Coffee Strong Enough to Fight Poverty

When I first began dreaming about starting my own coffee roasting business, one of the driving forces was the desire to use coffee as a tool to foster and support both local communities and help coffee growers. I decided early on that I would use coffee as a fundraiser for select partners that I felt were making a tangible difference in peoples lives or for the greater environment. Nearly a year passed and I had a few inquiries, but I never felt like I had the right partner to move forward with. I am a patient person and I feel that my patience has been rewarded tenfold as I am proud to announce the launch of Workforce Blend to help support the work of the Henry Street Settlement Workforce Division.

The Henry Street Settlement (HSS) is a non profit organization that has over a 100 year legacy of providing valuable social services and arts programming to New Yorkers in need. It is particularly focused on the needs of the Lower East Side community. Founded in 1893 by social work pioneer Lillian Wald, HSS helps over 100,000 New Yorkers each year. The Workforce Development Center is a branch of HSS dedicated specifically to combat urban poverty by providing valuable vocational and job training enabling unemployed residents to enter or reenter the workforce. Plowshares has pledged to help support these efforts further by contributing $1.00 from the sale of each retail bag or wholesale lb. of Workforce Blend sold.

Workforce Blend is a custom blend or Rainforest Alliance Coffee and seasonally rotating small producer coffees that is beautifully represented both in the press pot or pulled as an espresso. My hope is that this will be an attractive offering to cafes and even office coffee programs that want to enjoy delicious sustainable coffee that helps support local efforts to combat the issues surrounding urban poverty. Buy Plowshares Workforce Blend online today or locally at Bklyn Larder on Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. To inquire about wholesale opportunities, please email (akurutz at plowsharescoffee dot com) .