WAUKEGAN – Coffee is only part of the story when it comes to the new Drip & Culture Coffee Shop located inside Supermercado Gonzalez in Waukegan.

As the name implies, the business represents a unique meld of cultures. When owners Adam Carson and Nydia Gonzalez moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Waukegan, they sought to be impactful.

The married couple took over management of the grocery store owned by Gonzalez’s parents and wanted to create a business inside the store where people from different walks of life could gather. They also envisioned a place where entrepreneurism could thrive.

“We were very straightforward in that we wanted to be a part of and create community,” Carson said. “I’m African American from Mississippi running a coffee shop inside of a Mexican grocery store in a town that is completely Hispanic. That gives it a completely different vibe and feel.”

The socially minded business opened in January inside the more than 30-year-old grocery store, a staple in Waukegan.

Along with coffee, the business features products from local entrepreneurs. An artist as well as a business owner, Nydia Gonzalez is creating a space where artists can showcase their work.

The couple’s efforts caught the eye of the Lake County Community Foundation, which recently launched a Small Business Growth Initiative program to support small businesses owned by people of color within priority communities in Lake County.

Drip & Culture Coffee Shop became the first business to receive a grant from the new program. The $50,000 grant supported the move of the coffee shop from the back of the grocery store to the front, making it more accessible to customers and creating room for future growth.

“This is definitely a different concept of supporting for-profit businesses, but our goal is to make sure the businesses we’re supporting have a community development lens to them,” said Courtney Combs, manager of community impact for the foundation. “They’re building community relationships and adding value to the community they’re in.”

The foundation eventually wants to help create a cohort of three to five small businesses in that area, with plans to begin another grant application process.

The initiative is part of the foundation’s ongoing work to address racial wealth disparity and contribute to positive social and economic change in Lake County. The foundation brings together philanthropists, donors, dollars and ideas to build permanent funds to benefit Lake County.

Since 2003, the foundation has awarded more than $8 million in grants to nonprofit agencies serving the residents of Lake County and beyond.

As part of this latest initiative, the foundation worked with the Illinois Small Business Development & International Trade Center at College of Lake County, Lake County Partners, Allies for Community Business and local community leaders.

From the beginning of the grant application process, the foundation was impressed with Drip & Culture Coffee Shop, Combs said.

“It’s a very collective space, a collective mindset of, ‘It’s not just all about us growing and our bottom line. This is about how we can make the most impact on other folks’ bottom lines,’ ‘’ she said.

All involved envision the coffee shop as a catalyst for small-business growth in Waukegan.

Since its opening, the business has transported customers to a different place, kind of like some of the businesses in Brooklyn, Carson said.

Before Drip & Culture, Carson had spent 15 years working as a consultant at a hospital, but felt he wasn’t making the impact on the community he and Gonzalez wanted to make.

“We’re very socially focused and driven,” he said. “You can’t come out of 2020 and not understand the impact of social justice.”

He and Gonzalez take pride in finding ways to improve the community.

They want those who visit to come not only for the coffee, but also for the cause.

“For people to come in and kind of really understand what we’re trying to do and believe in us is really cool,” Carson said. “It’s just really awesome people get it. … It encourages us to go out and work harder and make the brand bigger.”