FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tontine Café to Reintroduce Community Currency Model as Core of Non-Profit Venture

Greensboro, NC — May 1, 2023 — A new initiative is underway to launch the Tontine Café, a proposed 501(c)(3) non-profit that will use community currency—not coffee sales—as its central business model to teach entrepreneurship and fund climate-related solutions.

The project reimagines the traditional café as a training and financial innovation hub, where participants learn how to launch small businesses while engaging in a localized economic system designed to reward participation, contribution, and long-term commitment.

"The real business is not coffee—it's community currency," said Mitchell Davis, founder of the project. "Coffee is simply the platform. The goal is to create a self-reinforcing economic ecosystem that funds entrepreneurship and climate solutions"

Reviving a Historic Model for Modern Impact

The concept draws inspiration from the historic Tontine Coffee House, where early American financiers gathered and where the Buttonwood Agreement was signed—laying the groundwork for what became the New York Stock Exchange.

The original tontine model pooled investor resources, with ownership shares increasing for remaining participants over time. The Tontine Café adapts this idea into a modern, non-profit framework focused on education, sustainability, and shared economic incentives.

Community Currency at the Center

A key feature of the model is the planned reintroduction of a localized, community-based currency system, inspired by the original Tontine Coffee House, which issued 12½-cent notes redeemable for goods or gold.

In the modern version, this currency could:

• Reward participation in training and operations
• Incentivize community engagement and volunteerism
• Circulate within the café ecosystem and partner ventures
• Support funding for climate-related projects

Key Elements of the Plan

Entrepreneurship Training

Participants will learn how to start and operate coffee shops and related small businesses, with a focus on practical, replicable models.

Climate Action Funding

Revenue and participation incentives will help fund projects such as:

• Solar-powered water wells
• Public hydration stations
• Mobile coffee and water units
• Climate-resilient retail operations

501(c)(3) Non-Membership Structure

The organization will operate without formal membership, directing donations and resources into equipment, training, and deployment—similar to models used by Heifer International and Save the Children.

A New Kind of Café

Unlike traditional cafés that rely solely on product sales, the Tontine Café is designed as a hybrid of classroom, incubator, and micro-economy, where value is created through participation and shared purpose.

"This is about teaching people how to build businesses while simultaneously building a new kind of local economy," Davis said. "It's entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and monetary innovation combined"

Next Steps

Organizers are finalizing the operational blueprint, with plans to launch a pilot Tontine Café location in Greensboro as both a training center and community currency testbed.

Media Contact:

Mitchell Davis

Broadcast Interview Source, Inc.

202) 333-5000

If you want, I can also:

• Turn this into HTML for distribution
• Add investor/donor pitch language
• Or expand the community currency mechanics into a full business plan section (this is where this concept can really stand ou