Last month, Starbucks announced plans to expand its Community Store initiative, which supports economic opportunity in diverse, low- to medium-income urban neighborhoods across the country, by opening 100 new Community Stores by 2025. Starbucks has opened 14 of these stores since the program’s inception in 2015, in locations like White Center, WA; Queens, NY; Milwaukee, WI; and Ferguson, MI. Their success inspired this expansion, with new Community Stores planned in Los Angeles, CA; Anacostia, D.C.; and Prince George’s County, MD. 

Starbucks founded the initiative as part of its goal of hiring 10,000 “Opportunity Youth” (young ages 16-24 who face systemic barriers to meaningful jobs and education). In select locations, the company focuses on factors like high youth unemployment, low median household income and economically distressed areas.
 
“We believe it is our role and responsibility to partner with those in the communities we serve to help make a positive economic and social impact,” said John Kelly, executive vice president of public affairs at Starbucks.

Community Stores focus on hiring locally for employees, as well as construction and remodeling. Community Stores offer on-site activities and connect partners with volunteer activities that help create meaningful change in the communities in which they live and work. The stores provide a dedicated space for community events, and each store partners with a local United Way chapter to facilitate relevant community programs from life-skills training for youth to mentorship programs.
 
At the Community Store in White Center, 10 miles south of Seattle in King County, the wall is decorated with a mural from local artist Victor Melendez. It was developed and built by Saybr, a women-owned business. The YWCA Greenbridge Youth Employment Program leads job skills training programs in the community room. 

“Young people in South King County, especially youth of color, often face more barriers than opportunities to employment,” said YWCA Seattle CEO Maria Chavez Wilcox. “By creating a new career pathway for youth, this partnership takes an important step toward a healthier and more equitable community for everyone.”

 

Starbucks estimates that its Community Stores have helped: 

• Create more than 300 local jobs and connect young people to education and employment opportunities.
• Generate more than $59.7 million in indirect economic development created from store construction and over 1,100 indirect jobs.
• Identify and eliminate barriers to entry that prevent diverse-owned contractors from competing successfully to build stores for the company.
• Provide 14 community spaces decorated with local artwork that reflects the personality and heart of each community.

In addition, Starbucks Foundation announced last month that it has awarded more than 1,000 Neighborhood Grants, a new giving program that creates local impact by empowering store partners to strengthen relationships with local nonprofits. To date, hundreds of store managers have secured more than $1 million in grants from the Starbucks Foundation for more than 1,000 local nonprofit organizations in all 50 U.S. states and all Canadian provinces. In Seattle, for example, many stores choose to partner with Mary’s Place through their Neighborhood Grants, a nonprofit dedicated to helping women and families move out of homelessness into a safe, stable shelter.