YIELD Global Sustainable Initiatives

Casa del Puma, Ecuador (2024)

We are proud to partner with The Chain Collaborative (TCC) to support their Community-Led Development Incubator program. Through this initiative, we are helping Casa del Puma, a farmers association in the Ecuadorian Amazon, to strengthen their sustainable practices and improve their livelihoods.

Casa del Puma is an indigenous Kichwa community committed to regenerative agriculture and forest conservation. They grow organic coffee and other crops using traditional Chakra methods, prioritizing biodiversity and food sovereignty. They also run a Forest School, where young people learn about sustainable agriculture and environmental protection.

Community leaders, Mayra and José, shared more about their coffee production system. “Our coffee is based on the chakra system," Mayra explained. "The 12 families in our association received training in permaculture, which taught us to mix coffee with timber trees, citrus fruits, and medicinal plants. This helps provide food from the chakra during times when we don't have coffee. We also raise chickens and use compost to nourish the coffee trees. Additionally, we prioritize caring for the environment—we are part of the Seed Guardian Network of the Napo-Galeras National Park.”

José added, “At first, I sold coffee cherries, but the prices were not good. I sought training and now proudly share that knowledge with my community. Together, we're rescuing the lost values of our ecosystem by growing coffee and managing the forest.”

Our partnership with TCC and Casa del Puma will focus on building a crop storage facility to improve coffee quality and increase market access. This will help Casa del Puma achieve greater economic independence and further their mission of environmental stewardship.

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Colectivo Rokunin in Veracruz, Mexico (2023)

Yield Coffee Roasters and The Chain Collaborative supporting Colectivo Rokunin in Veracruz, Mexico

The Chain Collaborative and Yield Coffee have partnered once again to invest in local leaders’ community projects in coffee-growing communities.

This time, the partnership is supporting Colectivo Rokunin, in Veracruz, Mexico as they lead a transformative, indigenous-led project that uplifts producers through investment in their coffee business, improved food security and the preservation of their native language.

About Colectivo Rokunín

Colectivo Rokunín (CR) is a community-centered collective that works alongside coffee growers from indigenous communities in the Sierra de Zongolica of Mexico. They lead projects that centralize art, sustainable agriculture, cultural preservation, and gender equity.

The coffee producers collaborating with CR named their group “Mahtlaktle Chanehkameh,” or "Ten Families" in English, in order to describe their group and honor their Nahuatl heritage.

Colectivo Rokunín and Mahtlaktle Chanehkameh fully embraced the Chain Collaborative’s Incubator process, maintaining an open mind to new ideas and creating space for new leaders to emerge.

YIELD Coffee is partnering with Colectivo Rokunín on the following projects:

First, in the realm of coffee, they are conducting soil analyses, providing technical assistance to their members, and expanding processing infrastructure so that producers can improve their coffee quality and achieve higher prices. They’ve already begun holding initial group workshops, building their coffee drying infrastructure, purchasing machinery and conducting soil analyses.

Second, youth in the community are leading an initiative to offer Nahuatl classes for young people to preserve their community’s native language and culture. To date, they've led four language learning sessions and also created beautiful signs with environmental messages in Nahuatl and Spanish to hang up in their community.

To learn more about The Chain Collaborative or donate directly, visit thechaincollaborative.org.

BIBLIOTECA GIRASOL, NICARAGUA (2022)

For our 2022 Giveback Project, we partnered with The Chain Collaborative to jumpstart a construction fund for a new classroom at Biblioteca Girasol in the coffee-growing region of Matapalo, Nicaragua.

We also assisted in funding a new program that offers scholarships to students to cover their bus fares and school supplies and provide after-school academic support and mental health services. This program allows the library's youth leaders to complete high school, continue giving back to the community, and pursue their goals.⁠
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And with your support, we donated $5,500 and helped crowdfund an additional $2,261!⁠
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Biblioteca Girasol is also very close to building its second classroom. The new library classroom will be over twice the size of the current classroom. ⁠
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Having additional space will allow the library to ⁠
1. Offer more than one activity per day⁠
2. Welcome new groups (especially women) to participate in workshops ⁠
3. Build community by welcoming larger groups at events

"We know that we are helping other young people fulfill their dreams and helping our society move forward. The work we are doing is significant because we have helped families who did not have the opportunity to send their children to school." -Jubelkys Ramos

Stay up-to-date on the latest project developments by following Biblioteca Girasol on Instagram.

NOW AFRICA INITIATIVE, UGANDA (2021)

In 2020-2021, we partnered with The Chain Collaborative to bring clean water and sanitation to a coffee community in southwestern Uganda. The Chain Collaborative is a groundbreaking non-profit organization in the coffee sector that invests in local leaders to drive livelihood developments to give back in their own communities.

In Uganda, they invest in the Now Africa Initiative, a social enterprise located in the southwestern part of the country, in an area called Nyamigoye Parish. In addition to providing market access, training, and increased income to farmers, Now Africa Initiative also manages the Karama Education Center, a primary school they founded in 2016 with the support of The Chain Collaborative. Since its opening, due to its popularity and performance, Karama Education Center has been steadily expanding its student roster and impact.

However, as students return to school in 2021 after a year of homeschooling in 2020 due to COVID, sanitation and hygiene remain paramount. Unfortunately, Karama Education Center’s sanitation facilities were built to accommodate only one-third of the current student body, as the school started with 130 students. To meet the growing demand of 350+ students at Karama Education Center and ensure positive health outcomes, YIELD Coffee funded the sanitation facility expansion at the school, at a critical time when it was needed most.

Beyond this collaboration, YIELD Coffee also partnered with The Chain Collaborative and one of their foundation partners, the Conshohocken/Plymouth/Whitemarsh Rotary Club, to launch a coffee fundraiser. Together, YIELD Coffee, CPW Rotary, and TCC raised $5,000 to complete the installation of solar power and a clean water facility at Karama Education Center--bringing both electricity and purified water to the community for the first time!

NAI’s commitment to education and investment in their primary school,
Karama Education Center, in 2023 led to the following outcomes:

School enrollment increased by 14%, from 350 students in 2022 to 405 in 2023.
23 primary school students graduated.
5 Karama Education Center graduates received secondary school scholarships from NAI.
60 girls participated in the Go Girls Mentorship Program to develop confidence, goal-setting and leadership skills

To learn more about The Chain Collaborative or donate directly, visit thechaincollaborative.org.

LA GRECIA, NICARAGUA (2016-2020)

We're honored that together:

Yield provided modern bathrooms for 3 families in rural Nicaragua in 2017.

Yield provided modern bathrooms for 4 families in rural Nicaragua in 2018.

Yield provided modern bathrooms for 4 families in rural Nicaragua in 2019

Yield provided modern bathrooms for 4 families in rural Nicaragua in 2020.

Thanks to your support, we provided 15 modern bathrooms = lives were changed for over 75+ people living in La Grecia.

YIELD Coffee partnered with Amigos For Christ to construct modern bathrooms alongside vulnerable families in need. The family is an integral part of the solution producing 10% of the final cost, providing labor, and overseeing the construction. These modern bathrooms include a flushing toilet, hand washing sink, and a shower. These small interventions eliminate parasites that breed in unsanitary latrines infecting family members, especially children.

These simple interventions help end the parasite cycle and significantly reduce preventable intestinal parasites and diarrhea. These modern bathrooms are one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives of vulnerable people.

Amigos for Christ has worked alongside hundreds of families to build bathrooms that are helping them live longer, healthier, disease-free lives. For more information on our past partnership in sustainable development, check out Amigos For Chirst.