The giant cow on Ecorse Road is here to stay as it welcomes the Good Soil Café, set to open in late 2025.
The previously vacant building has been acquired by Stewart Beal at Beal Properties, who is working with proprietor Melvin Parson to bring the café to life.
Parson, founder and director of We The People Opportunity Farm, received the opportunity to expand upon the organization in the form of a café, creating a business to break the cycle of incarceration.
“We’re not hiring formerly incarcerated men and women to sell coffee, we’re selling coffee to hire formerly incarcerated men and women,” Parson said.
The café aims to strengthen community and provide healthy food access for all. This café is more than a coffee shop, where the mission is to bring folks together and create working opportunities for formerly incarcerated men and women.
The inspiration for a café branching from this organization was Parson’s familiarity with cafés. Over the past decade, the organization’s lack of an office led them to host meetings and discuss business at local coffee shops.
Good Soil Café will create a safe and welcoming space for all, honoring its mission to give back to the community. Employment opportunities at the café will be provided for individuals impacted by the justice system while strengthening the goals of We The People Opportunity Farm
This project is supported by The Michigan Justice Fund, which awarded a $100,000 planning grant to support the business.
“We’re excited to launch the Good Soil Café and to create a space and environment where folks feel valued and loved and supported and happy,”
The space is set to open in late winter of this year, creating an outlet for the community to support those in need, and provide work for those who were impacted by the system.
