We’re fighting hunger
differently.
DC CENTRAL KITCHEN
ANNUAL REPORT
FISCAL YEAR 2016
THE CHALLENGE
1 of every 6
DC households struggles to afford enough food.
We know that hunger is only the symptom of a deeper problem: poverty.
DC Central Kitchen doesn’t just feed people today. We provide job training and empower people to leave hunger behind.
Meet William
After battling years of addiction and finding himself homeless, William completed our 14-week Culinary Job Training program. Billy now has a full-time job he loves and an apartment lease in his name.
LAST YEAR’S IMPACT
89 students with high barriers to employment graduated from our Culinary Job Training program, with an 88% job placement rate.
Meet Billy
At 58 years old, Billy spent much of the previous 25 years in and out of prison, struggling with alcohol and drug addiction. He stumbled upon DC Central Kitchen and has never looked back. Billy works full-time on our team and gets up every day knowing that he is making a future for himself and his son.
LAST YEAR’S IMPACT
A DCCK graduate with a criminal record is 90% less likely to re-offend and return to prison than the national average. This is just 6% recidivism after two years, compared to the national average of 68%.
With its teaching of “knife and life”
skills, the Culinary Job Training Program
is a game-changer for those who
have a history of encounters with the
criminal-justice system.
'-The National Journal
We are job creators.
We’re creating good jobs for our graduates right here at the kitchen through our hunger-fighting social ventures.
Meet Joan
Joan graduated from our Culinary job Training program after immigrating from Guyana and struggling to find work. She now works on our Community Meals team, helping prepare healthy snacks for afterschool programs.
LAST YEAR’S IMPACT
Our Community Meals team prepared 1.8 million meals for 82 nonprofits and social service agencies across the city.
We’re doing good business.
Our Healthy School Food venture brings award-winning, farm-to-school menus to low-income schoolchildren across DC, all while creating living-wage careers for unemployed adults who have completed our Culinary Job Training program.
LAST YEAR’S IMPACT
We prepared 1 million nutritious, scratch-made meals as the school food provider for 12 DC schools.
DC Central Kitchen received the prestigious Golden Carrot Award for our exceptional work in improving the healthfulness of school lunches.
We’re testing new ways to fight hunger and continuing to replicate our model across the country.
Healthy Corners
We’re expanding healthy food access by making nutritious food available for sale at corner stores in DC’s food deserts.
The Campus Kitchens Project
We’re empowering the next generation of leaders to fight hunger and food waste.