Happy Brew, a coffee shop in Jacksonville, is a nonprofit organization that provides meaningful employment and job training for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Amy Franks, director of Happy Brew, saw a need and decided to do something about it.
“I just felt like it was being pressed on my heart to create community for people that felt like they were alone,” said Franks.
Franks opened Happy Brew two years ago in the empty building next to Southside Methodist Church, where she is a member. The coffee shop was built with a universal design, which means it is equipped with automatic doors and has an open layout to allow space for wheelchairs. One of the restrooms is even equipped with an adult changing table, which Franks said is a big deal for parents who have adult children with disabilities.
About 70% of the employees at Happy Brew have a disability. These disabilities range from Down syndrome all the way to cerebral palsy. Happy Brew even has an employee with spina bifida, a type of neural tube defect. This employee must make frequent trips to the hospital, so she is in charge of the laundry at Happy Brew. She picks up the laundry from the coffee shop once a week and does it at home.
Franks said one of her main goals is to create jobs that will fit her employees’ abilities.
“We don’t want anyone to feel excluded. We know that everyone has a special ability, and we just need to be able to draw that out in them,” she said.
Another one of Franks’ goals is to bring as many people in the disabilities community together as she can. All of the art on the walls at Happy Brew is done by people with disabilities.
“I love when we can expose people to all the different gifts this community has to offer,” said Franks.
On the fourth Friday of every month, Happy Brew has an event called 99 Balloons. This event is a party for adults with or without disabilities. They can play bingo, lawn games and sing karaoke on Happy Brew’s new outdoor stage.
Franks said that she is just trying to create a safe space for anyone who needs it and that Happy Brew’s mission is to hire people with all abilities.
For more information on Happy Brew go to happybrew.org.
