The Percolator Fund is a non-profit organization that was launched in 2017 to support employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Our strategy is to provide opportunities for people with I/DD to develop coffee roasting and brewing skills. Those skills can open doors to meaningful and inclusive employment. With the help of industry partners, we are developing training resources that are meant to be shared. The Percolator Fund believes that once you pair the right person with the right job and provide training, not only can an individual with a disability succeed, they can thrive – and bring the entire enterprise to a higher level of success.
We know this can work! Erin Baldwin is a woman with Down syndrome who has been a master roaster for over five years in her Westminster, Maryland coffee shop named Furnace Hills Coffee. She and her team consistently roast specialty coffee that is featured in markets and restaurants in her community and beyond. All the way across the country, another coffee enterprise that employs people with disabilities, Happy Cup in Portland, Oregon has been in business for five years. Their mission is to offer employment, a competitive wage and a full life to adults with disabilities in their local community. Employing “People with Potential” has not held the organization back in a competitive coffee town. In Boise, Idaho Java Hyde Park has made an effort to make people with disabilities part of their staff. Java has been rewarded for this effort with with both employee and customer loyalty.
Businesses in the coffee industry are forecast to grow in the near term and The Percolator Fund will be a voice for people with disabilities to participate in that growth. We provide an industry resource for any coffee enterprise that employs “People with Potential” and in doing so, percolate meaningful, inclusive, and skilled employment opportunities for people in their communities across the country. The Percolator Fund is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization. Join our efforts – Donate Here.