Ask a Question, and Know Your Neighbors
September 8th, 2009You regulars may recall Claire Wolff, a mover and shaker for Let’s Look, The Community Light Project, and other past projects. She graduated and ended her practicum three months ago, but since then she’s been very busy, using what she learned as a social work student to help begin a non-profit café, Urban Studio Café.
When Claire told me Urban Studio Cafe was about to have its soft opening two weeks ago, it was clear we needed to follow up and see how work at the Pulitzer prepared her for this new venture. What’s more, she needed a taste tester for barista training, and I wanted to do my part by trying a surplus latte.
About two miles from the Pulitzer, Urban Studio Café sits around the corner from Crown Candy, in Crown Village, the site of significant revitalization efforts. The cafe was birthed by what was just “the Urban Studio,” a facilitator of art workshops for kids in Old North. With profits from sandwiches and coffee drinks, these programs will continue, and at the same time, the cafe will provide a common space for the neighborhood. (Read the cafe’s goals on its website.)
Approaching the entrance, you see a poster taped to the storefront window, which was given to Claire by our community engagement coordinator, Lisa Harper Chang. It reads, ”How to Build Community,” with a list of maxims that pretty much sum up what the café is about (besides delicious lattes).
To practice ”ask a question” and “know your neighbors,” I asked Claire and her crew what they were doing August 27:
