Wildflyer Coffee Brews Solutions for Youth Homelessness

This article originally appeared on and was written for Ramsey County Community & Economic Development by Golden Shovel Agency.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota estimates 6,000 youth experience homelessness on any given night, with about half in the Twin Cities area. There are many contributing factors like involvement in the justice system, neglect, abandonment or family conflict. Perhaps the biggest barrier for these youth to obtaining a place to live is finding and maintaining employment. One Twin Cities coffee shop is using its brews as a means to address that issue.

“We believe we can educate the community on what youth homelessness looks like in our area while working with young people as they develop their independence and work towards a more stable future,” said Wildflyer Coffee Program Manager Kenzie Diessner.

Wildflyer Coffee is a nonprofit coffee shop with locations in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. While Wildflyer creates coffee that tastes good, it believes its coffee can also do good. With a mission “to create employment opportunities for youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability through the cultivation of life skills and personal empowerment,” Wildflyer has built a program to accomplish that goal. 

Click here to view the full article.

Interested in having similar articles written for your organization? Click here to learn more about Golden Shovel Agency's Content Creation Services.

About the Author