Kitchens for Good

Kitchens for Good is a San Diego-based 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission to transform lives through culinary arts.

Equitable communities where all job seekers thrive.

Goal One: Strengthen apprenticeship programming, apprentice outcomes, and viability of food services as a career pathway.

Goal Two: Advance human, social, economic, & environmental sustainability best practices. E.G., practice equitable hiring, employment, procurement, & maintain economic growth without hurting our environment.

Goal Three: Increase access to culinary arts education for resilient job seekers by refining programs, practices, systems, & enterprises with an eye on replication and training.

In 2021, the Board participated in bias training, revised its member recruitment process, and worked with board training programs offered by United Way and Fieldstone Foundation. By the end of 2022, the percentage of BIPOC board members will be 50%.

During the pandemic, KFG centralized our operations in a professional kitchen leased from the Salvation Army at their Door of Hope campus in Linda Vista. This decision helped us conserve our fiscal resources and significantly reduced our rent and utility expenses. This was a beneficial choice for our fiscal operations, and post-pandemic, KFG has expanded kitchen space to open a new bake shop in Old Town, San Diego. Before the pandemic, Project Launch apprentices working under KFG's catering enterprise dedicated some of their on-the-job paid training hours to preparing meals for Project Nourish. Due to the increase in the need for hunger-relief services during the pandemic, we reoriented Project Nourish to be overseen by two professional cooks (including a Project Launch alumni). During the height of the pandemic, apprentices remained employed by KFG to help with the increased level of Project Nourish meal production and to continue providing the apprentices with income. Once businesses in the community reopened and community meal needs waned, we decided to deepen the apprentices' training opportunities and focus on placing them in outside professional kitchens during their on-the-job training period. KFG's food-insecurity work has continued through daily in-house meals provided to food-insecure apprentices and by retaining the capacity to scale meals for future community needs. By developing our network of employer partners and placing apprentices with them, they have access to more hours of employment, higher projections for long-term wage growth, and a more comprehensive range of job experiences. KFG has grown the program's staff to expand our interactions with apprentices during their in-class and on-the-job training periods and refined curriculum and engagement around apprentices' holistic wellness. Increased staff capacity will help reengage apprentices that have lost contact with KFG and support the retention of new apprentices in the program.