Wildflyer Coffee & Butter Bakery Joint Statement
Butter Bakery and Wildflyer Coffee are Joining Forces!
Wildflyer Coffee is a nonprofit coffee company that creates employment opportunities for youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability. They provide a 6-month work and life skills training program for youth aged 16-24 who need support to find stable housing. Wildflyer Coffee launched in 2017 as a mobile set-up that operated at farmers’ markets and other events. Creating a coffee shop was always the big picture dream, as more youth were applying to the Wildflyer program than it could accommodate on such a small scale. The Wildflyer founders envisioned a space where more youth could work more hours and have a gathering space to run youth programming, such as employment check-ins and life skills classes.
Wildflyer Coffee was set to sign a lease when COVID-19 hit, changing the business landscape. As the pandemic wore on, revealing tough challenges for Minneapolis business owners, it became apparent that trying to get a coffee shop was going to take longer and be riskier than previously projected. Despite these frustrating delays, Wildflyer Coffee felt compelled to press forward in its mission. “We were receiving the highest number of applications in our company's history. With unemployment skyrocketing, youth that were already on the fringe were being pushed further and further away from employment. This wasn’t the time to hang back and ride this out; we needed to act - and the sooner the better”, says Carley, one of the founders and current Executive Director of the company.
Enter Butter Bakery Cafe, a South Minneapolis-based restaurant. Butter has a long history of empowering youth and being a pillar for social justice in the community. Its location on Nicollet Avenue and its leadership in striving for social justice, along with a commitment to excellent food, has positioned Butter to examine how it can continue to support the community - especially in these difficult times. Dan Swenson-Klatt, Butter’s generous and community-focused owner, has always been interested in employing youth experiencing homelessness. He has a relationship and shares a building with Nicollet Square, a transitional living program that houses youth coming out of homelessness. Dan has always had the desire to use his cafe space to employ at-risk youth, but his ability to do so has been limited due to the challenges that come with managing the operations of the Cafe.
Wildflyer Coffee and Butter Bakery Cafe are excited to announce their partnership in order to safely and effectively continue their mission. Wildflyer Coffee will be bringing their youth programming and expertise to train and mentor youth while helping to manage the coffee program. Butter Bakery Cafe will be providing operational support and a space to grow. Look for some new signage, faces, and ideas when you step into Butter Bakery Cafe. The two organizations will partner to provide employment to at least seven young people working towards housing stability. Dan explains: “As so much has changed during this pandemic, it’s become crucial that mission and community-minded organizations like ours can get creative and work together so that nobody gets left behind - especially our youth. Doing that while creating excellent food, coffee, and a memorable, community experience for customers, guests, and other stakeholders is what continues to drive us.”
