Black & Brown Coffee House Founders and Farmers
Black & Brown Coffee House founders Javier LLano (far left) and Karel Leon (yellow shirt, right) work hand-in-hand with their farmers in Colombia to produce single-origin coffee.

The Youth Leadership Foundation, a leading Washington, D.C., non-profit organization that provides mentorship and extracurricular programming for students, announced today that Black & Brown Coffee House will lead its 2022 high school business plan competition, the Spirit of Service Challenge.

The Spirit of Service Challenge is a month-long mentorship and entrepreneurship program that provides an opportunity for both organizations to expose students to lessons about marketing, labor, production, and other aspects of business development. During the program, students will gain the business acumen to develop their own business plans and solve issues surrounding the start-up of any business enterprise.

The Youth Leadership Foundation and Black & Brown Coffee House seek to promote the development of young future leaders. In doing this, they hope to spark change by empowering underserved communities to rise to success through education.

"As an organization whose founders also come from humble beginnings, we are excited to be able to create programs that will help District youth reach their full potential," said Karel Leon, founder of Black & Brown Coffee House. "We've seen firsthand how being equipped with the right tools and mentorship can change the trajectory of someone's life towards a better future."

The Spirit of Service Challenge will run from July 5 through July 29, with the judging to take place on July 26.

Key highlights:

- Black & Brown Coffee House donates 5% of its sales to underserved communities. From this community fund, a portion will be donated to the Youth Leadership Foundation.
- Customers ordering coffee from Black & Brown Coffee House will be presented with an option to donate to the Youth Leadership Foundation.
- At the sixth annual Spirit of Service Challenge held by the Youth Leadership Foundation, Black & Brown Coffee House will provide workshops and presentations on production, labor, and marketing to youth leaders.

About YLF - Founded in 1997, the Youth Leadership Foundation serves 350 students annually with its quality mentoring programs in seven school partners across the city. No matter the format, YLF programs feature one-on-one mentoring, formative talks about character, intentional engagement of parents, and dedicated time for community-making.

About Black & Brown Coffee House - Based in Washington, D.C., Black & Brown Coffee House is a Black & Latino-owned coffee roaster. The roastery was created as an answer to the lack of coffee options that prioritize health, sustainability, and fair treatment of coffee farmers. By working directly with producers to create naturally-sweet blends that are full of antioxidants, the roastery serves coffee that tastes good, does good, and feels good too.

Media Contact:
Marissa Strang
marissa@blackbrowncoffeehouse.com
571-292-7600