Covenant Coffee, along with Covenant Community Services Incorporated, is a non-profit organization that offers many programs to foster youths. The programs were created to help find foster kids in Bakersfield and its surrounding areas a place to stay and provide jobs for the youths in those programs.
“This program, Covenant Coffee, started a year ago when CEO Randy Martin and local roaster Isaac Dennis came from North Carolina and shared the same idea,” said Jeremy Hendricks, project manager for the coffee program.
“‘Coffee roasted on purpose and for a purpose’ is the motto for the coffee shop,” said Martin and Dennis about the program.
Martin and Dennis shared the idea and believed that they could help many youths become independent and successful by providing them with jobs. They both felt that opening a business and offering jobs to foster youths, would make them feel more positive about themselves and would create new opportunities for them.
These programs are only offered for foster children and youths in order to better the system. There are two programs available, Covenant Coffee and Covenant Media.
“Covenant Coffee is our new program for the youth, but Covenant Community Services Incorporated has been here in Bakersfield for 15 years helping out foster youth,” said Hendricks.
Many foster youths do not do well in the system and when they get booted out at the age of 18, they have nowhere to go or nothing to do, so they get into trouble with the law or involved in gang violence.
“Here at Covenant Community Services, we are trying to take the adolescents being emancipated and help them become independent,” said Hendricks. In addition they also provide housing for the youth involved in Covenant Coffee and other programs.
“We have two programs that provide housing for our foster youth, Building Blocks and Traditional Housing,” said Hendricks. “Traditional housing is one of the bigger locations were housing is provided because its an apartment complex.”
Currently Covenant Coffee doesn’t have its own location, so as for now they just have it running in the office of Covenant Community Services.
“We are very excited and proud to say that we have two possible locations for the coffee shop which are 1700 North Chester, where the old Bank of America used to be, and another location in Taft,” says Martin.
Many people get the idea that these will be like the Starbucks all over town, but these coffee shops will be nothing like Starbucks according to Hendricks. “It’s more of a local shop and the coffee is roasted to perfection.”
Covenant Community Services Incorporated and its many programs such as Covenant Coffee are located in downtown Bakersfield on 1616 29th and Eye Street.
“We welcome volunteers and they are highly appreciated. We have several programs that need mentors,” says Hendricks.