day of Summerfest, and the artist whose style is a mix of contemporary gospel and R&B with jazz undertones went on stage with his own original music, backup singers and a full band.

Curtain’s performance was part of MKE Live Groove Edition, which Aichelle White started as a bimonthly concert series that connects Wisconsin artists with musicians they might not otherwise have access to. In this episode, we head to the Summerfest grounds and see how MKE Live Groove became an annual part of the festival and how the association provides big opportunities to rising talent.

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Guest host: Rachel Tarby

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.