Paper City Coffee: How This Community Coffee Shop is Mentoring Underserved Youth
By Priya Dharampuriya
At first glance, Paper City Coffee looks like any coffee shop. Titled after the nickname of its hometown of Chillicothe, OH, it sits in the center of a newly revitalized downtown area. It is a cross-section of the community, with countless health professionals picking up their morning coffee, students studying together, and coworkers catching up over pecan sticky buns. The first indication that there is something more to the coffee shop is the phrase embossed on merchandise throughout the store: “Be Who You Needed When You Were Younger”. On further questioning, you find out that Paper City Coffee exists for a purpose - to host and fund the Paper City Mentoring Project, a program which has been supporting teenagers in Chillicothe for many years. The program pairs adult mentors with teenagers, providing guidance and support to adolescents who grow up in an area where substance use and poverty are often prevalent. This project has succeeded through the efforts of many people, in particular, two teachers: Meg VanBuskirk and Anna Purpero. I had the privilege of sitting down with Ms. Purpero, the founder of the Paper City Mentoring Project, and she was able to tell me more.
1) Would you be able to tell me a little bit about your background and role at the Paper City Mentoring Project?
I was a teen who desperately needed a trusted adult to make space for me. When I became a high school teacher, I quickly realized every single teen needed that. The best part of my job was getting to be a part of a 9th grader’s journey and helping them discover the value of their voice and point of view.
We live in a community where many teens carry the weight of poverty, addiction, and mental illness in their homes while trying to navigate the already difficult struggles of adolescence. Research shows that a mentor can inspire a teen to begin breaking generational cycles and reimagine their own potential.
2) How did the Paper City Mentoring Project start? How has it changed over the years?
Realizing there was a need for teen mentoring in our community, I joined forces with a fellow teacher [VanBuskirk] to open a coffee shop in 2016, Paper City Coffee, which would host and help support the Paper City Mentoring Project. The positive response from the community was beyond expectation!
With little experience in the nonprofit world, I built the program from scratch, working with local school counselors to identify high school students who could benefit from non-clinical support and hosting a mentoring conference to educate the community on the value of mentoring.
PCMP now trains and equips adults to mentor teens in affiliation with MENTOR Central Ohio and helps facilitate healthy mentoring relationships that can last far beyond graduation.
Our teens meet with their mentors at Paper City Coffee and engage in fun, educational activities as a group throughout the year. We recently began offering driver’s education scholarships and monthly life skills workshops.
3) Have you hit any roadblocks? What are some of the struggles you faced in creating this program?
Our biggest challenge has always been finding mentors, particularly male. We believe the solution to this problem is to continually educate the community on the simplicity and profundity of this work so that adults realize the impact and feel equipped to invest in their community through mentoring.
4) What do you think are the most important things for people to know about the project? How can people get involved or support it?
We think it’s most important for folks to understand that teens need connection, especially since they’ve faced countless barriers to genuine connection in the past couple of years. Only in a space of connection can teenagers receive guidance and encouragement. PCMP provides an opportunity for regular, awkward adults to give teens in their community hope they may not have otherwise.
You can learn more about PCMP through our website, papercitymentoringproject.org. There you can learn how to take steps toward becoming a mentor and how to support the program.
5) How do you envision the future of the project? What are your dreams for it?
My dream for PCMP is that as teens are impacted by mentoring, they will mentor in the future, creating a ripple effect that truly benefits the community. I believe the more a community discovers the value of connection, the more it will thrive.
Thank you Anna and Priya for sharing this inspiring story with us. We are excited to have you in our global women’s network
Anna’s Bio: A first generation college student in rural Ohio, Anna began her career as a high school English teacher. She is the founder and former Director of Paper City Mentoring Project, a mentoring program for high school students in Chillicothe, Ohio. She currently sits on the board of the nonprofit and takes care of her sons full time while pursuing a career in experiential therapy.
Priya’s Bio: Global Health Contributor ; She is a third-year medical student at Lincoln Memorial University, with a degree in Biology from Tufts University and a Masters in Medical Sciences from Boston University. She is interested in healthcare disparities, health communication, environmental issues, and interesting stories. Priya is very excited to join Women Who Win as a Global Health Contributor and use this amazing platform to foster important conversations about health!
WHO WE ARE