Spotlight: Woodstock Cafe
Woodstock Cafe has been the city’s only deaf-operated coffee shop since its opening in March 2024. The cafe welcomes people of all abilities—you’re welcome to sign, or use the on-site caption systems that can assist with communication. Operated by CymaSpace, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering inclusivity within the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, the cafe is more than a coffee shop—it’s a hub for connection. Stop by or check out their event calendar here to show your support.
Tell us how you decided to take over Woodstock Cafe.
Myles de Bastion (below as Myles): The cafe is owned and operated by CymaSpace, a nonprofit focused on making the arts accessible. In recent years, we noticed a strong need among our members for a community hub—a place to connect socially beyond just art projects. One day, I happened to be in the neighborhood and saw that the cafe was available.
Andre Grey (below as Andre): It was the summer of 2023 and we decided to give it a try. We looked into it and met the previous owner. We were against multiple bids. It was hard to get a bank loan to support a new coffee shop.
Myles: To make it happen, we had to draw on a line of credit from the bank, and we’re grateful to everyone who contributed to the fundraising efforts.
Andre: Our primary goal is to ensure the community has a safe space to engage with each other. We also create workforce opportunities for people who are disabled.
When we started the cafe, we were aware that a lot of deaf people like to work with others who sign. It helps them feel comfortable, safe, and understood. It reduces their anxiety. Everyone wants to communicate in their native language, but unfortunately, there aren’t many job opportunities for Deaf people.
Myles: There also aren’t many businesses that support sign language. And you might see we have some captioning systems around the space because it's expensive to hire interpreters. The idea is to just empower people to have a direct conversation while they are here.
How do you engage with the community through this space?
Myles: We have an event calendar on our website, and we host three to four events each week. It helps expand our impact and community members can use this place to launch their own events. All of our events are free. With the current funding landscape, organizations like ours have to earn your own way to survive right now. We're also putting more effort into ensuring the deaf people can live and thrive here in Portland. We've had two or three deaf businesses to shut down in the past two years. The support is there in spirit, but sometimes the community feels too spread out to sustain a business. Since I moved here in 2013, I’ve been trying to build a space for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community—but it’s been challenging. The support from funders just hasn’t been there.
Andre: There is more space in this building that we had hoped to purchase and turn into a larger community hub. We partnered with other organizations to apply for a federal grant to fund the acquisition. We felt confident we’d receive funding in the second or third round. But on the day of the second-round announcement, we learned that all funding had been canceled.
Funders often don’t recognize disability as part of the underserved population, or they’re simply unaware that our community’s needs are just as significant as those of other underserved groups. When we opened the cafe, it deeply resonated with the Deaf community—and with a broader audience, including people who want to learn sign language. None of this would have been possible without our organization’s investment in this space. There are other opportunities we’d love to explore or support, but limited funding—and how our work is often undervalued—makes it difficult. It doesn’t feel fair.
How can we support?
Myles: I would love for you to have a chance to come to an event here and see what the community is about, for example, a board game night, a casual sign language night, a craft night.
What are you most proud of?
Andre: I have my tear-jerker moments when I see my staff or community members get to know each other and become friends. There are a lot of connections being made here at the cafe. That brings me joy. It’s nice to see people show up, stay engaged, and build community.
Every community has their dramas. Sometimes communities fall apart because of that. But here, it’s the opposite. It's just people meeting one another, making connections, and forming friendships. Even if someone comes to an event and then stops showing up because they’ve found friends and are doing things together elsewhere—I’m happy with that.
I see this space as a stepping stone, especially for people new to Portland. Some may start working here and then they find their way to different opportunities. I’ve had team members go on to become teachers, or move to California to pursue their dreams. One of our staff recently graduated with a master’s degree. Seeing people come through this space and move on to new life opportunities—that happens a lot, and it makes me proud.
What other projects do you have in mind?
Myles: When we announced that we were hiring for the cafe, we received so many inquiries from the community. It was overwhelming. We need more resources to support different kinds of disabilities because one set of accommodations don’t work for another disability. All of these take up a lot of funding and resources. But I believe that's why working towards a disability hub is going to be key to bring the different disability groups together.
