Youth who live in neighborhoods plagued with poverty and violence often lack opportunities for advancement. However, practical job skills and higher education can open up job opportunities that allow them to move beyond their limiting circumstances. Get the satisfaction of providing job opportunities for youth, along with a fresh cup of coffee, with this Grassroots campaign: for $20, you get $30 worth of artisan coffee and merchandise from Humphreys Street Coffee Co., benefitting Harvest Hands Community Development Corporation.
Humphreys Street employs students from South Nashville, providing mentoring and teaching job skills in roasting, packaging, and marketing coffee. Two days a week, the students work organizing the shelves, crafting artisanal coffee in small batches, and attending events to sell the products, thereby developing skills they can use in future jobs. And to provide the students with a good example of corporate responsibility, Humphreys Street purchases fairly traded and organic beans from locations around the world, including Kenya, Bali, and Guatemala, to ensure farmers receive fair wages and practice eco-friendly planting. Students who remain in the program throughout their high-school careers can also earn money for higher education through a scholarship fund supported by profits from sales.
Learn more about social ventures and the way Groupon is partnering with them at the Groupon Grassroots blog.
