Famous Coffee Shop In Iowa City Becoming Workshop

(Iowa City, IA)– A coffee shop created nearly five decades ago to provide work for an Iowa City man with disabilities is changing with the times. Jen Knight is part the University of Iowa’s School of Social Work, and says they’ve decided to transition “Wild Bill’s Coffee Shop” to “Wild Bill’s Workshop.” The coffee shop created in 1975 was named for Bill Sackter, who had spent years in a mental institution. His story by his guardian Barry Morrow eventually gained national recognition in an Emmy-winning 1981 T-V movie. Knight says several things brought on the change, including a proliferation now of coffee shops, and a fuller integration of people with disabilities into society. She says they are placing a greater emphasis on clinical social work education for these students who are going to be interacting with people with social disabilities through the workshop.