Peace Valley Café, a new coffee shop designed to uplift and empower young people with disabilities, opened in Lower Bucks County earlier this month.
Located off Trenton Road in Levittown, the nonprofit business provides job skills and mentorships for youth and young adults with disabilities in an integrated, safe and inclusive space.
The café was co-founded by Donnamarie Davis, who originally partnered with her late mom years earlier to make their dream of creating a work-based apprenticeship program to create pathways to employment for specials needs students preparing to transition out of high school.
The two had already been working with children with disabilities and their families through their nonprofit Peace Valley Holistic Center in Chalfont,
which they opened together in 2010.
“We realized that there needed to be a transition for all of our young adults going into the community when school was over after the age of 21, so that’s why we created Peace Valley Café,” Davis said.
They worked with the County of Bucks to repurpose the former crime lab building, completely renovating it over several years to transform it into a comfortable café, then partnered with local schools to create an apprenticeship program that is funded by gifts and grants.
Peace Valley Café offers an assortment of specialty coffee drinks, teas and other beverages alongside a rotating selection of bakery treats.
Customers are greeted by the smiling faces of those working behind the counter, apprentices, made up of students from Neshaminy High School, Bristol Borough High School and the Bucks County Intermediate Unit. With the help of Davis, job coaches and teachers, they serve items from the bakery case, ring up orders at the register and work the barista station making drinks.
In addition, the café employs two Neshaminy graduates, former apprentices, as café associates who provide peer-to-peer support.
“It’s empowering, it provides a sense of accomplishment,” Davis said. “I love watching everyone grow and succeed and I tell them to reach for the stars.”
Peace Valley Café is open Monday through Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., except when schools are closed.
Details: 2657 Trenton Road, Levittown; 215-317-2275; Peace Valley Café on Facebook
Reporter Michele Haddon covers local news, small business, food and drink, economic revitalization, art and culture for The Intelligencer and Bucks County Courier Times at PhillyBurbs.com. Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: New cafe in Levittown empowers young adults with disabilities
