Our Social Enterprises
In 2011, our first project was cleaning a building lot and planting a community garden. Soon thereafter, we created a graphics and printing business, and then in 2014, we opened the Reconnect Cafe in Bedford Stuyvesant. Reconnect has grown to operate five small businesses. The revenues earned from these businesses go directly back into the mission of the organization.
Overview of Our Social Enterprises
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The Reconnect Cafe and Apparel Shop is a business that provides hands-on, direct on-the-job training for our youth partners. The Reconnect Cafe, first opened in Bedford Stuyvesant in 2013, was reopened after COVID in 2021 in its new location at Thomas Berry Place in Jamaica, Queens. In our new cafe, we also sell apparel and accessories created in the Reconnect Graphics Shop, which is located on the same premises. Our Cafe is a full-service coffee and beverage shop that offers a range of coffee brew options, all of which are made from our specially-sourced Reconnect gourmet coffee beans.
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The Reconnect Graphics and Printing Shop is a business that provides hands-on, direct on-the-job training for our youth partners. The Graphics and Printing Shop offers full service, high quality printing services; we provide services to hundreds of businesses in the New York City region each year. Our print shop can print anything onto anything, but the mainstay of our business is printing garments such as tee shirts, sweat shirts, caps, and other accessories. We also make tote bags, customized mugs, and textiles for events (such as table cloths and banners). All of our Youth Partners spend time working and being trained in our Graphics and Printing Shop.
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The Reconnect Building Maintenance Training Program provides hands-on, direct training on the job for our youth partners. The program has two elements:
-Custodial/Janitorial - Reconnect provides daily full-suite janitorial services to Immaculate Conception Church, Thomas Berry Place, and the Passionist Monastery 365 days a year.
-Building maintenance and repair - Reconnect provides maintenance and repair services including boiler maintenance, fire code compliance, electrical maintenance and grounds maintenance.
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In 2021, responding to local requests after people began to experience the Reconnect organic garden, we began to construct raised beds and garden boxes from cedar and other hard woods. We use galvanized, weatherproof hardware and fixtures, and provide customized color painted and stained finishes, as well as natural wood. Our boxes are built in our fully-supplied woodworking shop, and we train Reconnect Youth Partners to help us build the boxes as part of the enterprise.
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In 2021, Reconnect began the first phase of the Horticulture and Sustainable Agriculture Initiative. This began with the building of twenty four 8’x4’ raised garden beds on the southwest side of the campus. The garden features a wide variety of organic, freshly grown vegetables. In its second season, the initiative has partnered closely with Reconnect Culinary Services in order to incorporate fresh produce from the garden into the ongoing menu of offerings during the growing season.