Health & Fitness
Grants Enhance Culinary Training at Homeward Bound
Funds will add job coaching and integrate work experience for job-training students.
Fresh Starts Culinary Academy, a project of Homeward Bound of Marin, has received grants totaling $45,000 to enhance job training and related social enterprise work experience opportunities.
The grants from Catalyst Kitchens, an affiliate group for culinary social enterprise businesses, and Wells Fargo Foundation will allow Fresh Starts Culinary Academy to build better pathways to success for its students.
With $30,000 in funding from Catalyst Kitchens, a grant supported by the Walmart Foundation, Homeward Bound will add a job coach, increase job development and develop better follow-up programs for graduates.
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The grants also will support review of the curriculum for adherence to national “best practices” as well as more integration of the job-training course with on-the-job work experience in social enterprise projects.
Homeward Bound’s social enterprise projects include production of Halo Truffles from Belgian chocolate, catering for The Key Room event space, preparation and service for celebrity chef events and internships at the Jackson Café in San Rafael.
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“This grant is critical to expanding the reach and effectiveness of our culinary program to include job development, placement and follow-up. Catalyst Kitchens shares Homeward Bound’s mission to empower homeless individuals with job training and employment in the food industry,” said Mary Kay Sweeney, Homeward Bound’s executive director.
Homeward Bound, which is Marin County’s main provider of shelter and services for homeless families and adults, launched the culinary job-training program in 2001 as a collaboration with the Marin County Office of Education’s Regional Occupation Program. Based at the Next Key Center in Novato, the program now enrolls up to 40 students yearly.
Graduates have found work with employers like Whole Foods Market, Safeway, local catering businesses, and Marin County restaurants. The next session begins in August for Fresh Starts Culinary Academy.
For more information about enrollment at Fresh Starts Culinary Academy, please call Chef Carol Menard at 415-382-3363 x231. For information about Homeward Bound, please visit online at www.hbofm.org.
