New Cafe Promises To Fund Crown Heights' Dreams : Report

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Three business partners with a dream of opening a cafe and wine bar in Crown Heights are hoping the new storefront will help the neighborhood's resident achieve theirs, too.

Brian Stoothoff, Sarah Elisabeth Huggins, and Adam Keita have nearly reached their goal on an ongoing Kickstarter campaign to open Daughter, a cafe, wine bar and "community space" they have planned for a storefront on Saint Johns Place, according to an interview in Sprudge.

The new cafe comes with a list of philanthropic goals, including a free "family meal" each afternoon, 10 percent of its monthly proceeds heading to charities and 20 percent of its yearly profits going to a local resident in need of start-up funding.

Keita's dream of opening the cafe has bee floating around for about six years, but was renewed this summer, he told the outlet.

"It was when the protest[s] began I became determined to not let this fire die, to see so many Black souls like mine fighting for our place in this country and world," he said. "I decided my dream isn’t allowed to die, and that brought Daughter back from the edges of my desire."

Daughter, whose name comes from a term "Daughter of the soil" Keita learned at a Berlin farm, would open at 1090 Saint Johns Pl. Its Kickstarter has so far raised $36,000 of its $50,000 goal.

"We're not doing this to open a chain of restaurants. We're doing this because we feel the food industry lacks community outside of itself, and that hinders true appreciation of food culture," the Kickstarter reads. "We're doing this to bridge the gap."

Read Keita's full interview with Sprudge here.