Our Story

In 2016, the conversation started with, "How do we take a bag of coffee and turn it into suicide prevention?"

Shortly after, Hope for the Day began a partnership with friends, and local roaster, Dark Matter Coffee to create specialty-grade bags of coffee named "Sip of Hope," which were soon stocked in Chicago-area Whole Foods stores.

In 2017, Hope for the Day pitched the idea of opening a joint-venture coffee shop that could serve as a space to provide resources and hold education in a community setting. As a physical presence of Hope for the Day's mission, the goal was to meet people where they're at and empower them to be proactive to the mental health of themselves and others. From there, the fundraising began.

Sip of Hope Coffee Bar opened its doors in Logan Square for the first time in May 2018, surrounded by friends, family, and members of our community who helped us reach this huge milestone. Whether providing physical resources, holding events within our space, or partnering with the local businesses, having a physical space provides numerous new opportunities to connect with our community. Sip of Hope is the world’s first coffee where 100% of the proceeds support proactive suicide prevention and mental health education, and all of our baristas are trained in mental health first aid.

In October of 2020, Sip of Hope took the next step in our journey and began offering our own signature blends and coffees to allow us the opportunity to get mental health resources and tasty coffee into as many hands as possible. 

In 2023, we began exploring the concept of our second cafe location within the University of Chicago’s Center for Care and Discovery.

We continue to serve tasty beverages and break the silence one cup at a time, with the help of many incredible community members. Read more about each of our locations below.