“Black and Brown individuals are the foundation on which the industry stands, bursting with underutilized ideas and passions yet to be realized,” Phyllis Johnson, founding director of CCRE, said in an announcement of the program launch today.
Johnson is part of a 15-member CCRE board of directors working to address racial equity within the coffee industry, which has historically relied upon exploitative practices and power structures to capture more value for white-owned trading and roasting businesses in the global north.
Neumann, NKG comprises 50 subsidiaries in 27 different countries, offering a broad range of green coffee services.
Applications for the program will open later this month, with selections announced in October, and work beginning in January 2022 in one of four labs run by the NKG U.S.
Head of Marketing Michelle Maisto will be discussing the NKG PACE program at a Zoom webinar this Thursday, June 17, hosted by The Chocolate Barista Founder Michelle Johnson.