Serving Up Success:
Program Stirs Up New Hope for Village Clients

By Martha Lepore

   “No one sets out to be homeless,” says Father Joe Carroll. “A majority of our residents come to St. Vincent de Paul Village because they can’t find adequate employment. This program gives them a chance to train for a lifelong career and become self-sufficient.”

   Father Joe is talking about the Village’s new vocational course, the Culinary Arts Program (CAP). Begun in June 2002, CAP is designed to prepare unemployed and homeless adults for careers as chefs in the food service and hospitality industries.
The program grew out of many discussions among Village staff. “We had been looking for a way to marry our goals of training residents for higher-than-entry level jobs with minimal startup costs,” recalls Mary Case, Father Joe’s Villages’ senior vice president of programs.

   “One day I happened to see an Oprah Winfrey show where a catering service run by a homeless program won an award,” she says. “Something clicked and I told the staff about the catering service. We decided we could put together a professional culinary program without much cost, using our kitchens for the hands-on component. Fortunately, we had just the right person, Chris Burgess, already on staff to take charge.”

   “I love cooking,” says Burgess, a professional chef for 12 years. “I seized the opportunity to develop the program and pass on my enthusiasm to the residents.”

   “My goal is to have the American Culinary Federation certify our program in two years,” he says. “That would make us one of only 84 in the United States and the only one originating in a homeless shelter.” The Federation is a professional organization for chef and cooks founded in 1929.

   The Village program gained the support of the San Diego Community College District Centers for Education & Technology (CET). Dean Marc Cuellar of the CET’s César Chavez Center, comments, “We were happy to partner with St. Vincent’s program and help students obtain jobs and stay gainfully employed.” Cuellar also notes that the Center has obtained grant money for the culinary program.

   During the six-month course, CAP students study such classroom topics as food preparation techniques, food sanitation and proper nutrition in the morning, and gain practical experience in the Village’s two kitchens in the afternoon.

   More than 900 staff and residents alike enjoyed the dinners prepared by students in the first class. A staff member says, “We loved being surprised everyday by some tantalizing dish the culinary students prepared. Whether chicken cordon bleu, stuffed pork chops, veal parmigiana or monte christo sandwiches, we ate every crumb.”

   Guest lectures and field trips are part of the classroom component, which this session included a visit from one of Mexico’s top chefs, Ricardo Muñez. He told the class in October that he began his culinary career by taking classes at the San Diego Community College’s Centers for Education & Technology. He offered himself as an example of the heights people can reach when they set goals and work hard.

   The charter class showcased its expertise in November 2002 when it catered a tenth anniversary event for Second Chance. The San Diego agency was celebrating a decade of providing job training and housing assistance with a reception and special luncheon for more than 200 people.

   CAP students complete their studies with a two-month internship in area hotels and restaurants. Frank DeAmicis, a certified executive chef at the Wyndham San Diego, supervised three interns from the program. “It can be extremely expensive to get training and supervision in a big hotel,” he notes. “What CAP interns experience here is similar to what students obtain through a school such as Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island.”

   CAP graduate Sylvester P, who was supervised by DeAmicis, comments, “I loved being at the Wyndham. It’s just what I want to do and the staff was very supportive during my training.”

   According to Burgess, there are nearly 13,000 jobs for trained culinary professionals in San Diego. “My hope is that our students enter these jobs and have successful careers. I’d like to see them reach the level of master chef, the highest in the field,” he says.

   CAP is one of several vocational training programs the Village is developing. “We’re working on more certificate programs in alliance with community colleges,” concludes Case. “Our goal is to have residents get good career jobs that pay living wages.”