Nonprofit Opens Second Café in Highland Park, Where Foster Youth Data Drove the Decision

A Pasadena nonprofit that funnels all of its coffee shop revenue into a youth workforce program will open a second café in Highland Park on Saturday, after government data identified the neighborhood as having the highest concentration of foster youth cases in Northeast Los Angeles.

Coffee With A Cause, which operates the Rosebud Coffee café on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, said the Department of Child and Family Services had identified zip code 90042 and several adjacent zip codes as having the highest number of referrals and open cases for foster youth in the Northeast LA area. That data led the organization to Highland Park for its second location, at 5858 North Figueroa St., according to founder and executive director Dan Davidson.

“The Department of Child and Family Services, so DCFS, had identified the Northeast LA area, the zip code, where we’re at in the 90042 and a few others as having the highest number of referrals and open cases for foster youth,” Davidson said.

The grand opening celebration begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 21, and includes a ribbon-cutting ceremony, a coffee tasting, and opportunities to meet the youth and program partners at the center of the organization’s work, according to Coffee With A Cause’s press materials.

The café operates as a social enterprise: 100 percent of Rosebud Coffee’s profits fund the organization’s Ready, Set, Hire program, which provides paid internships, mentorship, and job-site experience for young people ages 16 to 24 who have experienced foster care, homelessness, or justice system involvement, according to the organization.

“All of our funding is owned by the nonprofit,” Davidson said. “Everything goes into the work we do. Those cups of coffees that we sell and those sandwiches and pastries we sell, that’s all direct support to everything that happens. It’s all encompassed in one.”

Davidson said Highland Park appealed for two reasons — the foster youth data and the neighborhood’s reputation as a hub for coffee.

“Highland Park as a location rose to the surface because of those two critical data points, the highest need for foster youth, but also it’s a space where coffee makes sense,” Davidson said.

The site was also chosen for its proximity to the Metro, Davidson said, so that youth in the program have access to public transportation. The location has a parking lot for customers.

The expansion was funded through multiple sources. Davidson said the organization received funding from LA County’s Justice Community Opportunities Department to explore the expansion. The Young Adults Forward Foundation provided a $100,000 grant, and the Hauswirth Foundation donated $85,000, according to Coffee With A Cause. A $363,000 California Jobs First Catalyst grant distributed by the California Community Foundation also supported the expansion, according to the foundation.

At Highland Park, youth interns train alongside baristas, learning hard skills such as latte art and soft skills including customer service, Davidson said. Interns come primarily from referral partners in the area, including Optimist Youth and LAUSD continuation schools, Davidson said.

Before the café opened, Rosebud ran a popup coffee bar at Optimist Youth’s building in the area, training youth while the Highland Park build-out was underway, Davidson said. The popup trained 17 youth and paired them with 12 volunteer mentors, according to the organization.

One intern, Angelica Solis, trained at the popup, developed her skills, and earned her Specialty Coffee Association Barista Certificate, according to the organization’s grand opening materials.

“She really came alive when she took ownership of that space,” Davidson said. “Not only did she show off her coffee palette and customer service, but we learned in the process that she was also really gifted at training. She started to train the other youth inside the popup while she was helping us manage it.”

Davidson said the organization made a deliberate effort to build relationships in Highland Park before opening.

“We wanted to make sure that we weren’t just dropping in, but we were being, in a sense, invited,” Davidson said.

The organization expanded its board to include two members with Highland Park ties, Davidson said. Optimist Youth shared its building for the popup. Bridge Thrift, a thrift store across the street from the new Rosebud location, became an internship site for youth seeking retail experience, and Joy on York, a restaurant in the area, did the same, Davidson said.

The menus at the two Rosebud locations are similar but not identical, Davidson said. The Highland Park café has a full kitchen and an expanded food menu, while Pasadena’s kitchen is more limited. Each site carries its own signature drink — at Highland Park, it is a rose cream top on the latte.

In seating, Highland Park is smaller — approximately half the capacity of the Pasadena location, Davidson said, because the Highland Park café is a single unit while the Pasadena shop shares a co-located space with Wild Parrot Brewery.

Coffee With A Cause opened its first permanent Rosebud Coffee café at 2302 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena in 2017, according to prior Pasadena Now reporting. Davidson started training young people in barista skills in 2013 while pastoring Rose City Church in Pasadena, using a coffee cart he found on the church property, according to the Pasadena Star-News. The organization has served more than 100 youth overall and aims to reach 60 in 2026, according to a California Community Foundation article citing organizational data.

The grand opening celebration is Saturday, March 21, at 11 a.m. at Rosebud Coffee, 5858 North Figueroa St., Highland Park, CA 90042. More information is available at coffeewithacause.org. Those interested in volunteering as mentors can visit the website and click the volunteer tab.

Davidson said he sees Highland Park as a test of whether Rosebud’s model can be replicated.

“If Highland Park goes well and we really learn how to replicate our system of support for — it’s a whole ecosystem, right? — yes, I definitely believe we have a model to share with Southern California,” Davidson said.