Starbucks Helps Launch Jobs for USA Campaign

Starbucks is taking bold strides and making tall contributions in the community.
With its Create Jobs for USA campaign, Starbucks hopes to accelerate job growth in the U.S., at a time when Americans are facing a job crisis and record unemployment numbers.

Starbucks already hires about 200 people a day in the U.S., with plans to build new stores and revitalize older ones.

But the country’s joblessness issue is too widespread for Starbucks to fix by creating a few thousand jobs.

“While our business contributes to the communities we serve, we recognize that in this time of crisis, we can and must do more,” a Starbucks press release proclaimed. “Especially when the small business community, where Starbucks has its roots, is so challenged.”

So the Seattle-based coffee giant has teamed up with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) to launch the Create Jobs for USA campaign, in an effort to make a substantial impact in creating and sustaining jobs. According to Starbucks’ website, “OFN is a national network of community lending institutions that invest in opportunities to benefit low-income, low-wealth and other disadvantaged communities in the U.S.”

How does it work? Starbucks “seeded” the project with a $5 million contribution from the Starbucks Foundation to provide capital grants to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which will give loans to underserved community businesses.

You can help by donating $5 or more at your local location (or online), in exchange for a red, white and blue, American-made “Indivisible” wristband.

Starbucks sends 100 percent of donations through OFN to its more than 180 CDFIs, including The Reinvestment Fund, to finance community businesses, which would otherwise experience difficulties obtaining financing from conventional lenders.

These non-traditional lenders take a different focus, serving specific regions, offering microloans or lending to niche borrowers, like charter schools.

According to Christina Szczepanski, The Reinvestment Fund’s program manager for fresh food access, your donations can multiply sevenfold, which means funding projects in low-income communities, which are having increasing difficulty securing financing.

“For every dollar Create Jobs for USA provides, we are able to invest up to $7 in the community, so every $5 donation can really turn into almost $35,” Szczepanski said.

You can feel good about contributing to this campaign, because unlike many charitable organizations that collect your dollars and spend them across the country — or across the world—you can see your Create Jobs for USA donation going to work in your community.

CreekSide Co-op, a member-owned grocery store set to open this fall in Elkins Park, is the recipient of a Create Jobs for USA loan, according to CreekSide board member Jonathan McGoran.

The loan was facilitated by The Reinvestment Fund, which has been
working with Create Jobs for USA funding since 2011.

McGoran said this loan was the keystone to CreekSide’s funding, making this co-op possible in an area that desperately needs it.

“The neighborhood has inadequate access to fresh, local food, [since] the retail district lost its anchor and much of its economic activity when the popular market that was once housed there closed 10 years ago,” McGoran said. “The entire community is excited about the revitalized district, the increased access to fresh, healthy food, and the 47 jobs we will be creating to start with, not to mention the construction jobs already created.”

McGoran believes this program can make a difference in an unstable job market.

“If Create Jobs for USA can help CDFIs like The Reinvestment Fund make projects like CreekSide Co-op a reality, I’d say they are already making a dent [in the current jobs crisis],” McGoran said.

For more information, or to donate or get involved with the Create Jobs for USA
campaign, visit the website.