This curated gift guide highlights ten mission-driven social enterprises across the country — each creating meaningful employment for people overcoming barriers such as refugee resettlement, homelessness, incarceration, trauma, and economic hardship. Every purchase fuels dignity, skill-building, and economic mobility.

Whether you’re shopping for holiday gifts, corporate appreciation, or everyday treats, these purpose-driven businesses offer high-quality products that uplift lives with every sale.

1. Beautiful Day (Providence, RI)

Mission: Beautiful Day provides paid, hands-on job training for refugees in Rhode Island through the production of award-winning granola and breakfast products.
Impact: Participants learn culinary skills, English, financial fundamentals, and job-readiness techniques through a supportive on-the-job training model.
Why Buy: Their granola, coffee, and snack products help refugees gain economic independence and rebuild their lives in a new country.

Discover more products here: Shop Beautiful Day

2. Bright Endeavors (Chicago, IL)

Mission: Bright Endeavors — part of New Moms — employs and mentors young moms, offering paid transitional roles making premium scented candles.
Impact: Participants gain manufacturing experience, career coaching, and wrap-around support while building confidence and long-term stability.
Why Buy: Every candle supports a young mother on the path toward meaningful employment and financial security.

Discover more products here: Shop Bright Endeavors

3. GreenIsland Bakery (Washington, DC)

Mission: GreenIsland Bakery pairs workforce development with trauma-informed support, offering baking roles for individuals recovering from traumatic experiences.
Impact: Participants gain culinary training, emotional support, and paid work while crafting shortbread and baked goods rooted in tradition and care.
Why Buy: Their cookies help fund a model where healing and employment reinforce one another.

Discover more products here: Shop GreenIsland Bakery

4. Ground Up (Portland, OR)

Mission: Ground Up trains and employs women navigating employment barriers by engaging them in nut-butter production and small-batch food manufacturing.
Impact: Their paid training program includes mentorship, leadership development, skill-building, and real pathways into long-term employment.
Why Buy: Their healthy, creative nut butters uplift women rebuilding their careers and lives.

Discover more products here: Shop Ground Up

5. Stroopies, Inc. (Lancaster, PA)

Mission: Stroopies hires resettled refugee women to craft traditional Dutch stroopwafels in a welcoming, community-centered workplace.
Impact: Employees receive paid roles, English-language support, and a sense of belonging while adapting to life in the U.S.
Why Buy: Their stroopwafels help create stability for refugee families beginning new lives.

Discover more products here: Shop Stroopies

6. SugarBot Sweet Shop & Creamery (St. Charles, MO)

Mission: SugarBot offers employment and job training to individuals experiencing barriers to work while producing nostalgic baked goods and confections.
Impact: The bakery provides stable wages, supportive supervision, and a path to long-term employment through culinary and retail roles.
Why Buy: Their sweets bring joy while powering workforce access for people rebuilding stability.

Discover more products here: Shop SugarBot

7. The Refugee Collective (Austin, TX)

Mission: The Refugee Collective employs refugees and immigrants through a regenerative farm and a textile studio producing naturally-dyed goods.
Impact: Participants receive fair wages, cultural affirmation, community support, and meaningful work aligned with their skills and heritage.
Why Buy: Their spice blends and textiles are beautiful, ethical, and rooted in workers’ stories.

Discover more products here: Shop the Refugee Collective

8. Touch A Heart (Honolulu, HI)

Mission: Touch A Heart — through its Baker’s Heart enterprise — creates food-service employment opportunities for individuals transitioning out of hardship.
Impact: Workers receive job training, supportive services, and income through cookie production and catering.
Why Buy: Their Hawaiʻi-grown treats help create second chances and long-term stability.

Discover more products here: Shop Holiday Cookies and Biscotti

9. Wagster Treats (Novato, CA)

Mission: Wagster Treats is a Homeward Bound of Marin enterprise offering employment training to adults and families emerging from homelessness.
Impact: Workers gain experience in food production, packaging, and distribution alongside supportive services.
Why Buy: Their dog treats restore lives close to home — right here in the Bay Area.

Discover more products here: Shop Wagster

10. Women’s Bean Project (Denver, CO)

Mission: Women’s Bean Project hires women facing chronic unemployment and provides paid transitional roles in food manufacturing.
Impact: Participants move through production, packaging, shipping, and administrative roles while receiving life-skills training and job-placement support.
Why Buy: Their soups, mixes, and snacks help women move toward long-term careers and economic stability.

Discover more products here: Shop Women's Bean Project

Why These Gifts Matter

When you choose products from these social enterprises, you’re doing more than shopping — you’re investing directly in:

• Employment equity for refugees, women, and people overcoming homelessness or trauma
• Local and national economic inclusion
• High-quality, handcrafted products rooted in dignity and skill
• A more resilient, people-centered economy

This season — or year-round — consider redirecting a portion of your personal or organizational spending toward these mission-driven businesses. Your purchase becomes a catalyst for opportunity, community, and long-term change.