Afro Joe’s uses coffee, community to inspire young readers in Beverly

CHICAGO - Reading unlocks a child’s imagination and sets them up for success as an adult. A study by Harvard and Stanford shows Chicago has outpaced most other school districts in reading growth since the pandemic. But more needs to be done outside of the classroom. Afro Joe’s is leading by example, combining coffee and children’s literacy for maximum community impact. 

"I was always around books growing up," said Kendall Griffin. "I felt like that was something that we wanted to share with the world, especially our coffee community here."

Afro Joe's Coffee & Tea comes to be

The backstory:

Kendall Griffin loved books as a kid. Coffee was something that came along later while he traveled for work as a field rep in the automotive industry. With some encouragement from his wife Aisha, they started Afro Joe’s Coffee & Tea in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood in 2020. The design was intentionally created with an open layout to brew community.

"One thing I noticed was that coffee shops were really introverted," Griffin said. "I thought they should be the opposite. I thought it should be really extroverted."

Coffee, tea, pastries and breakfast sandwiches are all available at Afro Joe’s, which has since relocated to the Beverly neighborhood. Not pictured on the menu but baked into the culture of Afro Joe’s are their four pillars: Maternal health, community, supporting living artists and children’s literacy.

"We started off with cardboard books and then moved on to chapter books," said Aisha Griffin. 

One of her favorite childhood memories is going to the bookstore with her grandmother. She and Kendall have started a free book library at Afro Joe’s to share their love of reading with the Beverly community.

"We have so many people come in and say, ‘oh, I have older books,’" said Aisha Griffin. "Not that we don't want the older books. But a lot of people that have new books, when I was a kid that meant something."

Giving back

Why you should care:

The free library is refilled every month by Burst into Books. Every second Saturday, the organization Black Boy Lit comes in to read to kids. 

"We have one young girl, or young lady, that comes in," said Kendall Griffin. "She's four years old. She's not even a reader yet. But her mom reads the books to her before bed. So just getting her in the habit of reading and seeing the smile on her face is inspiring for me."

The Griffins know that inspiring young readers is something that will pay off for the Beverly community years down the road. 

"You literally see kids who come in and they beeline to the books," said Aisha Griffin. "Mom, you can order whatever you're going to order, but I'm about to go pick up my book. So just seeing people excited about literacy because it's a huge part of your life. You have to be able to read and being able to have a level of enjoyment for it, I think it's huge for children."

Afro Joe’s Coffee and Tea is located at 1818 W. 99th St. in the Beverly neighborhood.