This summer, DC Central Kitchen’s Culinary Job Training program graduated its 2,500th student. The program provides culinary arts education, career readiness training, and real-world internships for adults who have experienced barriers to employment such as incarceration, addiction, and homelessness. Throughout the 14-week course, students receive “knife skills and life skills” training while charting new personal and professional paths forward.
A recent article from Street Sense Media highlighted the program’s Culinary Instruction Manager, Chef Ablawa Zounon. A graduate of our program who now teaches others, Chef Ablawa joined the Culinary Job Training program in 2017 as part of our 108th Class. The piece details her journey with DC Central Kitchen from the challenges that come with balancing a full-time class schedule with other life commitments to becoming the MVP of her class and now leading hundreds of students through the program each year.
Chef Ablawa told Street Sense that she has “always been hungry for success.” She exemplifies the organization’s values of honoring the dignity of work while contributing to the community. “If we try one way, if you don’t get it, I will try another way. The [students] that we teach are coming in with some trauma. Some people are so stressed. Some people are struggling with housing. So you have to be very patient,” said Chef Ablawa.
Street Sense Media has been a crucial voice in DC’s local journalism community for decades, with a particular focus on homelessness and housing issues. We’re honored to be featured in the pages of Street Sense once again, and we’re eager to share more good news in our community. The Culinary Job Training program will welcome students for Class 183 on Monday, September 14. For more information on the program, including information for prospective students, alumni, and community partners, visit our website.