The Neumann Kaffee Gruppe Partnership to Advance Coffee Equity (NKG PACE) is a QC-focused green coffee training program. Created in close cooperation with the CCRE, NKG PACE offers members of the Black community — a group that experiences the largest gap in employment and decision-making roles in the U.S. coffee industry — the opportunity to gain a rich understanding of green coffee importing and the world of coffee that precedes retail.

In June 2020, as protests against racial injustice ignited across the country, Phyllis Johnson, co-founder and president of BD Imports and the eventual founder of the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity (CCRE), posted an open letter to the coffee industry calling for its leaders to use their power and resources for positive change. NKG CEO David M. Neumann responded, and a conversation began.

In May 2022, after much planning and collaboration, the first three NKG PACE Partners were welcomed into the program — one in the Neumann Gruppe USA headquarters in Hoboken, one in the InterAmerican Coffee office in San Diego, and another in the Atlas Coffee Importers office in Seattle.