The Coffee Oasis is a nonprofit organization geared towards youth in need in the Pacific Northwest. The Coffee Oasis has cafe locations in Port Orchard, Bremerton, Kingston, Poulsbo, and Tacoma, with shelters at the Bremerton and Tacoma locations. These shelters are temporary housing options for teenagers who are homeless or those who can’t go home for safety reasons. The cafe locations help fund all of the resources offered to the youth in the area.
Jacob Wischoff, the manager, spoke with The Mast in an interview where he shared about the realities of running a nonprofit of this kind and the careful considerations to be taken into account when dealing with troubled teens.
The Coffee Oasis is not an average nonprofit — visiting the cafe in Port Orchard, one might misinterpret it as merely a high-quality coffee shop. Wischoff was kind enough to give me a tour of the loft above the cafe which included a shower, laundry room, guitars, a buffet to host meals during the week, and a comfortable living space. Guitar lessons are offered to those interested in learning. Wischoff described it as “a huge living room for life to happen.”
Wischoff emphasizes that the organization “tries to teach independence.” As a mentor for a lot of these kids, he feels a responsibility to them to make sure that they don’t get ‘stuck.’ Of course, The Coffee Oasis is meant to be comfortable and inviting, but they also assist with job search when the kids are of age and graduated from school, even employing some of them with the organization itself.
As integral as The Coffee Oasis is to the community, there are still some negative connotations about the organization. Some adults in the surrounding areas have a ‘this is where all the bad kids hang out’ attitude. His response to this perception is that critics are “seeing a symptom of the issue.” The mission of the organization is to set a good example and create a safe space for these kids to learn and grow so that they don’t end up in trouble of any kind, or turn out to be ‘bad kids.’ Wischoff wants the community to “see what’s going on” and for them to know that “we’re fighting the same war.” Everyone wants these kids to do well and be taken care of, so it is important to see The Coffee Oasis as more than just a place for ‘bad kids’ to hang out.
If you would like to support The Coffee Oasis, visit their website or any of the five cafe locations across the state.
