The mission of Susanna’s Cafe in Cleveland [Video]

HELP Harvest’s program offers vocational training for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

CLEVELAND — At the Cleveland Foundation’s headquarters on Euclid Avenue in MidTown Cleveland, employees and visitors buzz in and out of a coffee shop. Susanna’s Cafe by HELP Harvest has become a place for people to pick up a quick cup of coffee, grab lunch or take a meeting. But its purpose is much deeper than providing people with their daily caffeine fix.

The cafe opened in the summer of 2023, and is run by the HELP Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to provide services and support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to president and CEO Tami Honkala.

The name of the cafe itself comes from former Cleveland Foundation CEO Ronn Richard’s daughter, Susanna, who has a disability.

“We realized that there was a need as kind of the system transitioned for supports for people who wanted to enter …