The 2 Men Wrongfully Arrested at Starbucks Negotiate for a $200,000 Program to Support Young EntrepreneursRashon Nelson and Donte Robinson worked with the city of Philadelphia on a grant for public high school students interested in entrepreneurship.

ByHayden Field

Lorenzo Bevilaqua | Getty Images

A picture may be worth a thousand words. As for a video? Try 11.2 million.

That's how many times the arrest of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson has beenviewed, at time of writing. On April 12, the two 23-year-old black men were arrested while waiting in a Philadelphia Starbucks for a business meeting about a real estate project.

In agreeing not to file a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia, Nelson and Robinson approached city officials with an idea that has now come to fruition: The two will settle for a symbolic $1 each while the city invests $200,000 in supporting young entrepreneurs.

That $200,000 will fund a pilot program for public high school students who are interested in entrepreneurship to develop relevant skills. The details of the program are still being worked out, but "Mr. Robinson and Mr. Nelson will serve on the committee to be established to develop the grant criteria, review grant applications, and award the grant," says Mike Dunn, deputy communications director for the city of Philadelphia.

"Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson approached the City and invited us to partner with them in an attempt to make something positive come of this," Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney says in a statement to狗万官方。这些conversat“本协议的结果ions, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of this effort in the coming months and years."

On April 12, a Starbucks employee called the police after Nelson and Robinson asked to use the restroom before having made a purchase, and Nelson and Robinson were subsequently taken away by police. Protests and a #BoycottStarbucks campaign followed. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson publicly denounced the incident and met with the two men and announced that Starbucks would close its more than 8,000 U.S. store locations for anti-bias training on May 29.

"I sat in front of them, and I apologized personally for what happened -- they didn't deserve this," Johnson says in avideo statement。"We had a very emotional and a very constructive conversation."

That conversation would later lead to a confidential financial settlement with Starbucks, as well as an offer to fund the completion of the two men's undergraduate degrees via theStarbucks College Achievement Plan

Entrepreneur reached out to the attorney representing Nelson and Robinson and will update this story if we hear back.

Wavy Line
Hayden Field

Entrepreneur Staff

Associate Editor

Hayden Field is an associate editor at Entrepreneur. She covers technology, business and science. Her work has also appeared in Fortune Magazine, Mashable, Refinery29 and others.

Editor's Pick

Related Topics

Business News

Netflix is Hiring an AI-Focused Role—and the Starting Salary is up to $900,000

The streaming giant is looking for a leader in its machine learning department.

Science & Technology

This Is the New ChatGPT Trend That Will Enhance Your Business

ChatGPT plugins are becoming the new cool trend among entrepreneurs to enhance their businesses and engage more customers. Here are some insights into how they're impacting business enterprises, along with some potential risks that may accompany the benefits.

Living

How to Start a 'Million Dollar' Morning Routine

Restructure your morning with a few simple steps that may help to amplify your energy.

Business News

McDonald's Is Launching a Spinoff Restaurant Chain Based on a Beloved, Blast-From-the-Past Mascot

The company saw a lot of success with another former mascot, Grimace, in June.