WHO WE ARE
Coffee Crafters Academy was born in 2013 out of a need to better serve those that have a prior criminal history. We are a social enterprise that operates cafes inside of correctional facilities across the state of Ohio. We train facility residents to become certified baristas that create a variety of artisan, handcrafted coffee, smoothie, and tea drinks to sell to other residents, staff and visitors. Our resident employees develop marketable skills and a positive work history that will help them obtain employment once released.
OUR MISSION
OUR VALUES
OUR VISION
Our mission is to aid in the reentry of justice involved individuals back into communities across the US via employment in the coffee industry.
Teamwork
Integrity
Professionalism
Humility
Positivity
Personal Growth
Service
Our vision is a world with more inclusive, supportive and forgiving communities that believe in the power of second chances.
MEET OUR TEAM
OUR FEATURES
THE NEW YORK TIMES
ARTICLE PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2019
"Incarceration is a dehumanizing experience. Working in a coffee shop helps the people inside remember how to interact in polite society. The for-profit work traditionally found in correctional facilities, like stamping license plates or making cheap clothing on an assembly line for 86 cents an hour, can’t do that. 'In some ways it’s just about restoring dignity. That’s really hard to do if you’re a robot on an assembly line with no windows working 10 hours a day,' said Nick Hirsch, director of the Coffee Crafters Academy, which operates barista classes in two Ohio prisons. 'But when you craft a drink, you have to have soft skills, customer interaction, that impacts your work.'”
BARISTA
MAGAZINE
ARTICLE PUBLISHED
OCTOBER 2017
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"The [Coffee Crafters] Academy is thorough, demanding, and, yes, competitive: At time of press, 37 inmates were employed in the operation's cafes, and went through a rigorous hiring sequence before being given the proverbial keys to the shop."
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NBC4 WCHMH-TV
COLUMBUS NEWS
REPORT PUBLISHED APRIL 2017
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"We just found that the coffee industry is one that we can leverage to teach them some of the more transferrable skills that they can use within any industry."
- Nick Hirsch, former Director of Coffee Crafters Academy
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"Warden Jeffery Noble says about 70% of their inmates will eventually return to society. 'The better trained they [released inmates] are, the better prepared they are to return to society they are, the less likely they are to come back.'"
