MAYOR CANTRELL MEETS WITH STARBUCKS COFFEE COMPANY LEADERS TO DISCUSS SHARED PRIORITIES AND EXPANDED PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
NEW ORLEANS — Mayor LaToya Cantrell was joined by several leaders from Starbucks Coffee Company on Wednesday, April 26 to hear more about the City’s recent work on economic development, homelessness, mental health, public safety and other key priorities of the administration. Starbucks leaders were able to better understand the opportunities and challenges facing New Orleans, as well as provide insights and pathways on their business development and community engagement initiatives throughout the city.
“Global leaders from Starbucks assembled in NOLA is further testament to our City's strong and growing and economy and the talent of our workforce,” said Mayor Cantrell. “We have been very intentional in our fight for additional partnerships, funding and a direct allocation of resources, and because we were victorious, this has allowed us to prioritize more innovative ways to meet the needs of our people. The City of New Orleans and Starbucks Coffee Company are directly aligned on several key issues, which came shining through in our meeting in Seattle in December 2022, in relation to homelessness, mental health, addiction, community investments, infrastructure and other critical matters to aid in our local economy’s continuous growth and diversification. This meeting demonstrates that we are actively deploying the resources we advocated for, as well as expanding our partnerships, both of which are helping address these needs of our people and yielding great results throughout our city.”
Held at the Starbucks New Orleans Community Store on South Claiborne Avenue, Mayor Cantrell was joined by her senior leadership team including Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño, Deputy Chief of Staff Jabarie Walker, Office of Economic Development Director Jeff Schwartz, Deputy CAO for Infrastructure Joe Threat and Downtown Development District Director Davon Barbour. Starbucks representatives included executive vice president of public affairs and chief communications officer AJ Jones II, senior vice president of store development Andy Adams, vice president of global security & resilience and chief security officer Cheryl Steele, vice president of store development for the Central Division Kim Williams, South-Central regional vice president David Lopez and several local Starbucks representatives.
This meeting represents the first time Starbucks has brought leadership together from all aspects and all levels to a city to ensure a spirit of collaboration in identifying ways to achieve shared goals of both the company and local government.
“Every day, across the globe, Starbucks works to directly engage and uplift the communities we serve through the economic and workforce impact of our stores and notable programs such as the Community Resilience Fund, Neighborhood Grants, Community Stores and FoodShare,” said AJ Jones II. “We believe partnerships with key stakeholders, elected officials and city business leaders will accelerate the growth of our business footprint to more effectively meet an everchanging customer experience, create greater economic mobility, elevate the partner experience and advance sustainable community-led solutions.
In addition to Wednesday’s leadership meeting, on Tuesday, April 25, Starbucks Coffee Company, in partnership with the New Orleans Business Alliance, held two community roundtable discussions to identify opportunities for Starbucks Coffee Company to work more closely with local stakeholders to support the New Orleans community.
The first discussion explored how New Orleans and Starbucks can build safe and resilient communities with a focus on public safety, homelessness and mental health. Office of Homeless Services and Strategy Director Nathaniel Fields and Travers Kurr of the New Orleans Health Department participated in this session, along with representatives from UNITY of Greater New Orleans, National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), the Downtown Development District, Dillard University and Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO).
The second discussion explored how both parties can create economic opportunity through education and workforce training. Office of Workforce Development Director Sunae Villavaso participated in this session along with representatives from Xavier University, SUNO, Dillard University, United Way of SELA, Youth Empowerment Project and Café Reconcile.
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