The café, in Mann St, is the first training centre to be set up on the Central Coast as part of the ground-breaking BusyBeans program which is rolling out nationally.
Run by AimBig Disability Employment Services, 20 participants with a range of disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, autism or down syndrome, are currently being trained at the café with a view to being placed in future employment.
“BusyBeans aims to challenge the stark unemployment figures in Australia for people living with a disability, particularly those with an intellectual disability or autism,” AimBig Group CEO Marcella Romero said.
“Sadly, almost half of people with a disability are unemployed.
“For those with autism, the rate of unemployment skyrockets to three times the rate of people with disability and almost six times the rate of people without disability. We want to change that.”
The program also challenges perceptions about what people with a disability are capable of, cenetring around individual strengths.
“BusyBeans is bigger than coffee,” Ms Romero said. “Employment gives people a sense of purpose and a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
“Most of the people placed in the program would not survive in a normal fast pace café environment, but through training, support and working to a person’s strengths we are really seeing our participants thrive.”
The BusyBeans program was piloted in December 2018 in Sydney and is now rolling out nationally. An innovative part of the program is engaging workplaces around Australia to employ a BusyBeans barista inhouse after participants have been trained.
“Through the program, workplaces are provided with their own barista, a coffee machine and a tablet with a custom-designed app to process orders and notify staff when their coffee is ready,” Ms Romero said.
