‘Changed my life’: A cup of coffee at this Charlotte cafe helps women facing homelessness
Coffee drinkers in Charlotte are helping to change the lives of women experiencing homelessness.
Monique Mims moved to Charlotte from Ohio last August when her daughter was starting college at UNC Charlotte. She had a job lined up as a cook at an uptown restaurant and enough money for a month to stay at an Airbnb. But Mims said she left the job because she was experiencing sexual harassment and then the rental time was up.
“Things just kind of started falling apart,” Mims, 42, told The Charlotte Observer last week.
Mims ended up living in “Big Red,” her 1991 Ford Econoline van, for 129 days from August to December before getting into the YWCA’s Women in Transition program.
She worked doing DoorDash and Instacart, and found a part-time security job.
Then, she landed on a new opportunity.
Change Please Coffee opened last month at Innovation Barn in Charlotte’s Belmont neighborhood with its first training academy. It’s the UK-based nonprofit’s first U.S. location and focuses on women experiencing homelessness. The Charlotte coffee shop offers paid training, therapy and helps secure long-term employment.
Mims is Change Please Coffee’s first barista to complete the program.
“This program and opportunity has changed my life,” Mims said. “They treated me with respect. I almost forget about my situation while I’m here.”
Plus, she said, along with learning a new skill, “Every day is fun.”
On Monday, she started her full-time job with benefits as the second-shift supervisor at The Thoughtful Cup on UNC Charlotte’s campus. And, she’s also found an apartment.
“I don’t think I’d have been able to get (a new job) as quickly without proper training that’s helped make me more employable,” Mims said.
About Change Please Coffee
Ryan McMillan, director of Change Please USA, said referrals come from local groups like the YWCA, Roof Above and Safe Alliance. The group works with community partners, such as Compass Group, to secure job opportunities.
The cafe pays trainees a living wage, or twice the minimum wage.
“We’re all about a hand up, not a handout,” he said.
Change Please focuses on homelessness needs in the communities it serves in eight countries. The group also provides wholesale coffee to stores and restaurants and supermarkets and offices.
Change Please Coffee hopes to train up to 200 baristas annually, McMillan said, and has plans to open more locations throughout the city.
On average, every 562 cups of Change Please coffee sold generates enough money to pay for a day of barista training, according to Change Please.
More about Change Please Coffee
Change Please Coffee opened in March in Charlotte. Here’s more about the new cafe:
▪ Location: 932 Seigle Ave.
▪ Hours: 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday.
▪ Behind the coffee bar is a training room for a total of about 2,000 square feet.
▪ The cafe has indoor and outdoor seating.
▪ The shop plans to eventually offer food, as well as beer and wine.
▪ A fundraising campaign is under way to upfit a shipping container into a childcare space.
▪ To purchase a bag of coffee online, visit changeplease-us.org/collections/our-coffee.
About Innovation Barn
The 36,000-square-foot building used to be a horse barn.
The city-funded project is part of a larger effort to cut down on trash going to landfills. It’s managed by the nonprofit Envision Charlotte and opened in 2021.
The barn offers ways to compost, recycle, uses fly larvae to reduce food waste and volunteer opportunities.
Here are 16 Charlotte area businesses that give back to the community
