Choices Cafe

Specialties

Choices Café bridges the gap between impoverished and affluent, for-​profit and non-​profit and everything in between by providing and creating situations in which all of these groups have to work together to achieve. People’s potential is maximized at Choices through rehab projects that include OTR Community Housing AND 3CDC — through programs like HELP that pair ex-​offenders with high school and college students so that both can learn leadership skills and our clients in HELP can secure employment — through week-​long educational experiences that ask those from affluent backgrounds to live side by side with their low-​income brothers and sisters. In the end, at Choices Café it is easy to see that we are all just humans at the end of the day.

History

Established in 2008.

The idea for Choices Café was born out of the heads and hearts of Mike Rogers (Executive Director), Mike Moroski (President) and Tony Morgan (deceased). The picture on this page was taken the day the idea for Choices Café was born. Mike & Mike wanted a coffee shop, and Tony said it should be a place where young men and women could learn how to make different life choices so as not to end up in the streets, like he did. Very sadly, Tony was murdered last year by young men who did not have a place like Choices to go. Mike & Mike have carried on his legacy and many others who have been the victims of such pointless hate.

Two people with two different backgrounds but a similar vision, Mike & Mike simply want to provide an environment that promotes relationships between all walks of life, as theirs has been so instrumental in forming who they are. Mike Rogers is a formerly homeless graduate of the Men’s Recovery Program at the Drop Inn Center and has been clean since 2005. He currently ser

Meet the Business Owner

Mike M.

Business Owner

Mike Moroski was born and raised in Atlanta, GA before moving to Cincinnati 14 years ago. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in English at Xavier University. He also earned his teaching license from the State of Ohio in that time. Mike has taught English at Moeller High School for ten years and served as a House Dean for six. Next year, Mike will begin serving Purcell Marian as their Dean of Student Life. Additionally, Mike has served as an affordable housing advocate and project leader for ten years in Over-​the-​Rhine. Three and a half years ago, Mike co-​founded Choices Café with Mike Rogers, a formerly homeless man who is currently the Vice President of the Drop Inn Center. Choices Café seeks to promote relationships between the rich and poor in the name of an equitable, peaceful Cincinnati. Mike is currently studying at the University of Notre Dame and is pursuing his Masters in non-​profit Business Administration. Most recently, Mike was asked to serve as a Tr