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Creating a Better Future for Young Farmers

Coffee Kids uses entrepreneurship training, mentorship, and seed capital to help young farmers see themselves as entrepreneurs, develop the skills to launch their own businesses, and connect to the global coffee industry.

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 Enterpreneurship Training 

Through rural business workshops, Coffee Kids helps young farmers realize their full potential as part of the global coffee community. The trainings provide space where young men and women learn how to apply their creativity and ideas to develop productive enterprises in coffee within their communities. Topics include a broad business focus, such as managing the financial side of the operation, to coffee-specific, such as how to implement techniques that increase yield and bean quality.

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 Mentoring 

In some communities, we are linking young coffee farmers to successful local and international coffee entrepreneurs. Through mentoring and the sharing of experiences, we are leveling the playing field between coffee producers and the rest of the supply chain, exposing young farmers to the breadth of opportunities that exist within the sector and helping them understand how to reach those positions. The exchange increases farmers’ understanding of different players in the supply chain, helps professionals understand how new dynamics within the industry are playing out on-the-ground, and develops a shared commitment to protecting the future of coffee.

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 Seed Capital 

By providing a seed capital fund over which young farmers are given collaborative decision making power, Coffee Kids simultaneously helps get community businesses off the ground and gives young farmers experience in making financial decisions. The rotating fund is replenished as businesses grow and thrive, giving young farmers a sense of how thriving businesses can lift up the entire community.

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Join the Coffee Kids Supporters Circle to awaken the entrepreneurial spirit in each of these young people and ensure the future of coffee

Are you a coffee shop, roaster, or other coffee-related company that wants to contribute to sustainability, but don’t know where to start? Joining the Coffee Kids Supporter Circle is a simple and cost-effective way to join your peers in protecting the future of our industry. By making a one-time or monthly donation, we can protect the future of coffee and create a better life for young farmers.

Helping farmers establish economic independence is at the heart of what Coffee Kids does. Our rural business workshop trainings are a critical part of this, preparing young farmers to play a larger role in growing and selling coffee and to keep a larger portion of profits in their communities. For $10 you can sponsor one hour of training for a young farmer in Tanzania, Central America, or Colombia. Read more about the role of training in the Coffee Kids approach

The best antidote to los meses flacos (the lean months) is diversification, making chickens a smart investment. Between eggs, meat, and natural pest control for crops, they contribute to farmers’ livelihoods in a variety of ways. $30 a month over a year buys a young farmer 27 chickens and 3 roosters, enough to get a chicken business up and running as a vital complement to growing coffee. 

$35/mo

According to an Ethiopian legend, goats are the reason we drink coffee! A goatherd saw his little bearded friends scampering from shrub to shrub with an extra pep in their step after eating the berries, and decided to try them himself. What better way to say thanks than by buying a goat for a family of farmers, giving them up to 16 cups of calcium- and protein-rich milk daily for just $35 per month over one year? 

The young people we work with have big dreams, and it’s our job to turn those dreams into reality. Through our Seed Capital Fund, farmers can access small business loans to establish complementary businesses that make growing coffee a viable way of life. Once their businesses are up and running and they achieved financial independence, they repay the loans to make opportunities available for the next generation. A contribution of $50 per month over one year gets a business off the ground. 

For farmers, fertilizer, fungicides, pruning tools and other inputs are essential, but they can be expensive. When young farmers own the stores, though, it not only keeps that money in the community, it also gives that person an extra source of revenue and helps them on the path from farmer to entrepreneur. For $55 per month over one year, you can help a young farmer launch his supply shop. 

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Coffee Kids staff are embedded in the regions where we work, constantly on the lookout for new ways to empower young farmers. If you designate your gift of $20/month towards The Opportunity Fund, our staff can stay nimble, doing the most good at a key moment in a young farmer’s life. 

At $45 per participant, Coffee Kids is a cost-effective intervention that transforms a young farmer’s future. By sponsoring a single farmer’s Coffee Kids journey, you can give a gift of opportunity, a gift that lasts forever.

For a farmer, owning land is the difference between employment and entrepreneurship. Young farmers struggle to save up enough to buy their own farms, though, and many move to the city rather than work someone else’s. You can help a farmer buy that very first acre, for $40 per month over one year.

Shockingly, drinking coffee is not common in many of the villages in which we work—some of the young people we work with have never even tasted a cup of coffee! Our participants are changing that, opening coffee and pastry shops that expose their friends and neighbors to the joys of a morning cup of joe, while keeping money in the community. For $100 per month over one year, you can help one young farmer launch a coffee shop. 

Know someone who loves coffee even more than the rest of us? There’s no better gift for them than the peace of mind that the future of coffee is safe and that farmers can earn a good living. If you make a gift of any amount in someone’s name, Coffee Kids will send a fun e-card with personalized message that shows them how much you care. 

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