Coffee Educators Ltd 3.15

As employers ourselves; with two cafes, we know the struggle of finding staff that have the necessary core skills for employment like; customer service, common sense, and communication. Thus, Coffee Educators was established in the summer of 2016 in central Lower Hutt, Wellington, with the goal of teaching employable and transferable skills that are key for a successful team across a range of industries.

We see coffee and barista training as the best catalyst to ignite passion for learning the skills individuals need to gain a footing into employment. We strongly believe that coffee breaks down barriers and builds confidence. We use coffee as a universal language and see how across the world, it brings people together, how it is able to encourage and promote diversity. Many jobseekers we have coming through our doors and completing training with us have barriers to employment such as physical and neurological health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

In the in our first year of operation, we recognised quickly the need for our training methods to be hands on and practical, they need to reach and be easily understood by a diverse range of students with varying abilities coming through our door. Our training area has been designed to be an open and welcoming learning environment that reflects a cafe set up.

As the second official language of New Zealand and with four profoundly D/deaf team members across our training site and cafes, we want to make sure New Zealand Sign Language is an integral part of our curriculum. All students leave with a beginners understanding in NZSL.

In recognition for our achievements in the local community with our focus for inclusion, we have won:

2015 - Employer of the Year award from Deaf Aotearoa (deaf.org.nz)
2015 - Diversability Award from the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust (EEO Trust - diversityawards.org.nz)
2015 - Wellington Regional Airport Community Award for Education and Child Youth Development