Community Kitchen students graduate from the intensive 14-week job training program which prepares them for a career in the food service industry.

Community Kitchen

Community Kitchen is a culinary job-training program for low-income or unemployed adults. Since the program began in 1998, it has graduated 32 classes and more than 230 students. Community Kitchen graduates are working at many of Rhode Island’s finest restaurants, as well as at local hospitals, colleges, schools and health care facilities. Some have started their own catering businesses. During 2007, the Food Bank and Community Kitchen experienced great success in placing graduates in employment positions. Of the 28 students to successfully complete the program last year, 20 were placed in jobs within 3 months of graduation - a success rate of over 70%!

During the full time, 14-week/400 hour program, students are trained in basic cooking skills including various aspects of food service operations, knife usage and care, kitchen safety and first aid. Instruction by two experienced professional chefs is supplemented by internships in local restaurant and institutional kitchens. Students use fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other donated food items to create nutritious meals for distribution to Kids Cafe , a Food Bank community after-school meal program for children at risk of hunger. About six-hundred children are fed each day at Kids Cafe sites in providence with meals prepared by the Community Kitchen program.