Today, Torani is proud to share a few words from Coffee with a Cause: "Services for youth from higher risk backgrounds have come a long way. Youth can get support with housing, education, transportation and mental health. There is a still a gap, however, with preparing these youth to enter the workforce, which of course is a key part of the path toward independence and stability.

Our founder, Dan Davidson, discovered this when trying to find resources to support youth experiencing homelessness who were hanging out on his church property. He decided to get involved and get creative. His church had a mobile coffee cart and Pasadena, CA has an abundance of coffee shops with job opportunities for baristas. So he taught the youth barista skills and hired them to serve coffee with the cart at events until they were able to get permanent jobs.

This endeavor led to opening a full coffee shop, Rosebud Coffee, and starting our non-profit, Coffee with a Cause, to offer job training on a larger scale to local youth who have experienced homelessness, foster care or justice system involvement.

I have the privilege of working directly with our youth participants. They often show up at their initial interview quiet and timid. I get to see them slowly come alive and gain confidence as we train them in soft skills, like communication and customer service, and truly start to glow the first time they successfully pour latte art. By the end of the program, many of these youth are confidently interacting with customers and skillfully crafting all of our classic espresso drinks. The best part is the excitement of a youth sharing that they got a job, and knowing that they are a step further on their path toward a successful, independent life.

This past year, Torani extended incredible support toward our job training program. They provided funds to cover the costs for four entire youth to go through our program, receiving essential job skills, and paid, hands-on experience. These funds positively affect the trajectories of each of these youth’s lives. As we continue to seek funding to make this possible for a larger number of youth, we are so grateful to Torani for their support toward making this possible. Thank you on behalf of our team and all of our youth!”