If you answered yes to any of the above questions, The Urban Cafe might be able to help you.
Every Sunday morning at 9 a.m., The Urban Cafe broadcasts from the 88.5 WMNF headquarters with the intention of shedding light on topics relevant to the community.
For three years, producer Dwaine “DT” Terry has shaped the hour long show into a community forum, featuring guests and conversations on issues ranging from crumbled sibling relationships, to domestic abuse, to Black Lives Matter.
No topic is out of bounds. The Urban Cafe sets an example for the community, and demonstrates that friends, family and even co-workers can agree to disagree. An obscene concept, I know.
“Don’t minimize somebody else’s opinion because it doesn’t agree with yours,” said Terry.
The Urban Cafe team hails from all different backgrounds, allowing them to diversify discussions and represent various viewpoints. Among their ranks stands a journalist and registered nurse, a published author and relationship expert, and a former Navy serviceman who now contracts for the US Department of Defense.
Terry streams the show on Facebook Live, and the conversations that occur in the comments, led not by the Urban Cafe team but by anyone who has access to the stream, branch off in directions that diverge from the show but still hold relevance to participants in the conversation.
These respectfully controversial deliberations leave a direct and lasting impact on listeners and participants.
Listeners converse with each other in other fashions, too. After one prisoner, a veteran affected by Agent Orange, was mentioned on the show, other veterans in the same situation gathered to support one another while they fulfill their sentences. The Urban Cafe cast and crew receive letters from the prisoners, and enjoy seeing the positive impact they make just by listening and responding respectively to other people.
With a growing audience and impact, the clear next step for The Urban Cafe is to secure an additional hour of air time. The show ends at 10 a.m. with listeners peaking around 9:45 a.m., and another hour would allow The Urban Cafe to further articulate their perspectives, diversify the show with more guests, and hold deeper, more dynamic discussions.
This hour can only be attained with support from the community that The Urban Cafe aspires to impact. Catch the show every Sunday at 9 a.m. on 88.5 FM or on their Facebook page. More information about the show and regular cast available at wmnf.org/events/the-urban-cafe.
This article appears in Oct 20-27, 2016.