About Us
We need to TALK with each other. This project helps bring neighbors together.
DRIVEN BY SOCIAL GOOD
The concept behind this project is how neighborhood generosity, co-working and various space rentals can sustain and fund programming for social good in Pleasant Ridge.
The programming has one primary goal: To seek and create ways for people to connect over social differences by softening and breaking through invisible walls that exist between people of different social and economic situations. We need to do more than nod to each other as we pass in the street or sit in the same row at a child’s performance. We aim to create an inclusive and supportive environment for new ideas, human connection and success.
HOW DOES THIS OPERATE?
We seek partners who are driven by community and a sense of social purpose. Our mission is fueled by generous neighbors, public and private grants, space rental fees, and co-working memberships.
The history of Community Happens Here begins at Pleasant Ridge Montessori (a public, neighborhood Montessori school) in 2010, when our founder, Ruth Anne Wolfe, started an entrepreneurship program for students that included weekly classes and a student-run coffee shop that served staff and parents each Thursday morning. In the first year of the program, the students named the café “Coffee Cup.” The name stuck.
The “Coffee Cup” program remains a popular and meaningful extracurricular at Pleasant Ridge Montessori. Each year, more than 50 students are trained in the basics of business, learning about profit/loss, inventory, budgets and customer service. Participants also have the chance to create a plan for their own “dream” business and to present their ideas to the entire cohort for input.
Over time, this program also developed into Community Happens Here’s flagship program, Sidewalk Hospitality.
In May 2017, Community Happens Here moved into its current home at 6238 Montgomery Road. Since then, the building and grounds have been rebuilt into a quality commercial property with ADA accessibility and a neighborhood-friendly space.