Wildflyer Coffee

Give to the Max to support dignified employment opportunities for young people ages 16-24 experiencing homelessness in the Twin Cities. Wildflyer Coffee pays a living wage while teaching youth the skills needed to maintain stable employment and leave homelessness behind for good.

Our Mission: To create employment opportunities for youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability through the cultivation of life skills and personal empowerment. Our Vision: To end youth homelessness.

At Wildflyer Coffee we know that maintaining stable employment is one of the biggest barriers young people can face when experiencing homelessness. Youth ages 16-24 participate in our training program and are supported every step of the way so that upon graduation, they feel confident and prepared to enter the job market.

Wildflyer’s four-month Work & Life Skills Training Program provides young people like Tori and Sky the opportunity to develop the skills and the confidence that enable them to find and maintain employment–providing a pathway out of homelessness. From our inception in 2017 through 2023, we employed 71 young people and in 2024 alone, we are set to employ 45 youth–demonstrating the significant need for programming like ours.

Youth experiencing homelessness identify stable employment as a top priority, but face unemployment rates as high as 75%, compared to 16%* among their housed peers. *According to the US Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics, 2016.

We know our program is working! In 2023:

• 75% of participants graduated from Wildflyer's Work & Life Skills Training Program

• 80% of participants would recommend Wildflyer to a friend

• 80% of participants had a dream for their future and a plan to achieve it

• 85% of Wildflyer graduates are housed and employed, enrolled in education opportunities, or are working with their employment counselor

• 100% of participants felt safe and seen at Wildflyer

• 100% of program participants saw an increase in Job Readiness scores

And, notably, 100% of youth in our Winter & Spring 2024 cohorts were either employed, pursuing education, or actively working with their employment counselor post-graduation. With the support of our community–like you–we are seeing positive outcomes!

Want to be a Wildflyer Ambassador and fundraise on our behalf? Start by clicking the "Fundraise" button above and take a look at our Ambassador Toolkit.

"[Wildflyer is] amazing...it’s like walking through shade for a really long time and then you get to a part where there’s a break in the trees and there’s just sunlight shining on you." 

-Anisa, Wildflyer Graduate