Juma Ventures helps “opportunity youth” earn, learn and launch careers

For more than 30 years, Juma Ven­tures has helped young peo­ple launch their careers. With sup­port from the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, this employ­ment-focused social enter­prise con­nects young work­ers at Juma-oper­at­ed con­ces­sion busi­ness­es with the per­son­al­ized sup­port and train­ing they need to succeed.

Most Juma Ven­tures par­tic­i­pants are oppor­tu­ni­ty youth — young peo­ple from low-income house­holds who are dis­con­nect­ed from school and work. Many of these young peo­ple have expe­ri­ence in the fos­ter care or jus­tice sys­tems and face oth­er chal­lenges like hous­ing inse­cu­ri­ty or men­tal illness.

“All young peo­ple need a first job.”

“Food ser­vice is a very com­mon job for young peo­ple,” said Dina Emam, a pro­gram asso­ciate with the Casey Foun­da­tion. ​“For young peo­ple who have pre­vi­ous­ly strug­gled to con­nect to employ­ment, first jobs that are cou­pled with sup­port, like trans­porta­tion assis­tance and career coach­ing, are life chang­ing. They can help young peo­ple stay con­nect­ed to work, earn income and build the skills and con­fi­dence they need to stand out in the job market.”

Earn, Learn and Connect

Juma began in 1993, grow­ing from a sin­gle Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop into the largest youth-employ­ment social enter­prise in the Unit­ed States. Today, Juma con­ces­sion busi­ness­es can be found in Seat­tle, Wash­ing­ton, and three Cal­i­for­nia cities: Sacra­men­to, San Fran­cis­co and San Jose.

Juma’s core pro­gram­ming fol­lows a three-point model:

1. Earn: Busi­ness­es employ each young work­er for a min­i­mum of six months, with addi­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties to con­tin­ue work­ing for Juma in lead­er­ship roles. Dur­ing that time, they learn cus­tomer ser­vice, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, team­work and mon­ey man­age­ment and receive sup­port from a man­ag­er trained in areas like youth devel­op­ment and career coaching.
2. Learn: Pro­gram coor­di­na­tors help young work­ers plan and pur­sue per­son­al, career and finan­cial goals. Dur­ing job attain­ment skills work­shops, youth learn how to write résumés and pre­pare for interviews.
3. Con­nect: Employ­ees leave the pro­gram with valu­able work expe­ri­ence, new job skills and social cap­i­tal crit­i­cal to career suc­cess. Juma reports that 71% of pro­gram grad­u­ates in 2024 secured a job and/​or enrolled in edu­ca­tion­al opportunities.

Mason Moore, Juma Ven­tures’ chief oper­at­ing offi­cer said:

“Juma is more than a job.”

. ​“To date, Juma has employed over 10,000 young peo­ple from low-income house­holds. Our work­ers have earned over $15 mil­lion in wages, and they’ve saved over $6 mil­lion for high­er education.”

Build­ing Skills for Col­lege and Career

Car­rie Li joined Juma in 2018. She said the pro­gram helped her build con­fi­dence dur­ing her sopho­more year of high school: ​“Juma Ven­tures was one of my first jobs, and it real­ly helped me hone core skills like pub­lic speak­ing, orga­ni­za­tion and time­li­ness — all essen­tial to my roles after college.”

Since com­plet­ing the pro­gram, Li began work­ing as an ana­lyst at a con­sult­ing firm and recent­ly earned a master’s degree in infor­ma­tion and data sci­ence from UC Berke­ley.

[Related Report: Expanding education and employment pathways for systems-involved young people]

She con­tin­ues to vol­un­teer with Juma, con­duct­ing resume reviews and mock job inter­views with cur­rent pro­gram par­tic­i­pants. ​“Juma Ven­tures played a big part in help­ing me see the val­ue of high­er edu­ca­tion and, hon­est­ly, it’s what helped me get start­ed on the path to a four-year col­lege and ulti­mate­ly brought me to where I am now.”

Bridge to Work

The Bay Area Host Com­mit­tee (BAHC) recent­ly select­ed Juma to join its Bridge to Work ini­tia­tive. A non­prof­it ded­i­cat­ed to bring­ing world-class events to the Bay Area, BAHC advances eco­nom­ic growth, com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment and civic pride.

Bridge to Work offers young peo­ple path­ways toward sta­ble, qual­i­ty job oppor­tu­ni­ties.

Juma par­tic­i­pants in the ini­tia­tive access addi­tion­al tech­ni­cal and soft-skills train­ing as well as career nav­i­ga­tion ser­vices, an alum­ni net­work and trans­porta­tion assis­tance. Many Juma youth also had oppor­tu­ni­ties to work at major Bay Area sports events, includ­ing three 2025 NBA All-Star events.

[Related: Demand for student apprenticeships is growing. Indiana businesses step up]

“Our part­ner­ship with the BAHC and [its] Bridge to Work ini­tia­tive has cre­at­ed incred­i­ble oppor­tu­ni­ties for our young peo­ple,” said Moore. ​“They will have the chance to work at high-pro­file events like Super Bowl LX and the FIFA World Cup and get access to addi­tion­al career path­ways, which is very exciting.”

[Related Grant Opportunity: Oregon job/career training and development program grants]

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This story was originally published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. 

The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF^®) is devoted to developing a brighter future for millions of children and young people with respect to their educational, economic, social and health outcomes.