Coffee Kids develops partnerships with local non-profits managed by people who live in the communities where Coffee Kids works. Partnerships are based on trust, transparency and a deep respect for the values and priorities of each community served.

Projects develop organically following the culture, values and priorities of the coffee-farming families involved. A project may start out as a family gardening project in response to a community's need for access to more nutritious food. Production that exceeds consumption becomes an opportunity for added income, which might lead to the opportunity to expand their additional production into a small family business. Added income provides a community the opportunity to invest its savings into any number of projects like education and health care. Coffee Kids provides capital, training and organizational development support.

The projects grow organically. Encuentros ("exchanges") allow participants from different projects, and different regions, to meet and share knowledge and experience. As an example, a Nicaraguan group became interested in learning more about an educational model that had been very successful in Costa Rica. After several exchanges, a new education project emerged - providing the young people in Nicaragua the opportunity to attend secondary school, technical school and the university.

Scholarship recipients have become cooperative leaders, volunteering their time to teach adult literacy classes and participating in micro-credit and environmental improvement programs. They not only speak of the future, they are creating it with the skills they have been given through opportunities from Coffee Kids.

Another education project has recently taken root at SOPPEXCCA, an organization made up of fifteen different coffee cooperatives in the Jinotega area of Nicaragua. This cooperative may sound familiar to Peet's customers through our partnership with Las Hermanas.

Within SOPPEXCCA, there are currently two on-going projects which both work with children from coffee-farming families - Environmentalist Youth [Jóvenes Ambientalistas] and with younger children - Coffee Children [Muchachitos del Café]. Both groups aim to promote active participation, individual decision-making and leadership in students.

The Environmentalist Youth are participating in a series of forums and trainings on community service, environmental health, leadership, communication skills and teamwork. The group is also hosting exchanges with other youth groups from outside of their own communities. When they conduct their environmental campaign work, they'll be assisted by the younger students in the Coffee Children group, allowing them to not only learn but also teach their new skills. Along with their campaign work, they'll also be establishing nurseries, planting trees and learning to care for fruit trees.

Here’s how you can help:
• Make a donation to Coffee Kids
• Learn more: visit www.coffeekids.org

Muchachitos del Cafe in a school with the project already existing.

Photos courtesy of Coffee Kids