Congratulations to Alliance member Blue Jacket in Fort Wayne, Indiana on its recent opening of two new employment social enterprises, Tall Rabbit Café + Community, and thrift store Renew by Blue Jacket!

The new retail outlets join Blue Jacket Staffing and other businesses to provide transitional employment and skill-building opportunities for job seekers who graduate from the Blue Jacket Academy, a rigorous 40-hour pre-employment training.

Tall Rabbit Café + Community serves locally-roasted Utopian coffee, offers multiple public meeting spaces, and showcases Blue Jacket’s mission to “lift up people who want to prove their worth to the world,” says executive director Tony Hudson. Tall Rabbit is the nickname of the great Shawnee chief Blue Jacket, the nonprofit’s namesake.

Renew by Blue Jacket is a resale store acquired from the nonprofit BCS Foundation and has a 12-year legacy of selling high quality secondhand furniture, housewares, clothing, jewelry, and more. The store will continue to operate at its existing site about 7 miles northeast of Blue Jacket’s main location.

While Tony acknowledges the risk inherent in these new ventures, he and his team are excited by the opportunity to hire more Academy graduates in-house, and notes that “this has always been our strategic direction.”

Blue Jacket Staffing has operated since 2007, and the organization’s original resale store, Blue Jacket Clothing Co., celebrated its 10-year anniversary in February. Commercial cleaning services and the seasonal Fantasy of Lights event round out Blue Jacket’s diverse portfolio of employment social enterprises.