The Monkey & The Elephant, a coffee shop in Philadelphia founded by Wayne native Lisa Miccolis, helps young adults find employment after they have aged out of the foster system, writes Michaela Winberg for Billy Penn.

The coffee shop has developed a successful program that provides employment, supportive services, and skills-building workshops to former foster children.

This innovative approach is helping to fix a problem plaguing the city. It began seven years ago with pop-up cafés and one employee and has now grown into a fully-fledged café.

The program allows Miccolis to have four employees on a rolling basis for a year. The participants get 30 hours per week of regular work, plus a half-day of skills-building workshops. Every Monday, the café closes early for classes on career-related topics.

Read more about The Monkey & The Elephant coffee shop from Billy Penn here.

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