Purple Door Coffee in Denver’s Five Points provides jobs, training

The job market isn’t exactly booming for people who just spent 6½ years in prison. But thanks to Purple Door Coffee, Mike Staggs has been employed for the past 11 months.

Purple Door Coffee, 2962 Welton St., opened in April 2013 and provides jobs to homeless youth and young adults as well as a way to learn the skills necessary to maintain employment in the future.

The jobs can last between six and 12 months. Employees have to move on at that point. The idea, according to co-director Mark Smesrud, is that Purple Door staff wants to help their employees get jobs and give other youth a chance.

“We want every person to live the best and healthiest lifestyle possible. We’re on that journey together,” Smesrud said.

Staggs, 27, is wrapping up his time at Purple Door and said he is searching for a job. He would like something mechanical where he can use his hands.

He said he spent time on the streets before prison, but things have turned around and he is living with his girlfriend, who is expecting their first child.

“I was homeless for a while and we lived by committing crimes, making money that way and surviving. A lot of it was, ‘I don’t have a choice,’ ” Staffs said. “But I did and didn’t want to see it.”

Smesrud and co-director Madison Chandler got Purple Door started after they did internships with Dry Bones Denver, a group that works with homeless youth and young adults to get them into better situations.

Once Chandler graduated from college, she returned and spent a year doing a second internship with Dry Bones, focusing on doing research for a coffee shop. She later invited Smesrud, who had moved to Texas, to come up and work with her.

Chandler and Smesrud both said they enjoyed the time they spent working with what they refer to as “street kids,” which is a culture of homeless youth between the ages of 12 and 25.

“There’s this 20s demographic of homeless who don’t have a place to go,” Smesrud said.

Dry Bones Denver executive director Matt Wallace said a place like Purple Door was needed as his group was having issues finding jobs for the youth they worked with. He said his group would sometimes get a friend to take a chance on someone, but then that person wouldn’t be ready to excel in the workplace and would either not show up or be fired.

“Lots of young people could not hold a job for more than a few days. It’s a life-changing experience for the five or six people (Purple Door is) able to serve each year,” Wallace said.

Purple Door is a limited liability company under the nonprofit organization Belay Enterprises, which runs other businesses that employ formerly homeless people or ex-convicts. The goal is to make Purple Door its own nonprofit. Dry Bones has no direct affiliation but recommends youth to apply for jobs when they are open.

Smesrud and Chandler meet with their employees individually each week. In one meeting they talk about job performance and things that can improve. In a second, they discuss life goals with the person and help them get things they need such as a driver’s license.

They employ three to five people at a time and have a coffee bar manager. They hope to grow in the coming year.

“The goal is to continue to create more jobs without sacrificing quality of training. Our philosophy in training is to set high expectations,” Smesrud said.

He added that the most important thing for workers is to recognize their own value. Smesrud and Chandler plan to follow up every six months or so with people who graduate from the program. Chandler said his groups knows they are doing a lot of good for the people they are employing, but they are also getting a lot in return.

“We receive just as much as the employees receive,” she said. “Working with street kids and people who have been through so much has helped me understand more about myself.”

Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joe_vacc