Common Grounds « People for Care & Learning

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Common Grounds Cafe & Land Mine Victims Carving Shop from People for Care & Learning on Vimeo by CBS Producer, Zsolt Luka.

Delot - Manager

“Common Grounds is not only about freshly brewed coffee, a selection of pastries and tasty sandwiches as well as delicious soups of the day – it’s also about people. You don’t have to be a socially responsible traveller to enjoy a freshly brewed cappuccino, a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup combo or some of the local Khmer dishes, but the team at Common Grounds also aim to promote ’micro-enterprise development’, giving locals a working chance and create income that helps to sustain the Children’s Home in Siem Reap.

Common Grounds serves as a vocational training center, teaching English and computer skills and provides housing for long and short-term volunteers and staff.. If you bring your own laptop, there is also free wireless Internet and, as a whole, we believe Common Grounds is a good choice whether you’re looking for a healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner.” Lonely Planet Magazine

The idea behind Common Grounds Coffee Shop is very simple–provide a place where common ground can be discovered and relationships made. The other impetus was to give the poor a working chance. Sixteen young Khmer adults receive employment and training. Most receive job opportunities that would have never been available to them anywhere else. Many have also been blessed to receive scholarships for further education. A great example is Dalath, who we hired four years ago. He didn’t finish 10th grade and had no hope for a bright future. He is now the manager and doing a fantastic job. He is also slotted to be a recipient of a scholarship in 2012.

Common Grounds Coffee House and Training Center in Siem Reap, Cambodia is People for Care and Learning’s primary base of innovative assistance, providing micro-enterprise development and vocational training.

This four-story state-of-the-art facility serves several purposes:

to promote “micro-enterprise” development
to provide jobs (giving the locals a “working chance”)
to create income that helps to sustain the Children’s Home in Siem Reap, Cambodia
to serve as a Vocational Training Center, teaching English and computer skills
to provide housing for long and short-term volunteers and staff
we also offer FREE Wi-fi to locals and tourists

The mission here is two-fold: provide quality education primarily in terms of language that is accessible to Khmer young adults and create a sense of community with our students. Currently we are teaching 100 students several levels of English instruction for a 10 week cycle. We offer 12 units of English training divided by Intro, Intermediate, and Advanced. Within each category there are 4 distinct classes/levels creating a 12 unit curriculum. We have also offered computer classes and financial literacy courses. To foster community, we provide various group activities and community service activities.