Taos Launches a Co-op and Cafe Run By Teens and FOR Teens | LOR Foundation
Complete Engagement

Taos Launches a Co-op and Cafe Run By Teens and FOR Teens

  • Local Champion: St. James Episcopal Church
  • Date Funded: August 31, 2023
  • Grant Amount: $30,000

Taos teens don’t have a dedicated space where they can safely engage with their peers and access support services. Certainly there are coffee shops in Taos, but these are typically filled with adults, and teens don’t always feel their presence is appreciated. So a local group of youths, working in collaboration with St. James Episcopal Church, came up with the idea of creating a dedicated co-op/cafe for teens where they could spend time engaging with each other and accessing services they might need. (There will be no religious affiliation at the co-op.) Included in the vision for the co-op are a teen-focused food pantry, laundry and shower facilities, a give/take clothes closet for those who need things, school supplies and other incidental items, a study area, space for counselors to meet with teens, internship and work study programs, weekly teen self-help group talks, a meditation room, a music room, an art room, teen art shows and other themed events, and more. Kit Carson Electric has donated a building to the group for the project but it needs significant repairs. Over the past few years, the teens have raised more than $160,000—in part through sales from the food truck they launched—to renovate the building into the space they imagine. They just needed a little help to get over the final financial hump and reached out to LOR for help. LOR’s funding will help pay for construction supplies and services to support the creation of the co-op, which will be run and staffed by teens (with adult supervision provided through Dreamtree Project).

Contact our community officer in Taos. Meet Sonya Struck
More Engagement Solutions
Engagement / Questa Women’s Network Helps Build Connections and Confidence in Questa
Local Champion:
Questa Economic Development Fund
Date funded:
July 29, 2025
Grant Amount:
$5,700
Engagement / Cortez An Annual Recognition Event Helps Cortez Celebrate Its Community Champions
Local Champion:
Montezuma Leadership Network
Date funded:
July 24, 2025
Grant Amount:
$4,650
Engagement / Lander Community Poetry Box Showcases Work by Lander Poets
Local Champion:
Lander local
Date funded:
July 24, 2025
Grant Amount:
$1,000
Engagement / Lander Quarterly Zine Creates Platform for Lander’s Amateur Writers and Artists
Local Champion:
Lander local
Date funded:
July 24, 2025
Grant Amount:
$975
Engagement / Lander Expert Restoration Brings Lander’s Community Steinway Back to Concert Quality
Local Champion:
Lander Community Concerts Association
Date funded:
July 18, 2025
Grant Amount:
$13,400
Engagement / Cortez Cortez’s Quilts of Valor Chapter Honors Local Veterans
Local Champion:
Four Corners Quilts of Valor
Date funded:
July 15, 2025
Grant Amount:
$3,960

Share an Idea

If you have an idea for improving quality of life in Cortez or Monte Vista, Colorado; Lander, Wyoming; Libby, Montana; Questa or Taos, New Mexico; or Weiser, Idaho, use this form to start a conversation with us.

"*" indicates required fields