Students, educators, alumni, and community members filled the library lobby, sipping on beverages donated by Desert Sun Coffee Roasters and Durango Soda Company and enjoying chocolate cake donated by Bread bakery. The event honored a program that has helped hundreds of students with disabilities develop job skills, gain confidence, and find meaningful roles in the community.
“We’ve got to celebrate the good things, and this place is a really good thing,” said Steve Steiner, the district's coordinator of special education, who added that the program began as a joint collaboration between Durango School District and San Juan BOCES. “What better way to celebrate something we as a community created than by coming together like we are today?”
Designed to provide real-world work experience to Durango High School (DHS) students with disabilities, the café is student-run, with learners taking on everything from inventory and ordering to customer service and operating the register. For many, the experience has been transformative.
Former DHS student Tim Prowell, an original alumni of the program, said it taught him work and life skills that helped him stabilize and grow.
“I don’t know what today would look like for me without Common Grounds, and I’m very proud to be a part of this program — especially part of its beginnings,” he said. “It was such an awesome place to recognize that the skills we learn in school aren’t just for school. They’re skills we can take into the real world. And seeing everyone who’s gone through this program find success and hold meaningful roles in our community is amazing.”
According to program co-founder Adrea Bogle, Common Grounds was created for just that purpose.
“When we had the original vision for the Common Grounds Café, we centered it around the values of connection, care, meaningful contribution, and inclusion,” said Bogle, former transition coordinator for San Juan BOCES whose role at the time involved working with DHS students who had significant disabilities. “The idea came from a need — how do we create opportunities for students with disabilities that feel real and purposeful?”
Bogle said that it took a village to get the program off the ground — a lot of people to give permission, and then plenty of elbow grease.
“We hoped this could become a model — something other businesses in the community could look to and realize that it’s actually pretty easy to create a space of real inclusion, where everybody can be accommodated, supported, and included in meaningful work.”
Corrie McCarthy, DHS paraeducator who has managed the café for the past eight years, said that the work itself is not the only meaningful part of each student’s experience. Loyal customers have contributed to the learning environment, too.
“Customers are a key part of Common Grounds, but ‘customers’ doesn’t really capture who they are. They’re part of our community,” McCarthy said. “They don’t come here just to buy coffee or sandwiches — they could do that anywhere, probably somewhere more convenient. They come here to participate, to be part of our students’ journeys, and to find meaningful ways to contribute to our students’ growth and education.”
And if that takes a little extra time, the customers don’t seem to mind.
“So often, the students are busy, and I’ll be off to the side, and the customers will wait patiently,” McCarthy said. “They would rather be served by the students, even if it takes longer, because they want to be part of that process. It’s expected that I stay aside — and that’s special.”
Common Grounds Café is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, in Durango Public Library (1900 E. 3rd Ave.).