Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
Nourish Job Readiness and Entrepreneurial Acceleratoris a 12-month culinary training and jobreadiness/placement program including paid internship, designed to empower studentsexperiencing homelessness, poverty and hunger withthe fundamentals of working in aprofessional kitchen and the employment soft skills so critical in today's workplace.Students will engage in a minimum of 280 hours of hands-on culinary education in theNourish Training Kitchen as well attend lecture and other classroom based training.Students will earn through their programmatic work a ServSafe Certification as wellthe Nourish Kitchens Culinary School Graduate Certification.Graduates will have the skill set and confidence to pursue employment as line cooks,restaurant chefs, food truck workers, cafeteria assistants, and even restaurant andsmall business owners.The Nourish Job Placement process begins during theadmissions process, staff work with Students upon intake to gain an understanding ofthe student's goals and any barriers the student may be working to overcome. Thisapproach empowers students to leverage wrap around services during training andleads to high quality employment opportunities. Nourish Kitchens In partnership with theCalifornia Work Force Development department will provide six month paid internshipsto program participants. This internship is designed to support students' efforts totransition from the training kitchen into full-time employment. This internship givesstudents an on-the-job practicum as well as to provide network small businesses withthe access to these well qualified job seekers.The Nourish training philosophy combines culinary training, employment soft skills,identity development and entrepreneurial mindset training. The culinary goals for eachstudent include the following: Learn and master the fundamentals of cooking in differentstyles and from different cultures. Develop physical skill and abilities exceeding therequirements for success in a professional kitchen, including knife skills, recipeinterpretation and creation, and the development of adiscerning palette. Learn aboutfood culture: what good food is, where it comes from, how to cook in a sustainable,environmentally- responsible, and healthy manner. Develop and master the necessarysoft skills needed to become employed and thrive in a workplace. This includessuccessful conflict resolution, time management, self- motivation skills, interviewingabilities, and completion of a professional resume. Identity development is a criticaltheme of the training program.Nourish Kitchens Culinary Training invites participantsinto the camaraderie and disciplined world of the professional cook. This is an excitingand accessible journey towards becoming a "Chef." Culinary business and smallbusiness provide professional level careers for individuals who may not see college orother training as a viable option for them. Entrepreneurial training is the second pillar ofthe Nourish training environment. Participants work through eight life from an unlikelyentrepreneur in the illuminating book, Who Owns the Icehouse? The 8 lessons leadparticipants on a self-actualization journey that starts with the realization that humansexperience their greatest freedom in the space between stimulus and response and thatthe choice made in that space antecedent to outcomes. This freedom to chooseresponse is further developed in the curriculum into an empowering mindset that says, Ihave the power to choose my own outcome, I am creative and capable of seeingopportunity in the world around me and I have a network of supportive communityaround me to lean into as I pursue my goals.Industry Certifications:The Nourish program standards are based on the National Restaurant Associationstandard and practices, National Restaurant Association ServSafe Certification. Uponcompletion of the 6. month trainingcourse, graduates will receive a certificate from NourishCulinary School, ServSafe Certification and a program completion certificate from theEntrepreneurial Learning Initiative. Each class culminates in a graduation ceremonyfeaturing dishes chosen, planned, and cooked by the students. They are encouraged toshowcase their skills and talents at this gathering of family, friends, local sponsors andgovernment officials.As a value added outcome to the Nourish Training, the student work product will provide hot meal resources to be shared with hungry people throughout the community. This resouce will be used to establish four new hot meal service sites throughout the Project Service Area.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
Nourish - Job Readiness and Entrepreneurial Accelerator program is designed to empower a higher quality of life for residents in the community it serves by thereduction in the number of community residents being impacted by homelessness, food insecurity and poverty.The Nourish program intends to engage a target demographic, men and women living in the greater Turlock Californiaarea and experiencing homelessness with a high quality, trauma informed community based culinary education and entrepreneurial empowerment curriculum. This curriculum has been developed by experts in culinary training and the program is being shaped with the support of a consulting organization having well over 30 years' experience operating the program Nourish is modeled from. In addition to the culinary training aspect of the program, participants will also engage curriculum designed by the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, a not-for-profit empowering people to find more freedom by understanding how personal choices impact outcomes and by building a problem-solving framework that provides a basis for exposing opportunity. This training experience is much more than a new business owner how to guide, instead focusing participants on an entrepreneurial mindset that drives more consistent success. Program participants will be training and livein a trauma informed environment with wrap around services including but not limited to housing, meals, clothing and tools, case management support as well asopportunity for support overcoming barriers from addiction or trauma.ObjectivesReduce the number of individuals experiencing or at risk ofhomelessness in Turlock 50% by July 2027.The historic average number of individuals counted during the Point in Time annual count has been between 220-250 individuals. Nourish will graduate a minimum of 125 graduates who are employed and housed by July of 2027.Reduce food insecurity in the Turlock Gospel Mission's 10 zip code service area by establishing 4 new outlets for free and reduced cost hot meals by July 2027. The work product of the culinary students over 20,000 high quality, nutritious meals will be given away or sold at cost annually. This will provide additional meal resources for families with children, senior citizens, students, and individuals experiencing homelessness in rural areas where access to free and low-cost food is limited or unavailable.Establish an effective service entry point for individuals experiencing homelessness, or recently incarcerated individuals with a first cohort of 20 individuals enrolled by October 1, 2023.The Nourish program is a high value, low barrier training opportunity. Outreach to rural communities with little or no current capacity to meet the extensive needs of individuals leaving homelessness and incarceration as well as to the urban centers of our community. Outreach events will host the Nourish Kitchen'sOpportunity Trucka modern and beautiful food truck that students in the program will learn to operate as a mock small business as well as food tasting, and information designed to help candidates make the decision to participate.Engage 80% of participants for minimum of 7 months in programmatic services by July 2027. Service resistance is often cited as a leading aggravating factor when discussing the unsheltered crisis in California. This goal would have the dual impact of seeing the immediate number of unsheltered individuals in our community go down as well as the long-term impact of individuals gaining the resources and skill set to move towards stable housing and employment.Empower the development of high demand marketplace skill set, and entrepreneurial mindset to leverage towards self-sustainability by maintaining high participant enrollment of at least 80% program capacity throughout grant award period. The program will seek to enroll cohorts on the following timetable and keep them engaged in training to graduation with a combination of compelling training, personal skill development and wrap around services.Cohort CapacityOutreach/Enrollment BeginsTraining BeginsCohort #1 (Capacity 20)August 1, 2023October 2, 2023Cohort #2 (Capacity 25)January 3, 2024April 1, 2024Cohort #3 (Capacity 25)August 1, 2024October 1, 2024Cohort #4 (Capacity 25)January 3, 2025April 1, 2025Cohort #5 (Capacity25)August 4, 2025October 1, 2025Cohort #6 (Capacity 25)January 5, 2026April 1, 2026Cohort #7 (Capacity 25)August 3, 2026October 1, 2026Cohort #8 (Capacity 25)January 4, 2027April 1, 2027
Project Methods
The Nourish process will conduct outreach describing the training, wrap around services and potential life outcomes in locations where target audience engage services and or spend time. This may include loceal shelters, service centers, parks, encampments and local events such as markets, social services fairs etc. Interested individualsmay meet with intake coordinators on the spot or take information and contact intake coordinator after the event.Individuals choosing to become program candidates will meet with Intake Coordinator and complete a complete program intake. Intake process will include HMIS Data intake, income, housing, educational/literacy, legal, and health assessments. This information and assessment will provide the candidates case manager with the information to create a life stabilization plan with the candidate. This plan might include items such as; get a state identification, apply for state Medi-Cal benefits, establish primary care relationship, get a physical, etc. This stabilization plan will also include referals to resource barriers to employabilitythe candidate has self identified. These may include referal to housing, medically supported detox services, chemical use disorder therapy, behavioral health, etc.Candidates move into student housing, begin working on their personal life stabilization plan while cohort is being established.Once Cohort is established, candidates become program participants and daily training begins. Training commitment is 30 hours per week including classroom,kitchen lab training andindividual program work to mitigate barriers.Participants will work through two primary program educational training pillars, Nourish Culinary Curricullum and Who Owns the IceHouse?entrepreneurial mindset and opportunity training over a six month period. Curricullum has been included in additional documents submitted to Donna Fairhurst at the USDA.Participants will receive small weekly stipend intended to meet personal needs and to begin working on budgeting and banking.Program participants who succesfully complete the Culinary Training phase of programwill be given paid internship opportunity in partnership with Stanislaus County WorkForce Development.Graduates of the full 12 month program including internship qualify for $1000.00 transition micro-grant to use towards business creation or personal transitional support.Graduates are encouraged to maintain connection to Nourish Mentor Network and to attend bi-annual alumni events. This extended connectivity will enable program leadership to analyze the effects of the program on the lives of participants over time.