BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — A cup of coffee in Bakersfield is doing more than jump-starting mornings — it’s helping former foster youth build stable, independent futures.
Covenant Coffee, operated by Covenant Community Services, employs young people who have aged out of the foster care system while also offering mentoring and life-skills training designed to help them succeed long after they leave the program.
Randy Martin, the chief encouragement officer and founder at Covenant Community Services, said the mission centers on giving young people hope and a path forward. “Hope is the expectation of a positive future,” Martin said. “So when a foster kid looks around the corner, they think there’s somebody who will beat them up, tell them something bad, or do something awful. We’re giving hope, which means things can be better.”
Martin said he and his family have been mentoring foster youth for 19 years. He said that when young people turned 18 and aged out of the system, many still came to them for support — prompting the idea to create a business that could provide jobs and a foundation for long-term stability.
“So we don’t want people living on welfare. We want people to have sustainable futures, and so creating a viable business where we could hire youth and give them easy entry points into business, coffee seemed to be the thing,” Martin said.
One of those employees is Belinda Amavisca, who has worked at Covenant Coffee for 13 years and is now the manager.
“My brother was in a gang. My family is gang-affiliated. They are all into drugs and doing things. So I decided for myself that I am going to be better than that and do something different with my life. So Randy came to me with the opportunity to work at Covenant and to help youth and to change lives,” Amavisca said.
Beyond employment, Covenant Coffee also provides life-skills classes for participants. Martin said the training includes practical lessons that range from personal safety to household management and long-term planning.
“We do life skills class probably twice a month, and we just had a self-defense class today. Then there are things like how to keep your house clean, or go shopping, or menu planning, all the way to buying a home,” Martin said.
The effort comes as thousands of young people continue to transition out of foster care. In 2023, almost 2,700 youth aged out of foster care in the state, facing significantly higher risks of unemployment, incarceration, and mental health challenges.
Martin said Covenant Coffee is aimed at changing those outcomes. “It’s changing the stats. If you want to get rid of homelessness, drink Covenant Coffee because we stopped the inflow. It’s easy to complain about everything, but do something about it. Hope in a cup,” he said.