Starbucks Foundation and Points of Light Expand Employee Fellowship Program

The Starbucks Foundation and Points of Light, which have been in partnership since last August, are expanding their employee fellowship program from 13 to 20 cities across the United States. The program is backed by a $3.5 million grant from the foundation.

Selected Starbucks employees will help plan and conduct community events for causes related to food insecurity and environmentalism. The fellows will be split into two groups of 50 and will serve seven-month terms. The first group will start this September and the second in April 2020.

“This is a whole new way of tapping into the goodwill of employees who want to do something more, and we think it will inform their commitments around service for a lifetime,” said Virginia Tenpenny, executive director of the Starbucks Foundation, in a statement.

The expanded effort follows a six-month pilot program that connected 36 Starbucks employees in 13 cities to provide more than 17,000 hours of community service. The fellows will work for 20 hours a week at a nonprofit and 20 hours a week at Starbucks and will be paid for their work at the nonprofits.

Service fellows will support a variety of organizations, including local United Ways and HandsOn groups in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, and St. Louis.