Morrie Tobin

Social Causes Volunteer and Mentor in Los Angeles, CA

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I am currently focused on volunteering my time and community service work in two main areas: Homelessness and At-Risk Youth, with the main purpose being that “everyone deserves a second chance.” I first got involved in community service work and causes for social good approximately one year ago when I visited the LA Mission, a non-profit shelter for the homelessness. I immediately rolled up my sleeves and started volunteering in the LA Mission kitchen to help feed the homeless. I have been volunteering at the Mission every Saturday and Sunday mornings to help feed the homeless. I have also been working very closely with REDF, the only philanthropy in the US that invests exclusively in social enterprises focused on employment, for the homelessness and for reentry. Volunteering as a Technical Advisor for REDF, I have been working with one of their social enterprise non-profits, called RoseBud Café. RoseBud is based in Pasadena and trains youth- in-transition (youth who are either homeless, out of school and/or out of work) on how to become a coffee barista with the objective being to provide the youth with part-time or full-time employment with a strategic partner coffee company, like Starbucks. I am also starting to mentor the at-risk-youth from RoseBud to give them guidance, confidence, and a plan to help improve their lives. In addition, part of the overall strategy is to bring together different social enterprises and non-profits that focus on at-risk youth and homelessness and have them form partnerships to help fund different programs that will provide job opportunities for the youth and homeless and create a real social impact, with the underlying theme that “everyone deserves a second chance”. The first example of this will be Coffee With A Cause, which will be a roll-out expansion of the RoseBud social enterprise concept that will involve RoseBud partnering with different non-profits who will help fund the new locations and bring a social cause to each community, while providing employment opportunities for the youth.

  • Education
    • Yale University