How Kindness Café is brewing change in Charlottesville

Something as seemingly simple as coffee can have a big impact on the community. (Jessica Lewis. thepaintedsquare/Unsplash)

By Good Info News Wire Team

April 2, 2025

The Kindness Café + Play, located at a historic house in Charlottesville, offers a welcoming space and employment for adults with cognitive disabilities.

In the heart of Charlottesville, a unique coffee shop is brewing more than just beverages—it’s fostering inclusion and creating meaningful employment opportunities for adults with cognitive disabilities. Kindness Café + Play, which recently opened its second location on Rugby Road, is transforming the local coffee scene while building a more inclusive community.

A new chapter in community inclusion

The newly opened location at the corner of Rugby Road and Gordon Avenue, housed in a historic white building, marks an expansion of the successful initiative started by Katie Kishore, a UVA alumna. Charlie Scott, one of the café’s employees, proudly described his role to UVA Today: “I deliver coffee. Smoothies. I wipe down tables.” His enthusiasm for customer interaction, particularly with UVA students, reflects the café’s welcoming atmosphere.

From personal journey to community impact

The inspiration for Kindness Café + Play emerged from Kishore’s personal experience. After losing her husband Kris to a rare form of cancer in 2014, a friend shared a video about Bitty & Beau’s, a North Carolina coffee shop employing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This discovery resonated deeply with Kishore, who has a daughter with Down syndrome.

In 2017, Kishore visited Bitty & Beau’s with her daughters Mira and Kiran. “I really enjoyed being in there and being like, ‘This is Kiran’s space,'” Kishore told UVA Today. “That was powerful for me as a mom. And then the other thing I remember, (the) staff was lovely, very welcoming.”

Partnership with Westminster Presbyterian Church

The new location’s establishment was facilitated by Dorothy Piatt-Esguerra, Westminster Presbyterian Church’s associate pastor for university and social justice mission. The building, which once housed the famous Prism Coffeehouse, found a new purpose through this collaboration. “I think people at the church saw and embraced this as a way to live out Westminster’s long mission in the community. It’s long been a church that has stood up for principles of social justice, and inclusivity has been a huge part of that,” explained Piatt-Esguerra.

The café’s first location opened at the Brooks Family YMCA in 2020, and its success paved the way for this second venue. Both locations operate under the mission of “providing meaningful employment for adults with cognitive disabilities while creating a joyful, inclusive community space.”