On the Ground Global is the charitable arm of Traverse City’s Higher Grounds Coffee. It works to improve lives in the communities that supply Higher Grounds’ coffee beans–building a school in Ethiopia, a water project in Chiapas, and gender equality programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to name a few.

Director of Development Stella Young has been involved with OtG projects since joining a delegation with her family alongside the Run Across Ethiopia project at age ten. Over the years she stayed engaged in the organization’s work and launched her own campaign to raise funds for the school tuition of forty students in the DRC over three years. She graduated from Kalamazoo College in June 2022 and is thrilled to be working with OtG again. Tim Young co-founded On the Ground Global with Chris Treter.