He was just a toddler when he was taken from his home and placed in foster care.
In sixth grade, he got pulled into street life. Then came high school – five different ones, as academic hardships and campus conflicts kept him on the move.
But Alex Diaz, now 18, never gave up on a better future. He never let go of his love for coffee or his dream to one day work as a barista or maybe even own his own cafe.
And now that belief in himself has paid off. He’s on his way to leaving his hardships behind and brewing up the good life he always hoped for.
Alex just completed a paid internship at Rosebud Cafe in Highland Park, opened in January by Coffee with a Cause, a nonprofit that provides job training, employer connections and mentoring for young people who have struggled through homelessness, foster care or the justice system. The Highland Park cafe was supported by a one-year, $363,000 state grant distributed by the California Community Foundation – which disbursed a total $9 million to 26 innovative program proposals last year to develop high-quality jobs in Los Angeles County under the California Jobs First regional investment initiative.
