About us
Who We Are
The Freedom Café of Durham is a nonprofit specialty café dedicated to ending human trafficking and the commercial exploitation of all people.
The Freedom Café
Durham, New Hampshire
Our mission
What is The Freedom Café?
The Freedom Café provides a collaborative space that invites the local community to engage the issue and take action toward a traffic-free world. Through presentations, discussion groups and community events, we educate local citizens about the complexities of the issue and its root causes, the actions needed to prevent it, and ways to support reputable organizations working for a world where all people are free.
At the café we serve consciously sourced drinks, baked goods, crepes and breakfast sandwiches. Our counter offers a simple entry point to support a traffic-free world, one consciously sourced mug at a time. Every item is offered for a recommended donation, about what you might pay at another coffee shop, and 100% of proceeds support efforts to end human trafficking.
Our history
From a student idea to a Main Street café
The truth is that we are often affected by an issue but don’t know what to do about it. The Freedom Café was created as a simple pathway for people to get involved.
Before 2012
A trip to Nepal
Co-founder Bryan Bessette took a group of students to Nepal to serve survivors of bonded slavery. They saw how under-resourced the fight against trafficking is, and how much the Durham and UNH community wanted to help.
2012
A name is shared
Dan Johnson, who was building a similar project at UMass Amherst, generously shared the name “The Freedom Café”, the logo and his materials to move the project forward in Durham.
A space on Mill Rd
Local businessman Marian Noronha donated equipment and furniture, and the café launched in his building on Mill Rd as a UNH student group.
2013
Doors open Feb 6
The café opened for the first time with what became a weekly program: Perform for Freedom.
2015
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit Apr 3
With coaching from friends and local leaders, the team formed a board of directors and became a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
2021
Home on Main Street Summer
The Freedom Café moved to its current home at 37 Main St, Durham.
Our vision
What we are building
From disconnection to empowerment
We move people from disconnection to empowerment with a consistent, progressive way to learn and take part in ending human trafficking. Through daily operations, programs and campaigns we engage over 5,000 community members each year, building a movement of informed consumers and educated advocates.
A vibrant volunteer program
Our volunteer program connects people of every age and expertise. Over 75 people, including 50 high school and college students, are equipped as advocates each year, and students compete for internships in volunteer management, finance, communications, outreach and research.
Next to future leaders
Sitting at the edge of the UNH campus, we place the mission before future leaders who will carry it into legislation, business and supply chains, healthcare, law enforcement, social services and more.
An activist arts center
We host installations, performances and readings throughout the year. Close ties with UNH’s literary, drama and visual arts programs bring volunteers who give artistic expression to trafficking and related social problems.
A regional leader
As a member of the NH Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force, we partner with organizations across the region to offer up-to-date education and financial support through our annual grant program.
Lasting influence
Our influence shows in the education we provide across UNH and New Hampshire, in volunteers who have dedicated their careers to ending trafficking, and in our grants to strong organizations around the globe.
We have the power to make a different choice… The story I have told you is messy and unfinished, but I think it mirrors the mess and unfinished situation we are all in when it comes to human trafficking. We are all implicated in this problem. But that means we are all also part of its solution. Figuring out how to build a more just world is our work to do and our story to tell. So let us tell it the way we should have done from the very beginning. Let us tell this story together.
Core values
What guides us
Expertise
We strive to be experts in our café products and in the cause of ending human trafficking, and we invite others into the same knowledge.
Organic & Ethical Sourcing
We work to trace our products to their source so we can ensure the ethical treatment of the people, animals and natural resources involved in making them.
Partnership
We partner with credible organizations doing effective, transformative work in prevention, intervention and survivor support, and we connect local companies, groups and individuals, because the best results come from collaboration.
Empowerment
Through education, service and connection we create a continuous pathway, from a first visit, to volunteering, to advocacy. Name-your-price donations make every guest part of the anti-trafficking community, not just a consumer.
Openness & Transparency
We are open about our finances and practices, and always looking for more efficient and conscientious ways to operate. New practices and perspectives are welcome.
Hospitality
We bring warmth to every guest and volunteer and serve all people regardless of their donation. Bring outside food, study, meet friends, play games or make music.