THE DC CENTRAL KITCHEN INC

Culinary job training/workforce development: dcck operates an intense, nationally recognized fourteen-week culinary job training program for adults who have experienced barriers to employment such as histories of incarceration, addiction, homelessness, and trauma. The program offers comprehensive training in culinary arts and food safety and sanitation in combination with job readiness and life skills training. This program operated continuously throughout the past fiscal year, producing 131 graduates across 7 classes, 90% of whom secured full-time employment upon graduation.

Workforce development: dcck operates an intense, nationally recognized fourteen-week culinary job training program for adults who have experienced barriers to employment such as histories of incarceration, addiction, homelessness, and trauma. The program offers comprehensive training in culinary arts and food safety and sanitation in combination with job readiness and life skills training. This program operated continuously throughout the past fiscal year, producing 131 graduates across 7 classes, 90% of whom secured full-time employment upon graduation.

Healthy corners: dcck offers an affordable wholesale delivery service for fresh produce and healthy snack items in communities where healthy retail options are scarce. Dcck delivers nutritious options to 56 corner stores and other small retailers, primarily those located in the underserved neighborhoods of wards 5, 7, and 8. We provide these small businesses with discounted healthy food items, free infrastructure, nutrition education, marketing support, and technical assistance. Our participating retailers sold more than 421,000 units of healthy food in the last fiscal year.

Impact & evaluation: this department is responsible for dcck's program evaluation activities, cross-cutting case management and clinical services, and management of external, community-facing partnerships with peer nonprofit organizations. Core functions include collecting and analyzing participant feedback and outcomes, tracking progress toward organizational goals, attending community events, and creating awareness of available program resources with food insecure and underserved community members.

Community partnerships and growth: a program area that starts and sustains meaningful partnerships with more than 50 nonprofits and service providers in the dc area. Their collaborations allow us to raise awareness about our programs and services among eligible participants, refer potential students to our training program, conduct five or more nutrition education and cooking demonstrations at accessible community locations each month, and collect survey data and community feedback that informs our continued programming.