On November 23, Starbucks Coffee Korea opened its Juksun branch as the fourth Community Store in the market, dedicated to creating pathways to opportunities for young people leaving care homes to begin their adult lives. A portion of proceeds from the store will be donated to the Beautiful Foundation to support life skills development programs. In addition, Starbucks will provide coffee skills training for young people seeking employment opportunities in the coffee industry, as well as career readiness training for underserved youth.

“Starbucks Community Store is a creative social impact model that helps consumers participate in sharing in their everyday life and contributes to prospering together with the local community.” said Chan Hee Han, chairman of the Beautiful Foundation. He added, “I hope this will be an opportunity to inform young people who are preparing for self-reliance that our society is cheering for them.”

Starbucks has partnered with the Beautiful Foundation since January 2020. Over the past three years, the partnership has created a KRW 900 million self-reliance fund to help young people leaving care homes develop a strong foundation for their future. Starbucks and the Beautiful Foundation will continue to provide opportunities and support through this new Community Store.

To expand outreach to local communities through Community Stores, Starbucks is hosting a “Build Your Community Store” contest, with the Korea National Council on Social Welfare, and accepting applications from nonprofit organizations (NGO) through December 5. The contest will culminate in the opening of a new Community Store with the winning NGO, a prize of KRW 50 million to help launch the NGO’s program, as well as an opportunity to visit a Starbucks Community Store in another market.

Participating NGOs may submit a proposal addressing one of the following topics: creating employment opportunities for vulnerable communities; expanding community outreach and engagement; providing skills training and self-reliance support; or a topic of choice aimed at solving a community problem. A total of three projects will be selected by a panel of professional judges, voting by customers and partners.