'Vulnerable' cafe makes a stand in a tough part of town
Published: November 21, 2014
When Phil Sipka and some of his Englewood neighbors opened a cafe a year ago this week, skeptics had suggestions.
How about rolling security gates over the wall-size windows? Or a permanently locked door, with a buzzer to buzz customers in? Maybe a nighttime security guard.
Sipka and his neighbors had a different idea.
"Let's be vulnerable," he said Thursday, sitting at one of the tables he made from reclaimed wood. "I think people respect intentional vulnerability."
The cafe is named Kusanya, a Swahili word that means "to gather," and though it's in a neighborhood that makes news most often when someone makes trouble, it has managed to stay safe since it opened last Nov. 19.
To read the full article by Mary Schmich visit the Chicago Tribune
(Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)