Local Voices

Curt's Café South Hoping to Open to Serve At-Risk Teen Mothers

A Kickstarter campaign has been launched to fund the café on Dempster, which would replicate what the current Curt's Café does with at-risk young men.

An Evanston holistic health services center has teamed up with Curt’s Café to try to open a second Curt’s Café to help at-risk teenage mothers.

The current Curt’s Café, at 2922 Central St., was opened in 2012 by Susan Treischmann with the mission of helping at-risk teenage boys and young men, particularly those who had been through the juvenile justice system, by providing work, life skills and hope.

Curt’s Café South is hoping to open in the former Perla Café space at 1813 Dempster. It would be a collaboration between Heartwood Center for Body Mind Spirit, which is across the street, and Curt’s Café, according to a press release from Heartwood.

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Curt’s Café South’s goal, “will be to train at-risk teen mothers in life skills and food service skills to enable them to successfully contribute to their family and our community by joining the work force and taking the next steps in their education. The purpose is to direct these young people toward a secure and productive future, where they can contribute to their community, instead of undermining it," Heartwood wrote in its release.

The Kickstarter campaign, which launched Monday, is seeking to raise $50,000 by Aug. 17 in order to purchase the Perla Café space. Eventually, the collaborators will need to raise $150,000 to open the new café. As of Tuesday afternoon, the campaign had raised $350 from three donors.

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“This new Café will feature nourishing food, coffee and smoothies in a part of town that does not have many healthy food options,” the Kickstarter page says.

You can learn more about the project and how to donate on the Kickstarter page here.


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