Homeless at Starbucks: Why the Coffee Chain is Bringing in Social Workers
- 'Homeless at Starbucks: why the coffee chain is bringing in social workers,' The Guardian, Jan. 25, 2023. - Ed. - The giant coffee chain has partnered with a non-profit to connect unhoused people with services.
(Photo: Unhoused people use the cafe locations to warm up and rest – and now outreach workers can find them there and offer services).
On a chilly recent morning, customers inside a Starbucks in New York City’s midtown were doing what you’d expect: buying coffee, warming up, chatting. But one person was moving through the store with a different purpose: she first approached a woman standing near the door, & then another man seated with a cup of coffee, saying hello, asking how they were and offering them gloves, hats & handwarmers. This was an outreach worker named Thashana Jacobs, and this store was her first stop of the day. The organization she works for, a homeless outreach and housing non-profit, has been contracted by Starbucks to deal with an issue that the company feels it cannot ignore: the number of unhoused people who come into the store looking for a place to sit, rest and use the restroom.
The program shows how private companies may find themselves filling holes in the US social safety net. And it also takes pressure off Starbucks baristas who may lack the formal expertise needed to deal with customers experiencing a crisis. Jacobs has become a familiar face along her route. Once outside the cafe, she spotted a neighborhood regular on his bike. He pulled over, and as the two talked, Jacobs urged him to head to a local drop-in center downtown – a storm was coming, promising to bring freezing temperatures. He asked for the address & whether she’d be there, & said he’d stop by later. Jacobs proceeded on to the next Starbucks.
Heading past tourists & families bundled up for the weather, Jacobs took it as a good sign that this client asked her questions about the drop-in center; on other days, he had shrugged off the suggestion. But “if people get cold enough, they’ll say, ‘Listen, I’m ready,’” said Jacobs. In New York City, it is clear why a Starbucks is an attractive place to pass the time. Some people experiencing homelessness say they prefer the streets over the city’s homeless shelters, some of which have strict rules, such as curfews, & shared sleeping spaces.
The process of obtaining permanent housing can be long and overly bureaucratic; the city’s chief housing officer has called it a “paperwork first” approach.
There are many other resources available in the city, such as transitional housing, but for unhoused people, retail spaces like Starbucks also offer an everyday place of refuge. That means that baristas, cashiers & other food service workers often play the unofficial role of social worker on the job. Starbucks began bringing trained outreach workers into its stores in 2020, & the program is active in 8 US cities, incl. LA, Philadelphia, Chicago & Seattle. Homelessness rates in all these cities are high or growing. In NYC, for instance, the number of people sleeping in shelters reached almost 66,000 last Oct. And the national homelessness rate remains stubbornly high. A spokesperson for Starbucks described the program as one of the ways that the coffee giant seeks to support & strengthen the communities around its stores, & better equip employees to meet the challenges of their jobs.
With this program specifically, Starbucks “wanted to be a part of the solution” alongside non-profits with experience in this area, the spokesperson said... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/25/homeless-at-starbucks-social-workers-outreach
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