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RadioMilwaukee's Community Stories Best of 2010 - Safe Streets, Healthy Kids!

Listen: We've reached summer in our recap of some of the highlights from RadioMilwaukee's 2010 community stories! For youth, the summer months are exceptional for kids because they aren't in school and need to make choices unique to this time of year. So, this year we took a look at Safe Havens for youth in community -- anything from a conceptual safe haven like family or creativity to concrete places like the buildings that house jobs and summer school.

In exploring this idea, somewhere during the course of this campaign, something happened to me as a producer. By being surrounded by kids who were so candid and clever and exciting to be around, I dropped a bit of my guard. If you listen to all the pieces from the beginning to the end, you might be able to hear a slight change in how much fun I'm willing to have on-air and I'm incredibly grateful to the youth of Milwaukee for helping me reach that place.

This is the first piece I put together for the campaign (with the help of the Bike Federation of Wisconsin) and it comes accompanied by the above picture of Giovanni. And while that picture looks like it could be the cover of an R&B album in a bizarro world (there's even a "Purple Rain" reference in the piece), it's 100% genuine. And Giovanni? A sensational character (funny enough, I bumped into him on the bus stop a few weeks ago and he's doing quite well):

Speaking of fun, this piece with the Ulster Project and Arts At Large going to the zoo is one long smile. This one will forever have a spot in my heart:

The First Stage Summer Theater Academy is an amazing place -- after I got a little taste of what they did, I asked them, "Can I enroll in this camp or am I too old?" Listen to this piece that captures their daily inspiring beginning of day activity:

I always love when I can rope some other 88Nine folks into audio pieces, and I don't think we've ever done a better job than this. Tarik, Jordan, and I head over to the Neu Life Community Resource Center to help set up some music production equipment:

On one of the hottest days of summer, I met up with the Urban Debate League and met Miloran, a debate master and astonishingly sharp young woman. I love this piece:

We had a great time this summer -- I love looking back at all of those pieces. Come back tomorrow for our recap of Make A Difference!