Bridge the City hosts Ben Rangel (left) and Kyle Hagge (middle) interview Near West Side Partner's Executive Director Keith Stanley (right)
“Soundbites aren’t solutions” is the motto of a new, wide-ranging podcast covering education, civic engagement, elections, public transportation, business, criminal justice and more. Bridge the City’s co-hosts Ben Rangel and Kyle Hagge are both postgraduate fellows in Marquette University’s Trinity Fellowship, which focuses on social and economic justice. They started the show in December 2017 and have already brought on high-profile guests such as Gubernatorial candidates Tony Evers and Mike McCabe, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Dallet and multiple Milwaukee Common Council members.
While many podcasts and talk radio shows specialize primarily in bluster, Bridge the City makes a point to outline ways listeners can take action with specific steps at the end of each episode. “Both Ben and I listened to a lot of podcasts and enjoyed them, but we found that they lacked action steps,” Hagge said. “The information was interesting and informative, yet the podcast did not instruct you on how to apply this information to create positive change. We wanted to create a podcast that laid out concrete steps that everyday citizens can take in order to make their communities a better place.”
The idea that individuals can make a major change is at the core of what Bridge the City is all about. “We have seen how individuals have affected alderpeople and gotten policies changed,” Hagge said. “We have seen how attending neighborhood meetings can help create a safe community around you. We have seen the power of voting in primaries and less popular elections. It really has demonstrated to us that a dedicated individual can make a difference.”
You can listen to the most recent episode, “Election Special with Kelda Roys,” below. For more episodes subscribe on iTunes or go to www.bridgethecitypodcast.com. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
