{"id":137665,"date":"2026-03-13T20:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/137665\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T20:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:18:09","slug":"coffee-inclusive-launches-new-endeavor-as-bakery-celebrates-milestone-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/137665\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee Inclusive launches new endeavor as bakery celebrates milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Coffee Inclusive celebrated the first anniversary of its bakery on Friday in Pittston. The event featured the announcement of a new endeavor \u2014 Inclusive Grounds, which is a coffee roasting company designed to expand inclusive employment opportunities in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the past year, Coffee Inclusive Bakery has become far more than a wonderful place to grab a cup of coffee or a fresh pastry \u2014 it has become a powerful example of what inclusive economic development truly looks like in action,\u201d Pittston Mayor Michael Lombardo said. \u201cBy creating meaningful employment opportunities and empowering individuals of all abilities to participate in our local workforce, Coffee Inclusive has strengthened not only our downtown economy, but the very fabric of our community. Their success reflects the spirit of Pittston \u2014 a city where everyone is valued, everyone belongs, and everyone has the opportunity to contribute and succeed. We are proud to celebrate this one-year milestone and look forward to many more years of growth and impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since opening in March 2025, the bakery has become a cornerstone of Coffee Inclusive\u2019s mission to provide meaningful job training and employment opportunities. Over the past year, employees have developed professional baking, customer service, and workplace skills while serving thousands of community members with fresh-baked goods and welcoming hospitality.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Marketing Coordinator Brendan Karolchyk, center right, celebrates with Coffee Inclusive...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433087_680_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-03-1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Marketing Coordinator Brendan Karolchyk, center right, celebrates with Coffee Inclusive employees after cutting the ribbon at Coffee Inclusive in Pittston Friday, March 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Baked goods are presented in a case at Coffee Inclusive...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433088_602_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-02.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433088_602_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-02.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Baked goods are presented in a case at Coffee Inclusive in Pittston Friday, March 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Employee Selena Waters celebrates during the event at Coffee Inclusive...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433088_572_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-04.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433088_572_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-04.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Employee Selena Waters celebrates during the event at Coffee Inclusive in Pittston Friday, March 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pittston Mayor Mike Lombardo speaks during the event at Coffee...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433089_519_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-05.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433089_519_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-05.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Pittston Mayor Mike Lombardo speaks during the event at Coffee Inclusive in Pittston Friday, March 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Employee Brian Boston checks out a customer at Coffee Inclusive...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433089_922_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-01.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433089_922_CVC-L-COFFEEINCLUSIVE-0314-01.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Employee Brian Boston checks out a customer at Coffee Inclusive in Pittston Friday, March 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 5<\/p>\n<p>Marketing Coordinator Brendan Karolchyk, center right, celebrates with Coffee Inclusive employees after cutting the ribbon at Coffee Inclusive in Pittston Friday, March 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coffee Inclusive celebrated the first anniversary of its bakery on Friday in Pittston. The event featured the announcement&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,182,803,139,28,2485,436,178,180,179,802],"class_list":["post-137665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-business","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pittston","tag-retail","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-cvc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}