Old Skool Cafe
Old Skool Cafe is a creative redemptive venture focused on helping at-risk youth break the cycle of poverty, violence, and incarceration. They train youth who are coming out of jail, foster care, and other situations of abuse and neglect to help run a supper club. This supper club not only has a unique model of redemption, but even its dining experience is unique. Old Skool Cafe is a 1920’s speakeasy jazz restaurant that prides itself on good food. Its cuisine consists of global comfort food prepared by young chefs from West Africa to the American South. Old Skool Cafe is a perfect picture of having every inch of their venture being opportunistic I have already noted their model for youth at risk and young chefs but also they have nightly jazz where they invite talented youth musicians to help provide a chance to share their talents and create an beautiful atmosphere.
Now that we know what Old Skool Cafe is, we need to look into how they put their model into practice. Old Skool Cafe has a three-phase model for their youth workers. First is 101 Restaurant & Life Skills Training. In this phase, they will participate in a 200-week, 12-week paid program in which they will receive skill training from adult mentors. The next phase is called the Apprentice- Employees phase. In this phase, the youth are given a chance to build on their basic training and become highly skilled in technique and leadership. The last phase is the Leadership & Externships phase. In this final stage, the youth are pushed to continue developing their leadership and management skills so they can become eligible for an externship with one of Old Skool Cafe’s partners. The ability to work for other employers helps youth grow in knowledge and in independence and confidence in their skills.
In conclusion, Old Skool Cafe identified a broken area and launched a redemptive venture that is redemptive across every area and category of their work.
Great post! That place genuinely sounds so awesome! That would be a place I would want to go to for a dining experience, even without knowing the redemptive aspect of the business. Having the redemptive side makes that place so much more intriguing. Having a redemptive impact alongside a solid business is so powerful because you are not reliant on the goodwill of others to stay afloat.
What an awesome idea! As someone who visited (and hopes to visit again in the future) incarcerated youths and adults alike, I’m thrilled to hear about Old Skool Cafe! It sounds like they not only identified an area of hurt, but address appropriately (directly and indirectly) factors which lead troubled youths to trouble and arrest. They bring them in and working. Not only are the youth working and thus an absorbing and contributing member of the culture of the establishment, but they are also learning! They are taught proper work ethics and cuisine and general restaurant skills, which can be applied to broader jobs and markets for their future. Thanks for sharing Tyson!
This is a great idea! I love how ambitious and eager Old Skool Cafe is with its training for young people. Oftentimes, organizations shy away from getting super involved in people’s lives because they think people won’t be receptive. But they seem to be making a big difference in young people’s lives by taking that risk.