PD: Purple Door Coffee full service coffee company. We operate a cafe in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver which we've been running for over 4 years. We also have a coffee roasting facility that provides the coffee to our shop as well as to wholesale accounts  and online customers. We also are a wholesaler for commercial grade brewing equipment. The service that we offer as our organizational mission is that we exclusively hire and job train young people who have been homeless and are working to leave homelessness behind. We provide a year of supportive, transitional employment. We teach job and life skills and help our employees land permanent employment or head down a career path through school or other training programs. 

PM: How did you get your initial inspiration?

PD: Our initial inspiration was from our partner organization, Dry Bones Denver. Dry Bones has been doing outreach among homeless youth and young adults in Denver for over 16 years. They quickly realized that one of the primary needs of this community was job training. I interned for Dry Bones in the summer of 2009 and really fell in love with the population of young people on the streets of Denver. Myself and another intern picked up the dream of Dry Bones to provide a job training program for homeless young people, and we opened our doors in April of 2013. 

PM: Why did you decide to add a "give back" component?

PD: It wasn't a decision to add a give back component, but more of a figuring out the vehicle of our giving back. We decided on a coffee shop because of the various skills that can be learned, the team dynamic of the work, the fact that coffee shops tend to foster community, and Madison (my co-founder) and I really loved coffee. 

PM: Tell us more about the impact your company is having on the world?

PD: We're able to employ 5 young people at a time. As our roasting grows we'll be able to create more jobs for young people exiting homelessness. We will also be able to add more supportive services to the folks we're employing. Denver has a large population of homeless young people, and research shows that job training and employment are two of the integral components of permanently exiting homelessness. 

PM: What is the greatest or most inspirational story you've heard from the impact your "give back" component has had?

PD: One of our graduates first hit the streets when she was very young, was a heroine addict, spent time in prison and has multiple felonies. She completed our program, has housing is married, and has a beautiful baby girl. We've hired her as an assistant manager and will soon train her to be a bookkeeper. We hope she will stay on as our bookkeeper for the long term, but we also know that she might move on once she has that skill set, and we would be so excited for her if that is the case.  

CHECK OUT HER VIDEO STORY HERE:

PD: I love that we roast coffee now. I love being a barista and love everything about coffee, but the fact that we are roasting now allows us to distinguish ourselves as a leader in our industry, diversify how we train, increase our profit margins and impact the lives of coffee growers alongside our staff.

Learn More at http://www.purpledoorcoffee.com