Wisdom of the coffeeshop

Wild Bill's Coffeeshop is based on an idea as old as social work. Theprofession began a century ago -- largely around the idea that "all livesare connected to other lives" (Konopka, 1991, p. 29)

Jane Addams, one of social works founding mothers, called for an
integrated practice which acted out this principle of connection. She said social work should be committed to strengthening neighborhoods as well as strengthening individuals.

Addams and Florence Kelley started Hull House as a model to do this. Their idea was based on social work as "having a holistic rather than specialization approach, advocating for social reform while giving
services, bridging groups and classes of people," writes Rolland F. Smith.
It also included "having an orientation to family and neighborhood strengths rather than to individual pathologies" (1995, p. 2130).

Addams idea of social work was a fairly radical notion when Hull House opened in 1889. It's at least as radical today in a society which is based on many ways around an exaggerated notion of individualism. Modern American society has been built around segmenting the lives of people.

First, there is the separation between work and home. This is heightened by the increasing distances between one and the other.

Then there is the separation at work, where many jobs have become very specialized. From construction to social work, from education to manufacturing, jobs have been shifting away from generalist and towards specialist for at least the last century (Cox, 1965).

Finally, there is the growing separation of neighborhoods by income. The growth of the suburbs (and the urban renewal of the cities) during the
last 50 years has fueled this, resulting in isolation by income for so
many families and individuals (Powell, 1998).

Even at the beginning of the 20th century, Addams saw this separation among people and neighborhoods. "The social organism has broken down through large districts of our great cities," she wrote (1965, p. 31).

Addams and the other women of Hull House tested many ideas for overcoming this separation and breakdown. The coffeehouse was among them, along with co-ops, labor unions, and community theater. These were approaches which, in the words of Cindy St. George, "accommodate individual and communityinterests under one common framework" (1997, p. 6).

Jane Addams envisioned the coffeehouse as a place where people could experience a sense of belonging and a sense of community. Everyone needs this, Ernesto Galarza said in a talk about social work education. Every person, even individuals with mental illness, chronic alcoholism or
otherwise "severely damaged" should have the chance to "take part in some
type of social relationships" (1993, p. 17).

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Addams, Jane (1965) In Social Thought of Jane Addams. Edited by Christopher Lasch Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co.

Cox, Harvey (1965). Secular City. New York: Macmillan.

Galarza, Ernesto (1993). Social work education and the Chicano experience.
San Jose Studies, 23 (Winter), 9-18.

Konopka, Gisela (1991). All lives are connected to other lives: The meaning of social group work. In Theory and Practice in Group Work. New York: Haworth Press.

Powell, John A (1998). Overcoming the social engineering of the suburbs,
Works: The Journal of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities). 1 (2), 29-30.

St. George, Cindy (1997). Mission of social work revisited. St. Paul, Minnesota: School of Social Work, College of St. Catherine/University of St. Thomas.

Smith, Rolland F (1995). Settlement houses and neighborhood centers. In Encyclopedia of Social Work. Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Spirit and wisdom guide coffeeshop now

It's this wisdom -- and the spirit of Bill -- which has guided Wild Bill's Coffeeshop in Iowa City for more than 30 years. Two recent volunteers reflected on how well the coffeeshop does this in papers they wrote. "Wild Bill's is a great place to spend an afternoon doing homework, meeting a friend, stopping by to talk to one of the regulars, sharing a conversation or joke and replenishing your soul," wrote Lauren Harris. "Everyone who walked in was treated with the same respect and courtesy," wrote Ana Ramos.