October Newsletter
National Disability Employment Month, New Website, and More!
National Disability Employment Month, New Website, and More!
We are so excited to share the latest news with you from Esteamed Coffee! As you may notice, things appear a little different around our website and newsletter. Read more about our new look below!
As we head into National Disability Employment Month, we celebrate the accomplishments of our incredibly hardworking team. At the same time, we recognize that the labor force participation rate for individuals ages 16-64 with a disability is still 41%, compared with a rate of 77.9% for those without a disability.
Your support makes what we do possible.
Your donations, volunteer hours, ambassadorship, and business help create opportunities for adults with disabilities to engage in meaningful work and social opportunities every day. We couldn't be more grateful.
Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the Esteamed Express!
Julie Walker
Executive Director
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our brand new website, generously crafted and donated by local creative agency Cary Digital Design!
This refreshed online home will make it easier than ever to connect with our mission, explore our programs, and plan your next visit.
Some of the upgrades we’re most excited about include:
Improved accessibility features to ensure everyone can navigate with ease.
A page for our team members, including introductions to all of our incredible cashiers and baristas.
A dedicated Programs page highlighting the many ways we support adults with disabilities.
A brand-new menu page with nutritional information powered by AI, so you can learn more about what you’re enjoying with every sip.
We are incredibly grateful to Cary Digital Design for their generosity and talent in bringing this vision to life. Take a look and let us know what you think!
Esteamed Coffee's Scholarship Committee recently had the chance to catch up with Jason Clinard Roth, the recipient of our first ever Full Steam Ahead scholarship. This award is available to adults with intellectual, developmental, communication and/or visual disabilities in North Carolina. It can be used to go to school, take community classes, start a business, and more!
Jason applied his scholarship toward tuition at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts,
where he is using the creative power of filmmaking to elevate autistic voices in cinema.
Jason has been busy in his first month, already creating several short films. So far, his favorite course is screenwriting. He is excited to craft a longer, 20-minute film later this semester, which will be shown in a theater. Jason is grateful for the opportunity that the Full Steam Ahead scholarship has given him, and that this award supports access to education for adults who are neurodiverse.
We can't wait to check in with him again at the end of the year to hear how his first semester went. Keep on moving full steam ahead, Jason!
In honor of National Disability Employment Month, we wanted to take a moment to talk about the impact that working at Esteamed Coffee has had on our staff.
Since opening in 2020, we have employed a total of 28 adults with disabilities, providing financial well-being while teaching transferable job and social skills. Through the confidence and abilities honed at Esteamed Coffee, several staff with disabilities have moved on to work at mainstream companies in Cary and the surrounding area.
That said, disability employment is about so much more than "work." Opportunities like the ones at Esteamed Coffee provide dignity, respect, purpose, and the chance to be seen for your abilities - the things you can do versus the things people think you can't.
If you believe in the power of meaningful employment, we invite you to support it. Your gift helps create more opportunities, more training, and more life-changing firsts.
Click the button below to make a donation and be part of what’s possible.
Your donation helps Esteamed Coffee's staff and all people with disabilities have a place where belonging meets community.