Starbucks Launches 'Create Jobs for USA'

Starting this week, you can help create jobs and grab an eggnog latte when you stop by on Passaic Avenue in West Caldwell.

Every Starbucks Coffee Co.-owned location in the country now has “Indivisible” wristbands available for a $5 donation. Donations will benefit the "Create Jobs for USA" Fund, which pools donations from Starbucks customers, employees and concerned citizens into a nationwide fund to be used for community business loans in the U.S.

Starbucks seeded the fund with a $5 million contribution from their corporate foundation.

The fund is managed by the Opportunity Finance Network, a national network of financial institutions the are dedicated to affordable lending to help low-income, low-wealth and other disadvantaged people and communities.

Participating in the “Create Jobs for USA" program and wearing "Indivisible" wristbands helps support job creation at a time when many Americans are experiencing an alarming rate of unemployment and many small businesses are struggling.

"By making a donation to the 'Create Jobs for USA' Fund, Starbucks customers and concerned citizens can take meaningful action to help create and sustain American jobs,” stated Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz in a press release.

The New Jersey unemployment rate was 9.2 percent in September, edging closer to the national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The wristbands, which are red, white and blue, are made by hand in the U.S. All component materials were manufactured by U.S. suppliers.

Editor's note: Patch has an agreement with Starbucks to provide local news content for the Starbucks website in towns where there is a Patch.