New cafe inside North Suburban Y provides a perk for members - and vocational training for people with disabilities

Cafe Voca, which is now open in the main lobby of the North Suburban YMCA in Northbrook, gives members a place to stop for a cup of coffee while providing vocational training to young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Cafe Voca's launch, three years in the making, was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded with a grant from Rotary International, the Rotary Club of Chicagoland Korean-Northbrook and the North Suburban YMCA partnered to open the cafe, which will provide people ages of 16-40 with education and hands-on work experience.

"We did a community needs assessment early on to see what we were lacking for the families in the community, and one of these was job training for those who had special abilities," said Debbie Madeley, development director at the North Suburban YMCA.

Four to six workers will staff the cafe over a 12-week period, and businesses that have partnered with the program, including Sunset Foods and First Bank of Highland Park, have made a commitment to consider individuals for employment at the conclusion of the training program, Madeley said. Working at the cafe helps provide experience in customer service and accounting, while having the structure of a regular job.

Coffee and light snacks are served free, though donations are encouraged.

Dozens of people including Rotary members, YMCA staff, civic leaders and elected officials, and parents of the workers were among those attending the opening of the cafe, which included speeches and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"This has truly been a labor of love, and we are so excited," said North Suburban YMCA CEO Kathy Fielding. "So we pushed off the launch, and as we kept taking two steps forward, it felt like we took one back. But thank heavens, we are finally ready to go."