World Neighbors Expands in Peru’s Coffee Producing Regions with a New Grant from The Starbucks Foundation

Oklahoma City – March 4, 2024 – World Neighbors is excited to announce an extension of the collaboration with The Starbucks Foundation. For the next two years, The Starbucks Foundation will continue to fund community-based programs in the Cusco, Cajamarca and Amazonas regions of Peru through its Origin Grants program, which aims to uplift 1 million women and girls in coffee, tea and cocoa-growing communities around the world by 2030.

The comprehensive World Neighbors programs will focus on improving the lives, livelihoods and health of coffee-growing communities and diversifying incomes, especially for women.   Major components include:

• Improving access to information, resources, and financial education for the development of small businesses.
• Diversifying and improving sustainable family farming to improve diets and food security and to increase incomes.
• Improving community health through health education and promotion of sanitation, nutrition, and hygiene practices and preventive measures.

For the past two years, The Starbucks Foundation has been the primary funder for a World Neighbors project in the Cusco and Cajamarca regions of Peru. The project improved the lives of 4,000 marginalized, rural families in 114 coffee-growing communities. Community-based initiatives helped diversify and increase incomes, improve health and increase economic and social inclusion, especially of women. This successful approach will underlie World Neighbors’s training and other initiatives as the program extends to 50 additional communities in Cusco, Cajamarca, and Amazonas, benefiting 5,000 people including 2,400 women and 600 girls.

“We are grateful to The Starbucks Foundation for this wonderful opportunity to expand our programs in Peru.  The new grant will allow World Neighbors to reach thousands of additional farmers and their families in coffee-growing communities.  The programs have a particular focus on helping women to start their own businesses, increase their financial skills and improve their lives,” said Kate Schecter, President and CEO of World Neighbors. “The impact of these grants is already apparent and many of the farmers from the first phase will now be training their neighboring communities in these new-found skills.”

“Through our Origin Grants program, we are proud to work with nonprofit organizations across the world to uplift women in coffee-, tea-, and cocoa-growing communities with a goal to create opportunities and ultimately improve lives through the empowerment of women. While we have a responsibility to care for people across the entire coffee supply chain, we know that when we invest in a woman, there are ripple effects and positive outcomes for her family and the larger community,” added Kelly Goodejohn, Starbucks chief social impact officer.

About World Neighbors

Founded in 1951 by Dr. John L. Peters, World Neighbors works with people who are struggling to survive in some of the poorest places on earth.  Instead of short-term aid, World Neighbors creates change that lasts by working alongside villagers, helping them first to identify their critical needs and then to become their own problem solvers. Its mission is to inspire people and strengthen communities to find lasting solutions to hunger, poverty and disease and to promote a healthy environment.

World Neighbors has transformed the lives of more than 29 million people in 45 countries. In the last year, over 350,000 people in 14 countries benefited from World Neighbors’ programs. Visit www.wn.org for more information.

About The Starbucks Foundation

The Starbucks Foundation strengthens humanity by transforming lives across the world, with a focus on enabling community resiliency and prosperity and uplifting communities affected by disaster. Established in 1997, The Starbucks Foundation is a Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization under U.S. law.