There’s a new cafe in east Pasadena that hopes not only to sling good coffee, but to promote a good cause, too.

The newly opened Rosebud Cafe will exclusively hire formerly homeless people and youths transitioning out of the foster system. The cafe is an the expansion of a training program started by Rose City Church that used a coffee cart to teach at-risk youths how to become baristas.

Rose City Coffee, the cart program, has trained 15 people in the past four years and helped many of them land jobs. Rose City works alongside case workers and other support systems during the apprenticeship program to help the young adults become more emotionally and financially stable.

“It just happens that we’re using coffee to get there,” said Dan Davidson, Rose City’s pastor.

For years, the program was dependent on other cafes and coffee shops hiring the youths, but now, thanks to the donations from the community, the permanent location at 2302 E. Colorado Blvd., provides another option.

Rosebud, a new coffee shop in East Pasadena, is newly opened on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Rosebud, founded by Rose City Church, is an expansion of Rose City Coffee, a training ground for youth that are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Pastor Dan Davidson, of Rose City Church, visits on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 the newly opened coffee shop Rosebud in East Pasadena that the church runs. Rosebud is an expansion of Rose City Coffee, a training ground for youth that are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

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Liz Barman, who trains homeless youth and those at risk to work at Rose City Coffee, waits for customers at Rosebud, a new coffee shop in East Pasadena on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Rosebud, founded by Rose City Church, is an expansion of Rose City Coffee. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Rosebud, a new coffee shop in East Pasadena, is newly opened on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Rosebud, founded by Rose City Church, is an expansion of Rose City Coffee, a training ground for youth that are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Manager Stephanie Sharp works at the newly opened coffee shop Rosebud in East Pasadena on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Rosebud, founded by Rose City Church, is an expansion of Rose City Coffee, a training ground for youth that are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)



Manager Stephanie Sharp serves a latte to her friend Matt Schuler at the newly opened coffee shop Rosebud in East Pasadena on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Rosebud, founded by Rose City Church, is an expansion of Rose City Coffee, a training ground for youth that are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

The cafe is run like a for-profit company with the high standards for the coffee and food, Davidson said.

“Without a strong, good product, this model won’t work, we have to be as competitive as any local cafe,” Davidson said.

Rosebud sources its products from businesses that help others, according to Davidson. The coffee comes from Wild Goose Coffee Roasters, which donates 10 pounds of food to local food banks for every pound of coffee purchased. The food being added to the menu this week will come from Hope Catering, a Pasadena-based company that hires the homeless and those recently released from prison.

Graduates from the Rose City cart program have to apply and uphold the high quality, but they’re coming into environment that is more understanding of their pasts. When a prospective employee didn’t show up for a job interview, the team gave the applicant a chance to reschedule, instead of moving on to someone else.

“Very few people understand what its like to be homeless,” said Stephanie Sharp, the cafe manager. “In order to stabilize life, it takes patience and time.”

Some of youths move around frequently in temporary housing, or they don’t have access to reliable transportation, she said.

Sharp said the success of the business will determine how many baristas they can hire. They’re interviewing two graduates from the Rose City Coffee program currently and plan to pay about $12 to $13 an hour, she said. But if the business is successful, they will hire more, and may even expand into other cities. There’s already talks with other non-profits about other locations.

Sharp, who managed Demitasse in Santa Monica, said she has experienced first hand how coffee can become a stepping stone to a full career. She came to Los Angeles to study in the seminary. Instead, she ended up as a barista and she said it took three years before she felt like she was doing more than just surviving.

Her hope is to create an atmosphere where the employees can thrive while delving deeply in to the ins-and-outs of the booming industry.

“This little aspect of showing up to a coffee shop every day for a year can really turn your life around,” Sharp said.

Sharp said she wants to carve out time in the employee’s schedules so they also can work with new trainees coming up through the church’s cart program.

Davidson and his wife Samantha opened Rose City Church six years ago in a historic building at the corner of Del Mar Boulevard and Allen Avenue in Pasadena. At first, they provided food, clothing and shelter for homeless youths who were living in the parking lot, but when Davidson discovered the old coffee cart, he decided to use it as a way to help them develop the skills needed to land a job.

“We started with no money,” Davidson said. “We started with a coffee cart left behind with the church.”

Rose City partners with non-profits such as Youth Moving On to find its trainees.

The congregation, friends and community members helped raise the funds to open the cafe, Davidson said. Matt Lunn, of the architectural firm Gensler, and his wife, Kerry Bogus, of Commune Design, donated their time and services to create the look of the space. The cafe’s name refers to blooming flower, something that starts small and grows strong, Davidson said.

Rosebud shares its space with Chirp, a birthday party and karaoke space for children. The partnership worked because Chirp needed a partner that could utilize the space during the week, as most of its business happens during the weekend. In exchange, Rosebud gets a much larger space than they could have afforded alone, Davidson said.

He said he sees Rosebud as a community space, where he hopes other organizations will have meetings and events.

Rosebud, 2302 E. Colorado Blvd, is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday.