The sister-and-brother team, Brittney, age 18, and Logan Wohl, age 16, of Northport, are the newly appointed co-owners of Our Coffee with a Cause Inc., a business that employs individuals with cognitive and developmental disabilities and funds local charities that support them. These siblings with autism have dedicated their time to helping other special-needs teens and adults by providing gainful employment opportunities in a supportive business setting.
Our Coffee with a Cause was founded in 2012 by Stacey Wohl, mother of Brittney and Logan, in response to the growing concern for special-needs individuals on Long Island who are aging out of schools to find job opportunities and a learning environment to acquire real-life skills. The employees package coffee, apply labels to the bags and coordinate shipments. Additional opportunities are available during Our Coffee with a Cause’s sales and informational events, during which employees work with an assistant to sell coffee and products using a custom-designed iPad app and interacting with customers.
A portion of the business proceeds benefit Our Own Place, a non-profit organization that Stacey Wohl founded to provide unique opportunities to special-needs children and their single parents. The organization’s ultimate mission is to open a weekend respite home for families of children with cognitive disabilities that will provide job training and socialization skills to its residents and will feature a café at which Our Coffee products will be brewed and sold.
Stacey Wohl and her mother and business partner, Susan Schultz, bring to the company a combined 50 years of business experience, along with the knowledge of addressing the unique needs of teens and adults with disabilities.
“Our Coffee with a Cause is dedicated to employing special-needs adults and showing that there is ability in disability,” says Stacey Wohl. “I am proud to name Brittney and Logan as the owners of this business, which provides careers to people with disabilities who may not otherwise have the opportunity.”
Although 53 million adults in the United States are living with a disability, as many as 70 percent of this working-age population are currently unemployed. For many, the current systems in place to support both young adults and their families disappear once the teen “ages out” of the education system, typically when they turn 21. In 2016, nearly 500,000 autistic persons will enter this category, in addition to adults with Down Syndrome and other cognitive conditions.
For more information, visit www.ourcoffeewithacause.net.