Not Your Average Joe coffee shop closing Broken Arrow location after losing state funding

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Not Your Average Joe, a coffee shop built around inclusion, is closing its Broken Arrow location after losing state funding for its work-based learning program.

The nonprofit provides job training and work experience for students with disabilities. Its previous contract expired at the end of September, and the organization says it learned in October that it would not be renewed.

For the past five years, Not Your Average Joe says it has provided work-based learning services to hundreds of students across Oklahoma.

"Closing this location is heartbreaking because of the people who made it special," NYAJ leadership said. "Our staff and students have shown our community what is possible when people of all abilities have the opportunity to contribute. We are deeply grateful to everyone who helped create that opportunity in Broken Arrow."

The organization says it has contacted the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services to ask what it would take to reinstate the program, but says it has not yet received a response.

Not Your Average Joe is thanking its staff, students, families and the Broken Arrow community for supporting its mission.

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