From the Ground Up

The mission of From the Ground Up is, “to improve the lives of coffee growers and positively impact the communities in which they live through microfinance, building relationships, and sustainable community projects.”

Primary Goals:

1. Connect entrepreneurial individuals within coffee cooperatives directly to existing Microfinance Institutions in Central America to give them access to capital.

2. Finance new methods for coffee growers in Central America to earn income during the off-season through community projects and diversification.

3. Provide business training to interested entrepreneurs within coffee cooperatives to help them be successful in earning supplemental income.

4. Perform extensive evaluations of the value chain in order to improve the quality of coffee, processes, cooperative governance, access to high value markets, and training.

5. Launch a Minneapolis Coffee Community venue to serve as an outlet for raising awareness or selling coffee and handicrafts from target coffee cooperatives.