About

OUR MISSION

We are a Colorado 501(c)(3) non-profit social enterprise that supports women striving to create lasting change in their lives by establishing steppingstones to self-sufficiency.

We believe all women have the power to transform their lives through employment. We envision a day when barriers to employment are eliminated, when employers hire based on talent and potential rather than background. We hope all women who want a second chance can come to the Bean Project and find the community, support and confidence needed to improve the future for themselves, their families and the community.

OUR VALUES

As we grow and prosper, we promise to hold to the following guiding principles:

COMMUNITY: At Women’s Bean Project everyone is accepted for who they are and celebrated for what they contribute. We are a workplace focused on mutual support and celebration of our differences and similarities.

EMPOWERMENT: Women’s Bean Project strives to create an environment in which women feel empowered, recognize their self-worth, and move along the path to self-sufficiency. By making positive choices that improve their lives, women become contributors to our community.

OPPORTUNITY: We partner with program participants by providing tools and opportunities in a supportive, non-judgmental environment. We believe the women we serve will thrive when they have the pace and time to discover the talents and skills necessary to engage in the workforce and build better lives.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY: We meet the women we serve where they are so they can access the tools to create a path to greater self-sufficiency. With the dignity and hope that results, the women impact their own lives as well as those of their families.

SUPPORT: We are a social enterprise that believes it is a basic human right to live a stable, healthy life. We support the women we serve in creating a foundation of lasting change by connecting them with resources to improve their job readiness, life skills and overall well-being.

TRANSFORMATION: Starting with a seed of hope that brings her to Women’s Bean project, each woman’s potential is cultivated to help her develop skills to transform her life. Each woman’s transformation weaves threads of success that transform more than just the individual woman, expanding to families and communities.

OUR HISTORY

Back in 1989, our founder, Jossy Eyre, was volunteering at a daytime women’s shelter in Denver, CO. She realized that while the shelter kept the women safe, it could not help them make lasting changes in their lives. To help the women achieve independence and self-sufficiency, she needed to provide an opportunity to experience the dignity of work by learning how to get – and keep – a job. She invested $500 of her own money and put two women to work; the start of the social enterprise we are today.

• Now our revenue is more than $3M per year and our products are sold in nearly 1,000 stores nationwide, including King Soopers, Whole Foods, and Safeway, as well as small specialty retailers. You can also shop our products online on our website, Amazon.com and a number of other online sales portals.

We are a proud member organization of Social Enterprise Alliance.