Starbucks Accelerates Commitment to Hiring 10,000 Opportunity Youth, Deepens Investments & Engagement in Diverse, Under-repre...
July 16 2015 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
- Starbucks Plans to Open Stores in
Diverse, Under-represented Neighborhoods in 15 U.S. Cities, Will
Work with Local Minority- and Women-Owned Suppliers, Nonprofits and
Civic Leaders to Create New Opportunities for Economic Development
and Community Engagement
- First Stores to Open in Chicago,
Ferguson, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Queens, New York
- Starbucks Multiplies Impact Beyond
Stores with $1.5 Million in Starbucks Foundation Opportunity for
Youth Grants in 15 U.S. Cities to Support Youth Training and Hiring
Programs with Proven Results
On the heels of the launch of the private-sector led “100,000
Opportunities Initiative” to increase hiring of America’s
opportunity youth, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) today announced two key
strategic initiatives to support economic development and social
change in diverse, urban communities by helping young people
connect with meaningful employment and pathways to success.
This Smart News Release features multimedia.
View the full release here:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150716005704/en/
As part of its Customer Service
Excellence Training Program, Starbucks works with local nonprofits
to train youth and help them develop skills that will enable them
to become job ready. The Starbucks Foundation announced that it has
awarded $1.5 million in Opportunity for Youth grants to 72
nonprofit organizations in 15 U.S. cities for fiscal year 2016.
(Photo: Business Wire)
Starbucks to Open Stores in Diverse, Urban
Communities
Starbucks today announced it will open stores in 15 diverse, low
to medium income urban communities across the United States, with
at least five stores expected to open in 2016. These stores will be
a key strategy in achieving the company’s previously stated goal of
hiring 10,000 Opportunity Youth – young people between the ages of
16-24 who face systemic barriers to meaningful jobs and education –
and the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative’s collective goal of
hiring 100,000 opportunity youth by 2018.
Starbucks will open the first of these stores in the Englewood
neighborhood of Chicago’s south side; the West Florissant
neighborhood in Ferguson, Missouri; the Jamaica neighborhood in
Queens, New York; and Milwaukee, and will remodel its store at 7th
& Camelback in Phoenix. Each of these locations will have an
onsite training space where young people can learn valuable
customer service and retail skills, based on the same world-class
training Starbucks partners (employees) receive. Starbucks will
also partner with local youth services organizations and government
to leverage existing programs that help connect youth with
internships, apprenticeships and jobs in the community and foster
the type of dialogue and engagement needed for continued social
change.
“We have a long history of developing stores in diverse
neighborhoods and we hope to do even more – together with the
community – to bring great jobs, engage young people, and drive
economic opportunity for all,” said Blair Taylor, chief community
officer for Starbucks and chair of the Starbucks Foundation. “We
want to be part of the solution in these communities and help
create a sustainable future for those who may be looking for a
second chance.”
Starbucks will hire on average 20 to 25 partners (employees) per
store from the local community, providing a new pathway to
opportunity through training and development, meaningful career
options and industry-leading benefits that include the chance to
get full tuition coverage to finish an online bachelor’s degree at
Arizona State University through the Starbucks College Achievement
Plan.
Starbucks also plans to collaborate with local women and
minority owned contractors and businesses in the design and
development of these stores, and work with women and minority owned
suppliers to bring locally made food products to the stores.
“There’s a quiet, much-needed movement underway to rebuild
Ferguson,” said Michael McMillan, chief executive officer for the
Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, which recently broke ground
on a new jobs and education center for youth in Ferguson.
“Starbucks is stepping up and investing in our community in a way
that will open up exciting opportunities for all. We hope more
businesses will appreciate this city’s resilience and join us in
turning what was a tragedy into a triumph.”
“We want to decrease the number of young men and women in
Phoenix who are not connected to meaningful educational or career
paths,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. “I applaud Starbucks for
helping low-income, diverse communities address this problem. These
new Starbucks stores will help engage our young people with
exciting new training opportunities and help support our city’s
minority-owned and operated suppliers.”
“In making this commitment to open in Englewood, Starbucks, like
Whole Foods, sees the opportunity and revitalization occurring in
one of Chicago’s oldest neighborhoods. This is further proof that
when the public and private sectors come together to invest in
communities, we can create new jobs and economic resources that
will spur economic growth into the future,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emanuel.
“A new generation of young people – especially in low-income
communities – are at risk for never, ever having a job,” said
Congressman Bobby L. Rush of the 1st District of Illinois. “These
young people are often neglected, especially those who are no
longer in school or unable to find jobs, and are not being trained
to be productive citizens in the workplace. We look forward to
welcoming Starbucks to our Englewood community and share in their
ongoing commitment to the training, employment and education of our
nation’s youth.”
To determine which communities are a good fit for this store
concept, Starbucks looks at all the available data on the
socio-economic health of America’s cities to understand which
communities have the biggest opportunity gaps, which have the
biggest need for business investment and leadership, and where
there is local movement underway to build a better future for its
residents. The company plans to accelerate the development of these
stores over the next three years with the goal of opening in at
least 10 additional cities by 2018. Starbucks will monitor the
success of the stores for continued adoption to embed with its
store development strategies.
Starbucks Foundation Announces $1.5 Million in Opportunity
for Youth Grants in 15 U.S. Cities
Today, the Starbucks Foundation also announced that it has
awarded $1.5 million in Opportunity for Youth grants to 72
nonprofit organizations in 15 U.S. cities for fiscal year 2016.
These grants, ranging from $5,000 to $75,000, build on the
foundation’s long history of investing in proven, as well as
innovative, programs that equip young people ages 16-24 with the
skills and training required for the changing global economy.
Starbucks partners (employees) engage and volunteer with the
organizations to help young people become job-ready and develop
skills to continue on the pathway of opportunity. Since launching
in 1997, the Starbucks Foundation has grown to support communities
around the globe. In 2014, the foundation gave $13.1 million,
making 144 grants to nonprofit organizations, including $3.37
million to organizations supporting opportunity youth around the
world.
“The Starbucks Foundation is dedicated to empowering our
nation’s young people to seek out the right path forward – through
development and training, public service and volunteering,
educational opportunities and job readiness,” said Taylor. “We are
thrilled to be able to award $1.5 million to these well-deserving
non-profits who will help multiply impact beyond our stores and
make a meaningful impact to these young future leaders.”
About Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been
committed to ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality arabica
coffee. Today, with stores around the globe, the company is the
premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world.
Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding
principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for
every customer through every cup. To share in the experience,
please visit our stores or online at news.starbucks.com and
Starbucks.com.
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