Can Mastering Kitchen Skills Empower Returning Citizens?
New York’s Drive Change and new culinary director Kurt Evans are putting their hearts and resources into teaching
A recent New York transplant from Philadelphia, Kurt Evans is an activist — so it makes sense that he’s the new culinary director for Brooklyn-based nonprofit Drive Change, a Bed-Stuy job training program for 18- to 25-year-old returning citizens.
Evans joins Jordyn Lexton, who, in 2014, created Drive Change. The organization came about when the former English teacher at Rikers Island saw firsthand high recidivism rates for young people — students come back into Rikers after release because they lacked the training they needed to succeed. Back then, New York was one of two states in the nation to automatically prosecute 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. New York has since raised the age to 18.
Drive Change’s Hospitality for Social Justice training is an eight-month paid fellowship for participants to learn the skills required to work in professional kitchens. Fellows receive living-wage jobs in restaurants that partner with the organization. But managers in participating restaurants have work to do, too: They have to be trained to identify the shortcomings, biases, and prejudices in their workplace to break the…
