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As a company that buys three percent of the world’s coffee sourced from more than 400,000 farmers, Starbucks knows our success — and that of the industry at large — is directly linked to the success of the people who produce our coffee and the land on which it grows.

We are committed to sourcing coffee responsibly, for the betterment of both people and the planet. Starbucks® coffee has been verified as nearly 95 percent ethically sourced. While we are constantly striving for 100 percent, it is that last gap where some of our most important work happens — bringing on new farmers and cooperatives to help ensure the long-term future of coffee.

In addition to our ethical sourcing program for purchasing coffee, we are focused on providing holistic support to farmers and their communities to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all. We have invested more than $150 million to date to increase the prosperity and resilience of the farmers and workers who grow coffee around the world by investing in coffee communities, sharing technical coffee knowledge, and innovating with new agricultural approaches.

Our industry-leading, open-source approach takes many forms:

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OUR GOAL (accomplished): Train 200,000 coffee farmers by 2020 to help improve the long-term sustainability of their crops and their livelihoods through Starbucks Farmer Support Centers and other <a href="https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.starbucks.com%2Fnews%2Fstarbucks-and-usaid-empower-colombian-coffee-farmers&amp;data=02%7C01%7CMattie.Heider%40edelman.com%7Cc4d47a0ea8dd469c4ffb08d6acecd43c%7Cb824bfb3918e43c2bb1cdcc1ba40a82b%7C0%7C0%7C636886530514968257&amp;sdata=nHpZAgJkZ2g63Fbs%2BpEaUeqidFUaCr8%2F6rCD%2Bh7V3Zs%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">innovative efforts</a>

“Providing healthy trees to farmers in coffee-growing regions makes existing lands more productive and keeps us from expanding into forests. We’re proud to stand alongside Starbucks in this long-term endeavor to ensure that both livelihoods and nature around the world are vibrant and healthy.” — Dr. M. Sanjayan, executive vice president and senior scientist at Conservation International

OUR GOAL: Provide&nbsp;<a href="https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstories.starbucks.com%2Fpress%2F2017%2Fstarbucks-100million-coffee-trees%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7CMattie.Heider%40edelman.com%7Cc4d47a0ea8dd469c4ffb08d6acecd43c%7Cb824bfb3918e43c2bb1cdcc1ba40a82b%7C0%7C0%7C636886530514958247&amp;sdata=Yky1zgzXo3cXIKqAraxcaztoEy3Pu0OJubNjzhBNRbw%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">100 million trees to farmers by 2025</a>&nbsp;as part of a commitment to one billion coffee trees through the industry-wide Sustainable Coffee Challenge.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“The National Coffee Association commends Starbucks for this important initiative to support coffee farmers, which is especially timely given that a rising supply of coffee has been impacting prices.” — Bill Murray, President and CEO, National Coffee Association, USA

OUR GOAL: Invest $100 million in farmer loans by 2025.

“The lack of access to loans is one of the reasons many coffee farmers in low income countries are struggling to earn a basic living and feed their families. USAID, through the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future initiative, is proud to partner with companies like Starbucks to help ensure small-holder farmers are able to continue producing high quality coffee while reducing poverty in their households and communities.”&nbsp; – Aviva Kutnick, Division Chief, Private Sector Engagement Division in USAID’s Bureau for Food Security

OUR GOAL: Empower 250,000 women within coffee and tea communities by 2025. As of March 2020, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2021/women-and-girls-empowered-through-the-starbucks-foundations-origin-grants/">we have reached more than 125,000 women</a> through Origin Grants.

“The full participation of women is a critical ingredient of success in coffee farming families and communities. We’re pleased to partner with The Starbucks Foundation in supporting projects in Colombia and Indonesia to provide women with leadership skills and promoting essential elements of healthy homes for their families including clean water, sanitation, and hygiene among other components. Women leaders will use their voices and skills to strengthen the capacity of their families and communities to thrive.” — Rick Peyser, Senior Relationship Manager, Coffee &amp; Cocoa at Lutheran World Relief

Together, our mission is to ensure the future of coffee for all. For more information about Starbucks ethical sourcing, please visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/sourcing">starbucks.com/responsibility/sourcing</a>.

Building a Sustainable Future for Coffee, Together - Starbucks Stories

Stories to inspire and nurture the human spirit

Starbucks Stories

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Starbucks Corporation

Building a Sustainable Future for Coffee, Together

Starbucks knows our success is directly linked to the success of the people who produce our coffee and the land on which it grows.

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Here at Starbucks, our success especially for the future is directly linked to the success of the farmers who grow our coffee. With globally low coffee prices and coffee tree disease affecting many smallholder coffee farmers in Central America, we remain relentless in our efforts to support their livelihoods, we are constantly evaluating how we can improve that support, and we encourage the rest of the coffee industry to do the same.

Our approach in this region, as it is globally, is comprehensive and holistic. We pay premiums for our coffee for high-quality standards and participation in our ethical and sustainable sourcing program. &nbsp;We also provide coffee farmers with a range of resources, so that their livelihoods and quality of life improve alongside their coffee yields and coffee quality.

At times, this support includes short-term relief funding, such as an <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/starbucks-commits-20-million-for-emergency-relief-to-farmers/">Emergency Farmer Relief Fund</a> of up to $20 million for smallholder farmers in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua for the 2018-2019 harvest season, which is being disbursed now, and <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/starbucks-supports-guatemala-volcano-relief-efforts/">volcano relief efforts</a> for Guatemala last year.

Longer term, the following resources are available to farmers – both those who sell to Starbucks and those who do not.

The story of the Pacheco family in the Jalapa region of Guatemala is one example of Starbucks ongoing support. When a rust outbreak affected their coffee trees, they received 6,000 new, disease-resilient trees as part of Starbucks One Bag for Every Tree initiative (now the&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2017/starbucks-100million-coffee-trees/">100 Million Trees program</a>).

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Supporting Coffee Farmers in Central America - Starbucks Stories

Supporting Coffee Farmers in Central America

Here at Starbucks, our success especially for the future is directly linked to the success of the farmers who grow our coffee.

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Once upon a time, s’mores were a humble dessert. The original recipe was from a scouting magazine in the 1920s, calling for a toasted marshmallow sandwiched between pieces of chocolate and two graham crackers. 

But now s’mores aren’t just for campfires anymore. 

You can roast your own tableside in high-end restaurants, sidle up to a s’mores bar at a wedding reception, or order them to-go at a neighborhood food truck. They have inspired such culinary creations as s’mores grilled cheese sandwiches, muffins and pizza – even a s’mores burrito. There’s something nostalgic in that combination of melted chocolate, roasted marshmallow and crunchy graham crackers that makes it <a href="https://imbibeinc.com/food-and-beverage-industry-media/blog-postings-from-the-drink-tank/trendspotting-2019-trends">one of the top beverage trends for 2019</a>.

Now Starbucks <a href="https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-beverages/s-mores-frappuccino">S’mores Frappuccino®</a> blended coffee <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/smores-frappuccino-blended-beverage-will-return-to-starbucks-next-week/">is back in Starbucks stores</a> in the United States and Canada starting today (April 30) for a limited time, while supplies last (along with <a href="https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-beverages/mocha-cookie-crumble-frappuccino-blended-coffee">Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino</a> and <a href="https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-beverages/caramel-ribbon-crunch-frappuccino-blended-beverage">Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino</a>).

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It was those memories of summertime that first sparked the idea for the beverage, which was first introduced in 2015. Paloma Carrington-Bataller, manager of product development for Starbucks, wasn’t yet on the R&amp;D team but knows its origin story well.

“When we start creating a new beverage, we always try to think about our customer. What they are doing? How do they want to be feeling? What is their mindset? All those things go into every beverage we make,” she said.

The R&amp;D partners started with the idea of summers in the outdoors and spending time with friends and family. That led to the concept of roasting s’mores around a campfire. They came up with a Frappuccino recipe that’s a deconstructed version of the fireside classic with milk chocolate sauce, a creamy blend of vanilla, coffee, milk and ice that’s finished off with marshmallowy whipped cream and a graham cracker crumble. 

“Customers loved it,” Carrington-Bataller said. “There’s something about that first sip of marshmallow whip and the rich texture of our amazing milk chocolate sauce. It takes you right back to memories of summer camp or gathering around a bonfire with friends.”

The Frappuccino was a customer-favorite for three summers before <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/smores-frappuccino-blended-beverage-will-return-to-starbucks-next-week/">taking a hiatus</a> in 2018 and had a passionate fan base like <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/fall-arrives-at-starbucks-with-return-of-psl/">Pumpkin Spice Latte</a>. Customers didn’t take it well.

“My friends know I work at Starbucks and I got phone calls from them, asking why it wasn’t in stores,” she said. “People were upset!” 

Now that S’mores Frappuccino is back on the menu at Starbucks this summer by popular demand, she gets to enjoy hearing from friends about their favorite drink again. 

“I think one of the reasons people love s’mores so much is that they aren’t something you make for only yourself,” she said. “It’s something that’s shared with others.”

S’mores Frappuccino: the campfire treat that sparked one of summer’s biggest trends - Starbucks Stories

S’mores Frappuccino: the campfire treat that sparked one of summer’s biggest trends

Starbucks S’mores Frappuccino, in stores for a limited time this summer, rekindles feelings of nostalgia.

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How a campfire treat sparked one of summer’s big trends

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New Starbucks® by Nespresso allows brewed coffee and espresso lovers to recreate the Starbucks Experience in the comfort of their own home.

Starbucks and Nestlé are thrilled to introduce Starbucks by Nespresso, the first product jointly developed since the companies formed the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/nestle-and-starbucks-close-deal/">Global Coffee Alliance in August 2018</a>. Each capsule combines the high-quality, 100% arabica Starbucks® coffee that customers know and love with the premium at-home coffee experience of Nespresso.

“Starbucks® by Nespresso is a product that we have been very excited about since the formation of the Global Coffee Alliance,” said Tony Matta, President of Nestlé Starbucks Coffee. “Within this partnership, we are constantly searching for ways to elevate the at-home experience, and Starbucks® by Nespresso is the perfect way to bring a new, exciting coffee experience into the homes of our customers.” 

Starbucks and Nespresso share a commitment to sustainability. These capsules are made of aluminum and are recyclable as a part of the Nespresso recycling program.&nbsp; In addition, the coffee is made with 100% high-quality arabica coffee, ethically sourced &nbsp;adhering to <a href="https://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/sourcing/coffee">Starbucks C.A.F.E. Practices</a>.

Starbucks by Nespresso prices vary by retailer. The capsules can be found on Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Jet.com starting in early May. 

Below, find more information on the available Starbucks coffee, and on-trend, delicious recipes to make at home on your Nespresso Original Line machine.*

Starbucks Espresso Roast

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Starbucks® Espresso Roast (Rich &amp; Caramelly Notes): Our smooth signature Espresso Roast with rich flavor and caramelly sweetness is at the very heart of everything that we do.&nbsp; At your first sip, you will taste molasses and caramelized sugar notes, flavors that are unmatched and so right that the roast has never been changed.

Hazelnut Bianco Latte Recipe with Starbucks Espresso Roast

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Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast

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Starbucks® Blonde Espresso Roast (Smooth &amp; Sweet Notes): A blend that is boldly mellow, is derived from five decades of sourcing, blending and roasting. This special blend of beans from Latin America was carefully roasted to coax out sweet, vibrant notes. It highlights milk’s sweeter side, making your classic espresso drink extra smooth, without a roasty edge.

Golden Turmeric Latte Recipe with Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast

Starbucks Single-Origin Colombia Coffee

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Starbucks® Single-Origin Colombia (Balanced with Nutty Notes): Inspired by the coffee farms where we source our coffee, this blend has a round body, juicy taste and signature nutty finish, giving an elevated boost to your cup of coffee.&nbsp;

Affogato Dessert Recipe with Starbucks Single-Origin Colombia

Starbucks Pike Place Roast

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Starbucks® Pike Place® Roast (Smooth with Chocolate Notes): Named after the first Starbucks store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, is a smooth, well-rounded blend of Latin American coffees. The flavor has subtly rich hints of chocolate and toasted nut notes that make it the ideal coffee to enjoy at any point throughout your day.

Maple Cinnamon Macchiato Recipe with Starbucks Pike Place Roast

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*Recipes created by Dana Pollack, CEO and Founder of <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.danasbakery.com" target="_blank">Dana’s Bakery</a>.

Starbucks By Nespresso Media Event

Starbucks by Nespresso Launches Nationwide in May - Starbucks Stories

Starbucks by Nespresso Launches Nationwide in May

New Starbucks by Nespresso allows brewed coffee and espresso lovers to recreate the Starbucks Experience in the comfort of their own home.

https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2019/starbucks-by-nespresso-launches-nationwide-in-may/

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A lot of people, love and science make your morning cup happen.

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At a coffee farm on the side of volcano in Costa Rica, Starbucks is innovating and learning on behalf of the coffee farmers everywhere. All that research is open-source, in pursuit of making coffee the first sustainable agriculture product. It’s a huge undertaking, but one that everyone involved takes personally. 

From seed to cup: The journey to sustainable coffee - Starbucks Stories

From seed to cup: The journey to sustainable coffee

A lot of people, love and science make your morning cup happen.

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It looked like a cup of coffee, but it was far more than that, the Starbucks barista said as she served it at the Shanghai Roastery. “You know what’s special about this cup of coffee? It was grown by a woman, harvested by a woman, brewed by a woman, and is now about to be drank by a woman,” she told Starbucks filmmaker Luanne Dietz.

The coffee was from Hingakawa, a woman-run cooperative in Rwanda. The coffee was more than a beverage – it was the livelihood for more than 500 women who have joined together to grow, harvest, dry and sell their coffee. And for many, it was also what drew together women from opposite sides of the 1994 genocide – women whose husbands were killed, and women whose husbands had participated in the genocide. In those years after, when so many men were killed or imprisoned, it was up to the women to provide for their families. To survive, they needed each other. The women of Hingakawa feel like, “these are my sisters,” said Dr. Geraldine Mukeshimana, minister of agriculture and animal resources in Rwanda.

The story of that one cup of coffee, served a world away, sparked what would become the short documentary “Hingakawa.” In that spirit, “Hingakawa” was directed, filmed and edited by an all-female crew.

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Meet the crew behind 'Hingakawa' documentary - Starbucks Stories

Meet the crew behind &#8216;Hingakawa&#8217; documentary

The Starbucks Productions original documentary "Hingakawa" was directed, filmed and edited by an all-female crew.

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Meet the crew behind ‘Hingakawa’ documentary

GAKENKE DISTRICT, Rwanda -- They’re called Angel’s Trumpets – elegant white cone-shaped flowers – and they are swaying gently in the breeze on this warm afternoon outside the home where Vestine* lives. Nearby, the next-door neighbor’s cow moos. The small cluster of homes, nestled next to each other, overlooks a lush, green hillside. It’s peaceful here. 

They were constructed for survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when Hutu extremists, the largest ethnic group in Rwanda, killed a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to stop the killings.

It was a time when neighbor rose up against neighbor, some who had known each other for years. By the time what's officially known as the Genocide Against the Tutsi was over, 100 days after it began, homes, families, friendships were decimated. 

Months later, Vestine met a woman named Genevieve*, once on the other side of the divide, who would become one of her closest friends. Their story is featured in the short documentary "Hingakawa" by Starbucks Productions. Its theatrical debut is April 11 <a href="https://2019sff.eventive.org/films/5c86d54f54a41f002365dfe8">at the Sarasota Film Festival</a>.

Vestine was 15 when her family was killed – her parents, siblings, grandparents and aunts. Her life since then has been about finding a way forward. Today, she lives here with her husband, four children and granddaughter, ranging in age from a young adult to a toddler.

Furniture is sparse, but there is love here. As her children wander through the house, Vestine explains how they are her hope. They know what she’s been through, but also know it’s important to stay open to others. “They know they have to give every visitor a warm welcome,” she said. 

“In my life, when I am with other people talking, it makes me happy,” she said.

When she herself was a child, she lived in a valley not far from this house. Her home was destroyed during the genocide, but she remembers happy times there with her siblings and parents. Sometimes her mom would surprise her with a treat – food or a piece of clothing. It’s the little memories like that of everyday things that stand out to her – the delicious normalcy of a time before nothing was ever normal again. 

“She took good care of me, I can’t forget her,” she said. “It’s not possible to forget my mom.”

Now, one of the things that brings her comfort is simply feeling safe, here at home with her family, on this hill. “The fact that I am safe, I feel like I am happy,” she said. 

A 40-minute walk away, outside another house on a different hill, Genevieve stands with the youngest of her five children. In the front yard, her mother-in-law, 97 years old, sits in the sun with neighbor children, her walking stick resting beside her. Genevieve has something that Vestine doesn’t – elders. As a Hutu, her family is intact. 

One of her sons is disabled, and she is devoted to taking care of him. She worries a little about what will happen to him when she’s old but she’s confident his brothers and sisters will take care of him with the same love she does. 

As she talks, a white chicken wanders by, one of the small menagerie of animals she has, along with a cow, which has a calf.

Her home is her sanctuary. She loves growing vegetables to cook for family and neighbors. Community is important to her. So is her faith. She's a devout Catholic and around her neck hangs a cross. Pictures of Jesus adorn her home. On the weekends, she walks over an hour to church to pray with her congregation. 

Genevieve has an easy smile and, when she realizes a visitor isn’t feeling well, ducks into the house to return with a mat and a pillow. This natural concern for others is how she and Vestine met, back when she worked at a health clinic where Vestine had just given birth, without any family to help her know how to take care of a little baby. &nbsp;

Though Genevieve, 47, is only seven years older, over time, Vestine has come to see her as a mother figure. 

“I did not abandon her,” Genevieve said. “We kept our relationship and, even now, she cannot have any problem about me and vice versa.”

Their lives have remained entwined over the years, with both of them part of the Hingakawa coffee co-op, which is run by all women. Both married, they each have their own coffee trees and pride themselves in being able to help provide for their families. 

During the off-season, when they don’t see each other at the co-op, Vestine, 40, and Genevieve seek each other out. “When three days pass without seeing her,” Vestine said, “I go and look for her or she comes and looks for me as well; we cannot be separated.”

Family isn’t only whom you are related to by blood – it’s also whom you choose. Vestine and Genevieve choose each other. 

Vestine “really loves everybody at the same level with no discrimination, she takes care of everyone,” said Genevieve. “I love her.”

For her part, Vestine said of Genevieve, “What I learned from her is love. Loving my colleagues, being sympathetic with others and, for example if someone falls sick, I can help him. I learned all these from Genevieve.” 

Luanne Dietz and Peace Hillary Tumwesigire contributed to this article.

*For reasons of personal safety, in a country so focused on reunification that to speak otherwise can be a crime, their last names are being withheld. 

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Meet the two women, once on opposite sides of the Rwandan genocide, who are now each other’s strength.

Finding home: Vestine and Genevieve, two women at the heart of 'Hingakawa' - Starbucks Stories

Finding home: Vestine and Genevieve, two women at the heart of &#8216;Hingakawa&#8217;

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Finding home: Vestine and Genevieve, two women at the heart of 'Hingakawa'

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Finding home: Vestine and Genevieve, two women at the heart of ‘Hingakawa’

We believe it’s in the conversations that happen every day in our stores. It’s in our values, the benefits that we provide for our partners and the way we work to make a difference in our communities and around the planet. It is in the fact that we believe it is possible to do well in the world and do well in business at the same time. 

We believe Starbucks is a different kind of company. And we’re not alone. We asked some of our partners and customers to share what they believe about Starbucks—watch the video, share it, and think about what makes you believe this is a different kind of company too.

A different kind of company - Starbucks Stories

We believe Starbucks is a different kind of company. And we’re not alone. We asked some of our partners and customers to share what they believe about Starbucks.

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A different kind of company

There’s a new beverage on the menu at five Starbucks Reserve locations, and its name and its story may surprise you. 

Both begin in Turin, an ancient city nestled in the foothills of the Italian Alps where Roman towers still stand sentinel. Torino (as it’s known in Italian) is a delicious mix of old and new, a foodie’s paradise that favors local ingredients and traditional cooking methods. 

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Torino’s café culture goes back centuries, where intellectuals like Friedrich Nietzsche and Alexandre Dumas drank and argued. Its favored local beverage is bicerin, with heart-warming layers of drinking chocolate, espresso and cream that takes its name from the vessel it is served in, which means “small round glass” in the local language of Piedmontese. 

Amy Dilger, from the Starbucks Beverage and Food Innovation team, has been captivated by bicerin (pronounced as bee-cheh-REEN) for more than a decade. A pastry chef by training, she spent time immersing in European culture working in restaurants and hotels there. 

“I love the history of food, and I had read about bicerin long before I visited Torino,” Dilger said. “It’s espresso forward, it’s rich and it’s special with thick chocolate and creamy milk with espresso poured on top. When I finally got to visit, I just sat at a café with a bicerin and took it all in.”

Dilger, the creative influence behind <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2014/starbucks-chestnut-praline-latte/">Chestnut Praline Latte</a> and <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2016/starbucks-roastery-inspired-beverages/">Smoked Butterscotch Latte</a>, passed the torch to Starbucks beverage developer Jennifer Galbraith. She shared Dilger’s interest in bicerin, first tasting the beverage at the end of a long bike tour through the Alps. She got to work in Starbucks beverage innovation kitchen and created the two recipes now highlighting these flavors of Italy for Starbucks Reserve locations: Chocolate Bicerin and Pistachio Bicerin. The beverages are available starting today (March 12) at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in <a href="https://www.starbucksreserve.com/en-us/locations/seattle">Seattle</a> and <a href="https://www.starbucksreserve.com/en-us/locations/new-york">New York</a>, the <a href="https://www.starbucksreserve.com/en-us/locations/store/50621">Starbucks Reserve SODO store</a> and Starbucks Reserve locations in <a href="https://www.starbucksreserve.com/en-us/locations/store/56803">Seattle</a> and <a href="https://www.starbucksreserve.com/en-us/locations/store/531">San Francisco</a>.

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“I started with the flavors of the classic bicerin,” Galbraith said. “It’s a pour of chocolate sauce on the bottom of the glass topped with a velvety cold foam crema made with nonfat milk, the freshly-pulled espresso is poured over the top creating a frothy float of espresso between the chocolate and crema. It’s both sippable and spoonable.”

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“The south of Italy has some of the best pistachios in the world,” Galbraith said. She added their flavor in the crema of the Pistachio Bicerin for a nutty, slightly savory flavor. “The chocolate forms a beautiful base, with layers of espresso and crema on top.”

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What’s behind the name of the new Starbucks Reserve beverage, Bicerin? - Starbucks Stories

What’s behind the name of the new Starbucks Reserve beverage, Bicerin?

Here’s a hint: It’s named after the glass it’s served in.

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In honor of International Women’s Day, meet Cecilia Valderrama Gómez, Manjula Kahar and Nande Anggun, women who live in different countries but are united in their commitment to improving their communities with the support of The Starbucks Foundation. 

It was a mother’s sacrifice that was nearly unfathomable. In order to save her children, Cecilia Valderrama Gómez knew she would have to send them away. She and her husband and four children lived in El Escobal, a rural area in Colombia that was controlled for 50 years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

“Because of the conflict, people were living in fear,” she said. “There was a lot of fear in doing just basic activities. We couldn’t dare try to leave the area.” 

The FARC was known to recruit young children and use them as runners. So, when Valderrama Gómez’s children were between 9 and 13, she sent three of them to stay with family in a safer area where they could go to school and wouldn’t be taken by the FARC.

“I didn’t want them to be at risk,” she said. Years passed, and it wasn’t until the conflict ended two years ago that she saw them again. Her son who wasn’t able to go with the others ended up being conscripted by the FARC and later went to jail.

It’s overwhelming recalling all that she went through living in the shadow of the FARC, she said. Instead, she chooses to focus on the present and work toward the future. Today, “I’m happy and hopeful,” she said. “I have always wanted to help others fight for a better life and to help others get ahead.”

Valderrama Gómez, 52, is doing exactly that as president of the Escobal Women’s Association, an organization comprised of 16 women, dedicated to improving conditions for the community after the conflict. About half of the families in her community don’t have basic sanitation services. Many don’t have bathrooms. 

That’s now starting to change due to help from a $500,000 grant to Lutheran World Relief from The Starbucks Foundation, which is targeted toward improving sanitation and access to clean water and also creating greater economic opportunity for women in coffee communities in Tolima, Colombia. 

In 2018, The Starbucks Foundation announced a goal of empowering 250,000 women and girls by 2025 in communities where coffee, tea, and cocoa is grown. Since then, the foundation has given nearly $4 million dollars to 11 programs focused on women’s leadership opportunities, economic development, access to water, sanitation, health, education and more. 

Starbucks currently partners with a number of non-profits around the world who lead the programs, including Barefoot College, CARE, Days for Girls International, Lutheran World Relief (in Colombia and Indonesia), Roger Federer Foundation, Send a Cow, UNICEF Ethical Tea Partnership, Instituto del Café’ de Costa Rica, Malala Fund and World Relief.

Fact Sheet: <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2019/03/Fact-Sheet-The-Starbucks-Foundation-Grants-to-Empowering-Women.pdf">The Starbucks Foundation Grants to Empowering Women</a>

“When you invest in women, you are investing in an entire ecosystem,” said Virginia Tenpenny, vice president of Global Social Impact at Starbucks and executive director of The Starbucks Foundation. “We’re focused on investments that lead to women being empowered, specifically in health, educational opportunities and income, so they can in turn empower their families and communities as well.”

The women of the Escobal Women’s Association may be small in number, but they know how to organize and get things done, a point of pride for Valderrama Gómez. They raise bees and sell the honey locally, providing an income for their families while working toward a goal of being able to sell their honey in the larger cities and grow their customer base. 

They are also about to use those same organizational skills to help facilitate the building of more toilets in her community. Women from her group will meet with families in the area to assess the need. And then they’ll coordinate getting the supplies there via a two-hour journey by donkey.

Valderrama Gómez knows that better sanitation means less sickness and disease. People get sick if the water is contaminated. The closest hospital is miles away. 

“If you have better sanitation, you have better health,” she said. “My hope is to see new projects continue and for the community to really grow, not just in prosperity but in peace.”

That’s the hope of The Starbucks Foundation too, said Tenpenny.

“Women have an instinct to pay it forward,” she said. In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, meet some of the other women who are working to change the world, one community at a time.

At 3 p.m. each afternoon, about 120 children arrive at Majula Kahar’s home in Assam, India, for her after-school education program. For the next two hours, Kahar teaches them how to read and write. Though Kahar comes from modest means, she does it without pay, committed to helping the children have opportunities she didn’t growing up. 

Like them, Kahar, now 26, grew up on the Moran Tea Estate, the daughter of a tea picker. She attended the local government school when she was a girl, especially unusual for young girls in the region. Due to limited access to school and lack of resources, many children on tea estates who do attend school drop out before high school without being able to read, making aspirations and economic opportunities nearly impossible.

&nbsp;“The after-school program that these children are a part of is for lower-income groups,” she said. “I feel change will come when it is communicated that education is a largest priority. I want the community to be educated and to value education.”

In many tea communities, education is prioritized for boys, with girls being expected to focus on household chores, she said. But Kahar’s mother, a tea picker whom she calls the core of the family, always placed value on education. She encouraged all three of her children to continue school, even as Kahar saw many of her friends drop out and get married early. &nbsp;

Kahar went through a training program to learn how to teach children as part of <a href="https://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/sourcing/tea">Mercy Corps’ Community Health and Advancement Initiative (CHAI)</a>, supported since 2003 by &nbsp;The Starbucks Foundation. Today she is earning her Bachelor of Arts degree at Moran College to advance access to education for children in her community.&nbsp;

“I always had the desire to be a teacher,” she said. “Education was not a priority on tea estates growing up, and after getting training, I began teaching kids in the community. I quickly saw, after three or four months, an improvement in students. They could now recognize the alphabet and write short sentences. One student even began to sing stories in the classroom to friends.&nbsp; This is the inspiration I see in schools. I am happy that I can contribute to my community and society.”

The number of students who come to Kahar’s classes continues to grow. Many, who are eager for the chance to learn, are bringing their friends. She finds room for them all.

Education, she knows, is the key to unlocking a better life, particularly for girls.

“I want to see women and girls uplifted in parts of the world where they are deprived of education,” she said. “I hope one day the woman will rise and be given importance in the world.”

After she graduates from college, she wants to be a school teacher, which she sees as her path to changing the world. 

It’s early morning and Nande Anggun, 48, has not been to bed yet. As a midwife, she’s accustomed to being up at all hours at the side of women who need her. On this day last week, she’s just helped deliver a baby girl – part of the next generation of women in the Indonesian community that Anggun has devoted her life to helping empower.

In addition to being a midwife for the last 26 years, she also works with young children and the elderly, tends to her farm of 200 coffee trees and is also the treasurer of Pembianaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK), a family welfare organization led by women focused on helping develop women’s leadership, governance, management, strategic planning and more in their villages. It’s rare for her to get more than six hours of sleep a night, but it’s worth it, she says, because she knows that this is how change happens.

“I’m very proud to participate in community activities because I look for how the women in my community can have a better life,” she said, as she sat in the lobby of her local health clinic. 

In 2018 Lutheran World Relief, which works with PKK, was given a three-year grant from The Starbucks Foundation totaling $500,000 to support women-led community health and hygiene programs for 2,100 households in Indonesian coffee-producing villages. 

PKK is leading a series of workshops where women in the community can discuss various topics about health and family. The group is focused on helping women build, and then advocate, for their own agendas in their lives and communities. Often, she said, the weight of caring for the family and making sure bills are paid falls to women, even when they are working outside the home. 

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