CALIFORNIA
Cafe training gives Oakland foster kids a fresh start
Tony Montoya is looking forward to earning his food-handling certificate in a couple of weeks from his job at the new Fresh Start Cafe. "It's sort of like a diploma," said Montoya, 19, who recently aged out of the Alameda County foster care system and now is working in the vocational training program through the cafe. "The program is cool, and it helps me to gain valuable skills."
Fresh Start Cafe opened Wednesday inside the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder's Office at 1106 Madison St. and operates weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The program is an innovative public-private partnership through Alameda County and Aramark, which provides food service for the sheriff and probation departments. It is geared to help give youths from the foster care system a leg up as they search for job opportunities and transition into adulthood.
Employment at the cafe is designed to provide a 10-week on-the-job training and mentoring experience. Young people are paid $8.25 an hour and are encouraged to develop marketing and customer service skills as they move from foster care to independence. At the end of the program, the participants receive a certificate in food handling to better position them to land jobs or other opportunities in the food service industry.
"This is an exciting opportunity given the bleak economy," said county Administrator Susan Muranishi, who proposed the idea of the cafe. "It's on a small enough scale to see the impact it will have on the ground." The cafe operates under the county's New Beginnings initiative to support at-risk youth and is part of a chain. The first Fresh Start Cafe opened last year at the Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro. The cafes serve county staff and the public. The menu includes everything from a quick cup of coffee to fresh fruit and sandwiches.
Laura Lloyd, 34, who works at the county building across the street from the cafe, heard about it through her colleagues who went there to grab lunch. On Wednesday, she decided to go check it out for herself. "I want to support anything that has to do with the county," she said. "It also seems like a worthy cause."
Many emancipated foster youths face difficulties as they transition from the foster care system and seek job and educational assistance. According to a report by the Children's Advocacy Institute, about 65 percent of these youths leave the foster system in California without a place to live, and 51 percent are unemployed.
Randy Morris, a manager of the county foster care system, said the system's national plight is to figure out how to raise children until they are 18. "Our job is to figure out what can we do to soften the landing," Morris said. "We have a responsibility to create as many pathways toward self-sufficiency for this population." Morris said more than 40 foster care youths ages 16 to 21 inquired about job opportunities at the cafe. There is a waiting list to be a part of the next 10-week training cycle.
Montoya is about halfway through the program. He hopes it will help him toward his goal of getting into college and earning a degree in business administration. "This is a really great program," he said. "It's the first one I've ever seen like it to help foster care youth really succeed."
Kamika Dunlap
4 February 2009
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_11629457
