Community Corner

Let's Create Jobs for USA, Declares Starbucks

More than 7,000 Starbucks Coffee cafes, such as the one in Wildwood, are supporting an initiative with the Opportunity Finance Network to provide financing to community businesses, just in time for Fourth of July.

How much more patriotic can coffee lovers get for Independence Day observations than to brew up a new blend appropriately named "Indivisible?"

It's all about "Americans Helping Americans Create Jobs," indicates the Starbucks information about the new coffee line, while citing that more than 8 percent of the U.S. labor force is unemployed. Economists have predicted current economic conditions will stretch into the longest period of U.S. unemployment in the last 70-plus years.

Starbucks teamed with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), a group of community lending institutions established to provide financing to community businesses—especially those serving low-income, low-wealth and disadvantaged communities.

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Customer purchases of Starbucks' new Indivisible wristband for $5 provide a financial donation to OFN. Interested individuals also can donate online by clicking here.

Starbucks Foundation seeded the new project with $5 million. Customers' full $5 donations go straight to the cause. Company materials indicate the wristband is actually worth $35 when considering the new financing the opportunity creates. And yes, the wristbands were made in the USA.

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The Indivisible coffee's packaging claims the blend is "perfect for celebrating summer and our country."

Starbucks materials indicates company teams "set out to create a coffee that was just right for every part of a great summer day in America. Created with Starbucks Blonde roast for a bright flavor and light body, it's a true summer treat. Served iced, it's like a jump in the lake."

The 1-pound bag of coffee sells for $14.95 at the .

Community businesses employ more than half of all private-sector workers, according to Starbucks materials about this program. Starbucks also stated community businesses have created 64 percent of new jobs in the past 15 years.

Here is a description of the goal found on Indivisible:

WE ARE INDIVISIBLE. America is about opportunity. About liberty and justice. About a job for every woman and man who wants one. Right now, these jobs aren't out there, but we believe we can all help change that. When you buy this coffee, you help, too. Five dollars from the sale of each bag of this coffee goes directly to Opportunity Finance Network and the Create Jobs for USA Fund. Dedicated to creating and sustaining jobs all over the United States by supporting small businesses in local communities. Getting America working again. And showing that as a people and as a country we are, truly, indivisible.

 



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