Community Culinary School of Northwestern Connecticut

Food and Beverage ManufacturingConnecticut, United States2-10 Employees

We seek to empower participants, qualifying them for jobs that earn a living wage in the food service industry and helping to feed the hungry while doing so.

Education and Job Creation: Culinary job training is the main focus of the Community Culinary School. Since its inception in August 2007, the school has empowered unemployed and under-employed participants, most at or below 200% federal poverty level, qualifying them for jobs that earn a living wage. The culinary curriculum touches on all aspects of working in a professional kitchen and includes ServSafe certification as well as internships at area food service operations. The training provided by the Community Culinary School allows these participants, many of who have faced barriers to success prior to enrolling in the program, to work towards achieving long-awaited economic self-sufficiency for themselves and their families. The School's program boasts a 96% job placement rate, a 95% job retention rate, and 100% of graduates have passed the ServSafe Food Protection Manager certification exam. No student is turned away based solely on financial need. Funding is available to cover the cost of tuition. Nearly 80% of students qualify for sponsorships paid for by the School.

Life Skills: The life skills training portion of our program includes employment workshops, our “Your Professional Self” series, and financial literacy workshops. The life skills acquired at the Community Culinary School gives our students a competitive and marketable advantage in the job search process, enabling them to secure employment with the opportunity for a career path.

Addressing and Combating Food Insecurity: The Community Culinary School addresses the root causes of hunger in our community as part of the student training experience. Our students prepare meals, with some ingredients received from the Connecticut Food Bank, as part of class instruction to a finished product, which are donated to families and individuals through our local food bank. Food produced in classes feed 170 households weekly, with an average of 2,000 meals prepared per session. Preparation of these meals allows our students to give back to those less fortunate and become part of the solution to working towards alleviating hunger within our community.

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