Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We are trying to get our nextguests. We're getting our via zoom because
I want to see her lovely face. But here we go right now,
and we're talking about something that TheColorado Sun did a spotlight on, and
I'm so glad they did because Iwould have never known about this had they
not. And now it's the thingI know about, and I wanted to
bring on the executive director of anorganization called Prodigy Ventures. Jesslin. I'm
(00:25):
not even going to try your lastname. I'm so sorry, but I'm
not because it is going to beYeah I did. There we go.
I'm not even going to try yourlast name because I'll massacre it. But
I'm so thankful that you're joining ustoday to talk about the Prodigy Coffee shops.
Welcome to the show. Yeah,thanks so much, Mandy Jesslin Chure,
as I hear, executive director ofProdigy Coffee. So let's talk about
(00:47):
Prodigy Coffee. What is it?How did it come about? Tell me
about this? Yeah, So,Prodigy Coffee was created in twenty fifteen by
a group of Edgucie leads who recognizesome of the defects and traditional employment and
education ecosystems. So this is atwelve month apprenticeship that offers young adults eighteen
(01:11):
to twenty four workforce readiness skills.And the way that we do that is
through two craft coffeehouses. So wehave one on fortieth in Colorado and then
our newest one which opens September twentytwenty two in the Globville neighborhood. Now
in the Colorado Sun article which wasI'm very happy they did that story because
I would have never known about youotherwise, they explained that you guys,
(01:34):
I feel like the story happens everyyear in Denver because we can't stop doing
construction. What is happening around theGlobville store. Yeah, So there's been
tremendous investment in the global neighborhood onsidewalk connectivity and pedestrian safety, which we
celebrate. We want investment in thisneighborhood. The Globeville zip code is the
(01:59):
most polluted code in the United States. We recognize that this is an underserved
neighborhood and so we celebrate that whilesimultaneously recognizing that the road closures and the
construction had caused tremendous impact to ourbusiness. There's been so many detour signs
that it really gave the impression tothe community that the whole neighborhood was sort
(02:20):
of shut down. There are alot of small businesses in Global that,
you know, really depend on foottraffic and people coming into the community.
And so we saw our revenue atour Global shop just plummet with a fifty
percent decrease. And what the otherthing the Colorado Sun article helped highlight is,
in addition to the decrease in revenue, it also impacts the learning experience
(02:44):
of our apprentices. If they're notdoing any sort of you know, skill
building around customer experience that folks walkinginto it, then they're not learning.
And so I thought Donna did agood job of highlighting that point in that
article. Right now, you guysare just trying to keep your head afloat
until this construction is over. Whatis the timeline on that construction. So
(03:07):
there's going to be construction for awhile through the neighborhood. Be an overpass
project behind us that's getting ready tostart. The road closure is hopefully going
to end next week, and sowe'll see the road open up, but
the construction in the community will goon through the summer. Okay, so
(03:28):
let's talk about what Prodigy Coffee Housedoes for the kids, the young adults.
They're kids to me because I'm old, But what does it do for
them? And why is this soimportant for the people that are working there.
Yeah, So we provide industry recognizecertifications to young people to help them
get a leg up and work readiness. So over the course of the apprenticeship
(03:53):
they'll get about a thousand hours ofprofessional development. And that happens both behind
the bar is a craft house qualitybarista, and that also happens in individual
and cohort learning settings. In theclassroom, they're learning everything from financial literacy
to healthy eating, active living,identity work, all sorts of things to
(04:15):
help round out their experience in theapprenticeship. Everybody has access to free mental
health counseling. We partner with thePeople's House and Clinica Tapieka to support our
apprentices needs. Eighty seven percent ofthe young people working with currently are from
the globe Villarious Swansea neighborhood. Sowe are at once a youth development agency,
(04:40):
a leadership development agency, but weare also a community wealth building agency.
So over the course of our nineyear history, we've put more than
two million dollars in wages back intothese neighborhoods. We're working with young people
who are, in many cases oftenthe primary income earner in their household,
and so we're supporting their efforts tostay in there community, and we're helping
(05:00):
them to activate their activism, theirleaders in their own right. We're just
mining greatness that already exists in theseneighborhoods and so helping them understand where they
start and stop in their leadership andhow they can advocate for what they want
to see in the community. Sogive me a success story. What does
it look like when someone goes throughthe twelve months of the apprenticeship. What
(05:20):
happens next for these young people.Yes, So, over the course of
our history, we've maintained roughly ninetypercent of our apprentices are gaining some sort
of employment three months within three monthsafter graduating, and that's about half go
into hospitality. There's eight hundred andninety plus coffee shops across the metro area.
(05:44):
We are producing high quality craft brisasthey're exiting the program as brisas with
salaried positions, health benefits four onek's well. We also recognize that this
isn't for a forever career for manyof them, but in many cases,
this is a stabilizing career. Wealso have young adults who are going into
(06:05):
We just partnered with Denver Health,and we have folks that are working for
Denver Parks and rec and after schoolsupport services. We have a relationship with
the logistics company in our neighborhood who'shired a number of our apprentices. The
success stories are plentiful. Here.We have a young person right now behind
the bar Jade, who had cometo us disengaged from school and work.
(06:30):
She's now at the final stretch ofher apprenticeship with us. She is a
high performing leader at the agency.Her brothers here is a barista. Her
cousin's here is a barista, who'sgot another cousin Here's a barista. She's
increased her pay four times over thecourse of our apprenticeship, and she's received
three different industry recognized certifications. Rightnow, Jade's helping us learn about scaling
(06:53):
up our production. So she's applyingmath skills and leadership skills to four on
our syrup production and our waffles.Because as a craft coffee house. We
create a lot of our product inhouse, and so she's understanding the economy
of scale in stort of building thatout, and she's taken a real leadership
role on that. It sounds reallyexcited to cheer her on for what ups
(07:15):
next. It sounds like you're givingopportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to people
coming from poverty. I mean,let's be real, they don't know people
who own businesses who can give themthis kind of learning curve. Is that
really the role here? Yeah,So we do hr a little bit differently.
Over the course of twelve months,we'll bring in six different cohorts for
(07:38):
a three day intensive training. Atthe end of that three days, usually
those groups are about eight to twelveyoung people. At the end of that
they'll have spent some time learning aboutthe origins of coffee. They'll have funds
of identity work, They'll have learneda little bit about basics and working in
a job function. They'll also havea serve safe food Handling certificate that they
(07:59):
can take with them. At theend of those three days, we make
some decisions on who to offer andinvite into the twelve month apprenticeship. If
you have access to employment, Ifyou have a path to academics, we're
probably going to put you lower downon that list. We're looking to hire
on and bring on as apprentices.The folks that are going to have the
most challenged finding success in a workplace. That's who we want to work with.
(08:22):
We have a last year, wehad one hundred and seventy young people
apply for twenty five different positions.Well, I need is tremendous in our
community. So this morning I madea donation of fifty bucks to your organization
because I love a hand up,and what you guys are doing is giving
a hand up and giving kids theopportunity to learn and grow. And I
(08:43):
bet that the level of confidence inthemselves that they gain is probably as valuable
as anything else. Yeah, that'sexactly it we're not doing. We're there's
inherent greatness in these communities, andall we're doing is providing a safe and
supportive space for them to activate that. So we want to make sure that
(09:03):
they feel fully ready for what comesnext, and there's transferable workplace skills that
they're learning here. They're maybe nevergoing to enter into another barista position,
but they're going to feel loads moreconfidence when they exit our program because they've
spent time investing in themselves. Well, you can either stop by their two
locations or you could make a donationto support them as they get through this.
(09:26):
Hopefully this last little bit of constructionwill ease things up a little bit
at the Globville store and you canget back to normal and they can start
making a lot of coffee again.But thank you so much for making time
for us, Jessline and talking aboutthis, because I'm a big fan of
any organization that helps people achieve theirat their highest level, whatever that is.
(09:46):
Right, maybe they're not going tobe a barista, but maybe this
gives them the confidence to pursue adream that they have that they wouldn't have
had the confidence to do before.I love what you're doing and I really
appreciate you making time for us today. Yeah, thanks so much many for
the opportunity to shar and thanks somuch for your generous support. Well,
hopefully more people join me and youguys can keep going at Globeville until you
(10:09):
can get back to normal. Thanksa lot, Jazlyn, great, Thanks,
have a good day you too.
We are trying to get our nextguests. We're getting our via zoom because
I want to see her lovely face. But here we go right now,
and we're talking about something that TheColorado Sun did a spotlight on, and
I'm so glad they did because Iwould have never known about this had they
not. And now it's the thingI know about, and I wanted to
bring on the executive director of anorganization called Prodigy Ventures. Jesslin. I'm
(00:25):
not even going to try your lastname. I'm so sorry, but I'm
not because it is going to beYeah I did. There we go.
I'm not even going to try yourlast name because I'll massacre it. But
I'm so thankful that you're joining ustoday to talk about the Prodigy Coffee shops.
Welcome to the show. Yeah,thanks so much, Mandy Jesslin Chure,
as I hear, executive director ofProdigy Coffee. So let's talk about
(00:47):
Prodigy Coffee. What is it?How did it come about? Tell me
about this? Yeah, So,Prodigy Coffee was created in twenty fifteen by
a group of Edgucie leads who recognizesome of the defects and traditional employment and
education ecosystems. So this is atwelve month apprenticeship that offers young adults eighteen
(01:11):
to twenty four workforce readiness skills.And the way that we do that is
through two craft coffeehouses. So wehave one on fortieth in Colorado and then
our newest one which opens September twentytwenty two in the Globville neighborhood. Now
in the Colorado Sun article which wasI'm very happy they did that story because
I would have never known about youotherwise, they explained that you guys,
(01:34):
I feel like the story happens everyyear in Denver because we can't stop doing
construction. What is happening around theGlobville store. Yeah, So there's been
tremendous investment in the global neighborhood onsidewalk connectivity and pedestrian safety, which we
celebrate. We want investment in thisneighborhood. The Globeville zip code is the
(01:59):
most polluted code in the United States. We recognize that this is an underserved
neighborhood and so we celebrate that whilesimultaneously recognizing that the road closures and the
construction had caused tremendous impact to ourbusiness. There's been so many detour signs
that it really gave the impression tothe community that the whole neighborhood was sort
(02:20):
of shut down. There are alot of small businesses in Global that,
you know, really depend on foottraffic and people coming into the community.
And so we saw our revenue atour Global shop just plummet with a fifty
percent decrease. And what the otherthing the Colorado Sun article helped highlight is,
in addition to the decrease in revenue, it also impacts the learning experience
(02:44):
of our apprentices. If they're notdoing any sort of you know, skill
building around customer experience that folks walkinginto it, then they're not learning.
And so I thought Donna did agood job of highlighting that point in that
article. Right now, you guysare just trying to keep your head afloat
until this construction is over. Whatis the timeline on that construction. So
(03:07):
there's going to be construction for awhile through the neighborhood. Be an overpass
project behind us that's getting ready tostart. The road closure is hopefully going
to end next week, and sowe'll see the road open up, but
the construction in the community will goon through the summer. Okay, so
(03:28):
let's talk about what Prodigy Coffee Housedoes for the kids, the young adults.
They're kids to me because I'm old, But what does it do for
them? And why is this soimportant for the people that are working there.
Yeah, So we provide industry recognizecertifications to young people to help them
get a leg up and work readiness. So over the course of the apprenticeship
(03:53):
they'll get about a thousand hours ofprofessional development. And that happens both behind
the bar is a craft house qualitybarista, and that also happens in individual
and cohort learning settings. In theclassroom, they're learning everything from financial literacy
to healthy eating, active living,identity work, all sorts of things to
(04:15):
help round out their experience in theapprenticeship. Everybody has access to free mental
health counseling. We partner with thePeople's House and Clinica Tapieka to support our
apprentices needs. Eighty seven percent ofthe young people working with currently are from
the globe Villarious Swansea neighborhood. Sowe are at once a youth development agency,
(04:40):
a leadership development agency, but weare also a community wealth building agency.
So over the course of our nineyear history, we've put more than
two million dollars in wages back intothese neighborhoods. We're working with young people
who are, in many cases oftenthe primary income earner in their household,
and so we're supporting their efforts tostay in there community, and we're helping
(05:00):
them to activate their activism, theirleaders in their own right. We're just
mining greatness that already exists in theseneighborhoods and so helping them understand where they
start and stop in their leadership andhow they can advocate for what they want
to see in the community. Sogive me a success story. What does
it look like when someone goes throughthe twelve months of the apprenticeship. What
(05:20):
happens next for these young people.Yes, So, over the course of
our history, we've maintained roughly ninetypercent of our apprentices are gaining some sort
of employment three months within three monthsafter graduating, and that's about half go
into hospitality. There's eight hundred andninety plus coffee shops across the metro area.
(05:44):
We are producing high quality craft brisasthey're exiting the program as brisas with
salaried positions, health benefits four onek's well. We also recognize that this
isn't for a forever career for manyof them, but in many cases,
this is a stabilizing career. Wealso have young adults who are going into
(06:05):
We just partnered with Denver Health,and we have folks that are working for
Denver Parks and rec and after schoolsupport services. We have a relationship with
the logistics company in our neighborhood who'shired a number of our apprentices. The
success stories are plentiful. Here.We have a young person right now behind
the bar Jade, who had cometo us disengaged from school and work.
(06:30):
She's now at the final stretch ofher apprenticeship with us. She is a
high performing leader at the agency.Her brothers here is a barista. Her
cousin's here is a barista, who'sgot another cousin Here's a barista. She's
increased her pay four times over thecourse of our apprenticeship, and she's received
three different industry recognized certifications. Rightnow, Jade's helping us learn about scaling
(06:53):
up our production. So she's applyingmath skills and leadership skills to four on
our syrup production and our waffles.Because as a craft coffee house. We
create a lot of our product inhouse, and so she's understanding the economy
of scale in stort of building thatout, and she's taken a real leadership
role on that. It sounds reallyexcited to cheer her on for what ups
(07:15):
next. It sounds like you're givingopportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to people
coming from poverty. I mean,let's be real, they don't know people
who own businesses who can give themthis kind of learning curve. Is that
really the role here? Yeah,So we do hr a little bit differently.
Over the course of twelve months,we'll bring in six different cohorts for
(07:38):
a three day intensive training. Atthe end of that three days, usually
those groups are about eight to twelveyoung people. At the end of that
they'll have spent some time learning aboutthe origins of coffee. They'll have funds
of identity work, They'll have learneda little bit about basics and working in
a job function. They'll also havea serve safe food Handling certificate that they
(07:59):
can take with them. At theend of those three days, we make
some decisions on who to offer andinvite into the twelve month apprenticeship. If
you have access to employment, Ifyou have a path to academics, we're
probably going to put you lower downon that list. We're looking to hire
on and bring on as apprentices.The folks that are going to have the
most challenged finding success in a workplace. That's who we want to work with.
(08:22):
We have a last year, wehad one hundred and seventy young people
apply for twenty five different positions.Well, I need is tremendous in our
community. So this morning I madea donation of fifty bucks to your organization
because I love a hand up,and what you guys are doing is giving
a hand up and giving kids theopportunity to learn and grow. And I
(08:43):
bet that the level of confidence inthemselves that they gain is probably as valuable
as anything else. Yeah, that'sexactly it we're not doing. We're there's
inherent greatness in these communities, andall we're doing is providing a safe and
supportive space for them to activate that. So we want to make sure that
(09:03):
they feel fully ready for what comesnext, and there's transferable workplace skills that
they're learning here. They're maybe nevergoing to enter into another barista position,
but they're going to feel loads moreconfidence when they exit our program because they've
spent time investing in themselves. Well, you can either stop by their two
locations or you could make a donationto support them as they get through this.
(09:26):
Hopefully this last little bit of constructionwill ease things up a little bit
at the Globville store and you canget back to normal and they can start
making a lot of coffee again.But thank you so much for making time
for us, Jessline and talking aboutthis, because I'm a big fan of
any organization that helps people achieve theirat their highest level, whatever that is.
(09:46):
Right, maybe they're not going tobe a barista, but maybe this
gives them the confidence to pursue adream that they have that they wouldn't have
had the confidence to do before.I love what you're doing and I really
appreciate you making time for us today. Yeah, thanks so much many for
the opportunity to shar and thanks somuch for your generous support. Well,
hopefully more people join me and youguys can keep going at Globeville until you
(10:09):
can get back to normal. Thanksa lot, Jazlyn, great, Thanks,
have a good day you too.
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