Buckelew Programs

An Innovative Social Enterprise

Blue Skies Café is located in the Connection Center of the Marin Health & Wellness Campus, at 3240 Kerner Boulevard in San Rafael.

Open Monday-Friday, 8am to 4pm.

Blue Skies Café is a green-certified social enterprise that operates with the social objective of creating job training and employment for people who have faced barriers to employment due to their mental illness. It blends social and commercial business practices to generate revenues to support Buckelew’s social mission of creating jobs and housing; and it demonstrates environmental values and sustainable resource practices.

The Café provides on-the-job training, job coaching, and real work experience in a range of readily-transferable job areas, including customer service, cash register and credit care handling, food safety/handling, bookkeeping, cleaning, inventory management, and nutrition. Specialized espresso barista skills are transferable to most restaurant settings. By operating as a green business that features local, sustainably harvested organic foods, Blue Skies Café’s baristas develop a knowledge base in organic food, recycling, & composting practices. By coupling work with training and supports, mental health consumers develop the “soft” work skills of showing up to work on time, teamwork, maintaining good personal hygiene, and maintaining a positive work attitude.

One of the most innovative strategies of Blue Skies Café is its collaboration with local, Marin-based business partners. Unlike the typical nonprofit approach of designing Blue Skies as an internally focused program, we chose to leverage existing capabilities within the business sector to create greater impact. Our local collaborator for food is Larkspur’s Rustic Bakery, which prepares food for the Café that is organic and sourced, where possible, from Marin County. Coffee and tea are provided by Equator Estate Coffees and Teas, a local, women-owned company that is dedicated to quality, environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Equator’s commitment to quality has won over renowned chefs like Thomas Keller, who exclusively brews Equator at the French Laundry, and has recently resulted in their being named “Best Coffee Roaster” in the U.S. by the leading coffee trade magazine. By leveraging best-in-class local businesses to help create social impact, Buckelew reduced its operating expenses, and created a highly replicable social enterprise model.

Perhaps the success of Blue Skies Café has best been expressed by an external observer, the Administrator of the County’s Health and Wellness Campus, who reported the following to Buckelew and County officials:

About a month before Blue Skies Cafe opened, Allen, the manager, began bringing a group of Buckelew clients over to the Connection Center to train them on using the cappuccino machine. When the "potential employees" first came over, they were walking in a head-down, stoop-shouldered, almost shuffling manner. They couldn't make eye contact with anyone and shied away from talking with anyone except Allen. I watched them open up little by little. But on opening day I was stunned to see them all standing upright in their aprons and hats, making eye contact and smiling serving the public with transparent joy. The transformation was amazing, not just to their body language but also to their spirit and self-image.

I was a little concerned about how they would handle the grand opening a month later, with 100 people milling around rather than the usual 10 or so, but they handled themselves beautifully, making drinks, making change, milling around with samples, and receiving accolades with a quiet dignity and pride.

I have never been witness to such a dramatic example of change as happened at Blue Skies and have never been more proud to be part of an organization that makes this kind of transformation possible.