The Extend The Dream Foundation
& The Uptown Bill's Projects
Welcome to Uptown Bill's
The mission of the Extend the Dream Foundation (EDF) is reflected in its Uptown Bill's Projects. These projects are all associated with small business opportunities and employment for persons with disabilities. The history of EDF and its projects are connected to the Bill Sackter story.
Foremost of the Uptown Bill's Projects development is moving the Small Mall at its current location to 730 S. Dubuque St. in Iowa City. We are remodeling the Small Mall and changing its name to "Uptown Bill's Coffee House & Neighborhood Arts Center." The Coffee House is the home to the same four micro businesses managed and operated by persons with disabilities that the Small Mall was:
- Uptown Bill's Ice Cream & Coffee Bar
- Bill's BookMart
- The Mad Hatter's Music & Meeting Room
- Sackter House Media Productions
Sackter House Media, a publishing, communications and media company, was created in late 2007. The company is named for Bill Sackter, the namesake for Uptown Bill’s Coffee House & Neighborhood Arts Center and Wild Bill’s Coffeeshop. Throughout his life Bill openly shared his story with others, inspiring them with evidence that kindness and hope can overcome a life of suffering. The publisher helps modern day “Bills” share their stories with the world.
More recently EDF bought and renovated a building to serve as an E-Commerce Center (training persons with disabilities how to buy and sell on the Internet), a site for an upscale vintage store, and a place to act as a shipping and handling service. In July, 2008 an music store opened at the E-Commerce Center. The Center is located at 2203 F St. and houses four co-dependent businesses:
- The Vintage Shoppe
- The E-Commerce Training Center
- E-Commerce Shipping & Handling
- Matt's Music Shoppe
A related project, Mick's Workshop, is located across from the E-Commerce Center at 2218 F St. The Workshop houses two small businesses. A service that specializes in furniture repair, refinishing, and building, plus small home repairs and odd jobs for persons with disabilities, and another business to serve persons with disabilities and elderly persons living in a home or an apartment with accommodations and home maintenance:
Other EDF projects include:
- A major 90 minute documentary on the Bill story, "A Friend Indeed: The Bill Sackter Story" (namesake)
- Management of the Sackter House, a private rent-to-own home communally shared by three persons with disabilities
Check the Website for links to some of the other projects listed above. The EDF publishes a weekly newsletter covering the above projects. To be included on or deleted from the mailing list for the newsletter click here.
