When you enter The Klein Center for Jobs & Justice, you’re greeted by a member of DC Central Kitchen’s Guest Experience team. These individuals make each and every visitor—from first-time volunteers and prospective culinary students to cafe customers and celebrity chefs–feel welcome. Building instant rapport, teaching essential safety skills to volunteers, and orienting hundreds of daily guests to our dizzying array of services and offerings is a big job. But Deon Buckner is up to it.
Deon first came to the kitchen after a recommendation from a family member, a student of our Culinary Job Training program. “I actually just came home,” says Deon. “I was incarcerated for 15 months. My cousin told me they help people who were incarcerated. He said this place actually looks out for people.”
Deon soon enrolled in our Culinary Job Training Program. One of the youngest members of his class, 21-years-old, Deon was a standout student during his 14 weeks in the program. He graduated with a perfect attendance record and earned the Ron Swanson Self-Empowerment Award, given to the student that has shown the most progress.
Culinary Job Training Associate Director of Workforce Development Jeffrey Rustin saw the potential of Deon quite quickly. “I saw a young man that was very motivated,” Jeffrey told us. “I saw a young man that knew that he had a second chance. He was going to take every effort that he could to make it right.”
During his CJT journey, Deon told us, “I’m most proud of just being a part of this program, having these clothes, this uniform, on. Where I come from, it plays a big part, it shows I’m actually progressing. Being incarcerated, having no grades to actually being committed, it plays a big part.”
When asked about the biggest lessons he learned in the program, he did not hesitate and told us, “Soft skills, learning how to like communicate with people you don’t know, little stuff like that because that’s played the big part in working.”
Before Deon graduated from the program, he was hired by DC Central Kitchen as a member of the Guest Services team, giving him a chance to use those soft skills on a daily basis.
“I wasn’t surprised Deon was hired by DC Central Kitchen,” says his instructor, Jeffrey. “He put the work in. He came in with consistency. He came and committed.”
Deon has been with the kitchen for over half a year. He’s gone from incarcerated to unemployed job hunting to enrolling in our program and obtaining full-time employment. We asked Deon what he would tell others that might be in his former position. “DC Central Kitchen has integrity,” he said. “They have strong morals, principles, they value what they do and they love what they do. This is the place to be.”