New Denver coffee shop is on a mission to support workers with disabilities

When customers patronize a new coffee shop in East Denver, their money not only supports the nonprofit that runs it, but also training programs that help locals with intellectual and developmental disabilities learn valuable workplace skills.

DIRT Coffee, which aims to increase the number of people with disabilities in the workforce, started as a mobile truck before opening its first brick and mortar in downtown Littleton in 2018. On Thursday, it opened its second shop at the Mosaic Community Campus (1785 Quebec St., Building 8, Denver), where executive director Catharina Hughey hopes to spread the mantra that every person’s uniqueness is an asset.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 31.4% of adults ages 16 to 64 with a disability are currently employed. That’s compared to 72.5% of adults the same age without a disability. (BLS adjusts for individuals who are not in the labor force and not actively looking for jobs.)

“I believe we don’t live with a single issue in our lives, and I’ve been really fortunate in my nonprofit work to work in child welfare, with immigrants and refugees in Aurora, and also doing research with people experiencing homelessness and now I find myself in the disability community,” said Hughey, who joined DIRT Coffee in 2021. “I really feel like that intersectionality is key to how we show up and we move these issues forward.”

DIRT stands for “divergent, inclusive, representation, transform” — four words at the core of the organization’s mission. According to the National Center for Disability Journalism, “neurodiversity” refers to brains that operate differently, which Hughey and other advocates say should be celebrated.

About 50% of DIRT Coffee’s staff is neurodivergent, Hughey said. Additionally, the shop offers an internship program that seeks to empower folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as autism, Down syndrome, Tourette syndrome, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and mood disorders, with one-on-one job coaching. Interns not only gain work experience in the coffee shop, but also transferable skills they can use in jobs thereafter, Hughey said.

Through its Inclusive Workforce Employer Program, the organization also seeks to educate employers about hiring, promoting and retaining members of the disability community and to address the barriers to entry in the workforce.

“To have the neurodivergent population have access to the jobs that bring them purpose and meaning is our end goal,” Hughey said. “We’d love to see there were no barriers to that and look forward to having employers and employees know how to navigate the system to make that a success.”

According to Hughey, the internship, called the Inclusive Employment Program, had a 92% graduation rate in 2021 and saw 60% of its  job development participants placed in integrated employment.

With the new Denver location, she hopes to continue to expand on those initiatives.

“When we were looking for a second location, there was an intention behind it — we want to make sure we’re bringing our work to communities that have been underserved or underrepresented in the past,” she said. “Having the opportunity to be at Mosaic Community Campus, which is a work, learn and live campus, I was like, ‘This is so perfect.’ ”

While other locations may be developed in the future, DIRT Coffee seeks to uphold its mission first and run a business second, Hughey said. So any further expansion plans need synergy like the organization has found in Denver, she added.

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