Meet Melissa Spolar of Eagle Rock

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Spolar.

Hi Melissa, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Rock Coffee and Community Center formally began in 2001 as Reach Our Community Kids, a youth non-profit. Over the past decades, it has provided after school programs for kids and youth, including tutoring, field trips, and social events. The space slowly became a hub for the community, as the neighborhood began hosting a wide range of activities here from dance and yoga groups, to open mics, to 12-step groups.

In 2019, the coffee bar opened, officially expanding the community center to include Rock Coffee. It solidified our non-profit as a hub for the community, welcoming in neighbors of all ages. As funding sources for non-profits around our country continue to fade, the coffee bar helps our non-profit remain self-sustainable so we can continue to serve our neighborhood.

These days, we are leaning in to the mission of serving local youth and building community in our neighborhood. We have weekly board game nights for the neighborhood on Wednesdays from 6:30-9:30 pm, and are dreaming of offering regular additional social events as well as workshops to enrich the lives of our community.

We are also a host to an LA Community Fridge, which allows to neighbors to donate and take food as needed. It’s a bustling part of our property, with neighbors visiting to drop off or pick up food all throughout the day.

We recently remodeled and launched a student lounge, a room in our building specifically to be a space of safety, support, and fun for local junior high and high schools students after school. It has school supplies, desks, and even a gaming corner with bean bags. We’re building up a volunteer program to ensure we have homework helpers on site on school days to assist students as needed.

I (Melissa) got involved with hosting social events here this past fall, which is how I originally got connected to the Rock. As of January 2026, I took over as Executive Director. In a world of increasing connected disconnectedness thanks to technology, I’m passionate about creating opportunities for belonging and community. I intend to carry on the legacy of the Rock to continue developing this non-profit and cafe as a hub for the community, where every person who comes by feels welcomed and we enrich the lives of the neighborhood around us.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not! Funding sources continue to dry up, much more rapidly in the past year due to federal changes, as the cost of everything it takes to operate continues to rise. We rely heavily on our coffee bar and space rentals to manage our operating costs. We still have a ways to go at the moment to get out of the danger zone financially.

The community fridge, which positively impacts so many neighbors, has also brought lots of challenges with it. It especially causes friction with some neighbors and renters in regard to the trash and cleanliness. We’re hoping more of our neighbors can step up to help keep that volunteer-led initiative by the LA Community Fridge network functioning well and providing much needed food to neighbors with food insecurity.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My background is in non-profits, events and coffee. Before this, I actually helped run another non-profit cafe, which prepared me for this role. Something distinctive in my leadership approach is a commitment to intentionality. For example, a lot of cafes talk about being a space to build community, but there’s rarely intentional efforts to help people actually build and deepen relationships. When we talk about building community here, we don’t just open our doors and hope for the best. We recently set up a community table, a large table set aside for remote workers who are interested in meeting their neighbors while they work. Our weekly board game night is clearly named and structured as a weekly event to get to know new people, and we plan to offer more social events throughout the year.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
The Art of Gathering, by Priya Parker is a huge source of inspiration for being intentional when hosting gatherings. It focuses on thinking about the experience of a guest from the moment they are invited to even after the event. In our cafe setup, events, and all we do, I think through that framework.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rock.coffee
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rock_coffee_house
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@rock_coffee_house