Whole Latte Love Cafe has been selected as a State Farm Neighborhood Assist® Finalist!
North Canton, OH – Whole Latte Love Café needs your help! Vote for them to receive a $25,000 grant from State Farm® to improve their community. Starting September 23 at 12:00 a.m. ET, U.S. residents 18 and older with a valid email address can vote for their favorite cause at www.neighborhoodassist.com.
Whole Latte Love Café has until October 2 at 11:59 p.m. ET to rally votes. Individuals may vote up to 10 times per day. On November 4, the top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced at www.neighborhoodassist.com, and a $25,000 grant will be awarded to each of the affiliated nonprofits.
Being a good neighbor means more than ever before. Whole Latte Love Café’s vision is a world where people with disabilities live their best lives through fulfilling employment, meaningful relationships, and community engagement. According to the Department of Labor statistics, only 19.3% of persons with disabilities were employed (2019) while the employment rate for persons without disabilities was 66.3%. Furthermore, only 8% of the 90 Stark County Medicaid waiver providers offer paid employment options. Whole Latte Love Café offers supported employment in a customer service environment while introducing work readiness skills, job accommodations and activities of daily living. Its mentoring program offers person-centered guidance, and supports people as they discover their hidden talents.
The State Farm grant will help us hire six individuals with disabilities and provide 10 hours of weekly paid training supports for an entire year. Supported employment has become a world-wide phenomenon, helping those with disabilities who are unable to successfully gain or retain employment on their own to enter the labor force with dignity and inclusion in the community.
With these dollars, we will change the lives of this underserved population, increasing outreach to unemployed or the underemployed disabled adults in Stark County. We will address unmet needs through the four steps of the supported employment model:
• Development of a jobseeker profile and assessment
• A guided interest search
• On-the-job training, with transferable and marketable job skills
• Design of long-term supports promoting job retention with competitive employment.
Whole Latte Love Café is a unique social enterprise in North Canton, Ohio—a natural environment that encourages community gatherings. Employed individuals enjoy the self-respect of having a job, paying taxes, and building self-esteem. They also learn more about their interests, preferences, and abilities while developing transferrable skills they can take to a competitive work environment of their choosing.
Our hope is to reduce old barriers, and positively change the way people view other people. If you think disability inclusion matters in our community, let’s change the lens from less than to more alike than different.
Find us on social media @nclattelovecafe or go to the following link to cast your vote: https://www.neighborhoodassist.com/entry/2034272?tmaadmin=cx5wne6n59n58uaa&v=1
Please share our posts on Facebook and vote for us up to 10 times a day.
Help us empower the lives of persons with disabilities through education, preparation, and employment.
State Farm Neighborhood Assist is a crowd-sourced philanthropic initiative that empowers communities to identify issues in their neighborhoods. The State Farm Review Committee selected the top 200 finalists from 2,000 submissions.
