Coffee Nonprofit Supported by CCF Brews up Better Lives for Young Adults
He was just a toddler when he was taken from his home and placed in foster care.
In sixth grade, he got pulled into street life. Then came high school – five different ones, as academic hardships and campus conflicts kept him on the move.
But Alex Diaz, now 18, never gave up on a better future. He never let go of his love for coffee or his dream to one day work as a barista or maybe even own his own cafe.
And now that belief in himself has paid off. He’s on his way to leaving his hardships behind and brewing up the good life he always hoped for.
Alex just completed a paid internship at Rosebud Cafe in Highland Park, opened in January by Coffee with a Cause, a nonprofit that provides job training, employer connections and mentoring for young people who have struggled through homelessness, foster care or the justice system. The Highland Park cafe was supported by a one-year, $363,000 state grant distributed by the California Community Foundation – which disbursed a total $9 million to 26 innovative program proposals last year to develop high-quality jobs in Los Angeles County under the California Jobs First regional investment initiative.
The “Catalyst” grants, aimed at kickstarting development of projects that center underserved communities, reflect the state initiative’s efforts to promote equity and inclusion in economic planning, along with sustainability, access to quality jobs, competitiveness and resilience.
They also reflect CCF’s focus on helping Angelenos build a good life through such means as economic opportunity.
“Cal Jobs First understands that investing in under-resourced communities is an economic strategy, not charity,” said Dan Davidson, the nonprofit’s founder and executive director. “When we create real job pathways for young people who’ve been overlooked, we strengthen our regional workforce and local economy at the same time. This support allows Coffee With A Cause to expand training and employment opportunities in Highland Park, helping ensure growth in our region is more inclusive and sustainable.”
Davidson first started training young people in barista skills in 2013. He was a pastor at Rose City Church in Pasadena, and noticed youth sleeping in the parking lot. He welcomed them but knew a parking lot tent city, while a safe haven, was not the best long-term solution for them. So he helped connect them to nonprofits for housing, education, case management and other services.
But, Davidson said, the church wanted to stay involved. So they took an old church coffee cart and launched a job training program taught by volunteers with barista skills. They took the cart, called Rosebud, around Los Angeles to empower young people with coffee-making skills. In 2017, the enterprise expanded to a brick-and-mortar cafe in Pasadena, which offers an assortment of coffees and teas, pastries, sandwiches, salads and breakfasts. In January, Coffee with a Cause opened the Highland Park location with the help of the Catalyst grant.
The nonprofit has served more than 100 youth overall and is aiming to expand to 60 this year alone. It now offers job training not only in coffee but also other career paths, including doggie day care, personal training, retail, construction and landscaping. Davidson’s team focuses on people between ages 16 and 24, as they transition between social services systems for children and independence as full adults – many of them without adequate support.
Frida Murillo, for instance, experienced homelessness and other challenges before she landed an internship at Dogtopia, a doggie day care in Pasadena. She remembers having a dog when she was small and said the internship has taught her responsibility and piqued her interest in a future career in dog grooming.
Diane Portillo, who struggled with a transition out of foster care, gained hands-on experience in personal fitness training at AION Training in Pasadena, where she shadows seasoned coaches, assists with training cues, and helps lead group sessions alongside mentors. Her internship is helping her prepare for a National Academy of Sports Medicine certificate and a lifelong career in nutrition and wellness – a goal she is working toward by studying nutrition and dietetics at Pasadena City College.
Coffee with a Cause’s 170-hour internship includes training in such soft skills as customer service, teamwork, communication and punctuality. Interns can earn a skills certificate by completing tests created by industry groups – the Speciality Coffee Association, for instance, in the case of baristas. Nine out of 10 graduates of the program go on to jobs or full-time school or vocational training, Davidson said.
Interns are paired with mentors to help them navigate life goals – the ins and outs of loans, insurance and registration in buying a car, for instance. A job specialist helps them look for work after they complete their internship, with guidance on writing cover letters and resumes.
The nonprofit also has forged relationships with employers and educational institutions to help young people enter vocational skills programs – auto mechanics at Pasadena City College, for instance – or land interviews for barista jobs at Starbucks or Albertsons, said Mackenzie Westman, the nonprofit’s program manager. Those who want to delve further into animal care after internships at Dogtopia or other doggie day care facilities can advance to professional training at West Coast Grooming Academy, which then helps them secure jobs at Petco, Petsmart or other pet service providers.
The program also provides what Alex calls a godsend – a foldable e-scooter, enabling him to more quickly zip from his home in South Los Angeles to a bus, then a light-rail train to the Highland Park cafe. Davidson said lack of transportation is one barrier for young people to hold down jobs.
“We’re all about inspiration – trying to get them started and inspired to just take that leap of faith” in themselves, Westman said.
For Alex, the Rosebud cafe job – his first ever – was both a career and financial lifeline. He learned invaluable skills – how coarsely to grind roasted coffee beans, how to balance air and heat in frothing milk and the most difficult challenge of making latte art. He was able to use his earnings to support his mother after she was laid off from her job.
She was the one who found out about the program from a TV news feature about it. She urged him to apply, knowing how much her son loved coffee. He began drinking it when he was 10 years old, creating his own concoctions – topping coffee with creams mixed with blueberries, pumpkin spice and other flavors.
On a recent afternoon at the Highland Park cafe, Alex worked with Angelica Solis, a former intern who now works as a full-time barista. Angelica grew up in Highland Park, but said her family of five was evicted during a wave of gentrification that nearly tripled monthly rents in her area from the $700 they were paying. They lived in tents on the streets for a few months before her aunt took them in, squeezing them into the living room with two other families.
Amid the struggles, her grades plunged. But she loves biology and anatomy and knew she needed more schooling to achieve her dream job – a mortician, able to prepare loved ones for their family’s final memories and goodbyes. After enrolling in Pasadena City College, a counselor told her about Coffee with a Cause so she applied and started out working the coffee cart before advancing to the Highland Park cafe. She completed the program, passed her test and now works as a full-time barista there.
She loves the job – evolving from an “avid coffee hater” to appreciating the brew’s nuanced flavors and gaining social skills and confidence.
“Honestly, it just doesn’t really feel like a job. It gives me a chance to connect with people. And yeah, get free pastries!” she said with a laugh.
After she and Alex wound down their shift, it was time for his big moment: the test for his barista skills certificate. First came the online test, asking about distinctions between coffees – the more acidic Arabica, the more bitter Robusta, for instance – parts of the coffee machines, different flavors, the composition of espresso drinks and other information.
Then Alex demonstrated his coffee making skills with Eric Dengler, the cafe operations manager and Specialty Coffee Association’s authorized trainer. He grinded beans, tamped them down, pulled an espresso shot and sipped it, discussing the taste with Dengler.
“We’re looking for that balance,” Dengler said. “Is it too sour? Is it too bitter? Is it nice and balanced?”
Alex steamed the milk, careful to note how much air to add and what temperature the coffee should be to avoid creating too much foam. He poured it into the espresso, cleaned each piece of equipment after use and waited for his written test results to come in.
Pass!
The team cheered. Alex broke into a big smile.
“I was nervous at first but now I’m happy,” he said. “Now I got what I really wanted, which was a certificate so I can pursue working at coffee shops. It’s an amazing feeling.”
– Teresa Watanabe
