Recently, young adults who are part of Valle del Sol’s Pathways to Independence program were able to see firsthand the skills and education needed to gain employment in the restaurant industry.
Fez Restaurant (105 W Portland St, Phoenix, AZ 85003) hosted the Valle del Sol group on behalf of the Arizona Restaurant Association’s community coalition “Phoenix Kitchen Cabinet”. The coalition is made up of local restaurants who team up with charitable organizations and causes throughout the Valley.
The Pathways to Independence program provides support services for young adults (ages 18-21) and promote healthy independence and successful transition to adulthood. Program enrollees participate in social and educational activities that will help them attain the life skills needed as an adult.
“Valle del Sol works every day to ensure that families and individuals have the tools they need to succeed in reaching self-sufficiency,” says Chief of Arizona Operations, Carmen Heredia. “Our transition age youth program is one of Valle del Sol’s gems that help young adults transition with basic skills that they may not otherwise have the social support system in place to learn. Cooking, cleaning, resume writing, filling out job applications, these are all independent skills that our participants have the opportunity to learn in this program. We are incredibly grateful to FEZ for opening up their doors to these youth.
Today’s field trip to Fez had owner Tom Jetland and his leadership staff educate the group on creating dishes, skills learned in the restaurant industry, and ways to reach your career goals, weather it is in the food industry or another industry. Tom even gave away his personal collection of cook and business books that have inspired him over the years.
“It’s tremendously important that programs like Pathways to Independence are supported by the Phoenix community” said Fez owner Tom Jetland. “By providing a glimpse of what working in a restaurant entails, we will hopefully educate them on the skills required to work in the industry, and they can go on to create opportunities for themselves within the restaurant industry.”
The Arizona Restaurant Association’s Kitchen Cabinet program, first formed nearly two years ago, has been involved in numerous community building endeavors around Phoenix. They have worked with the Roosevelt School District on bringing top notch chefs to come teach at the school’s summer culinary program. They have also teamed with the Phoenix Police Department to hold ‘active shooter’ seminars in order to help inform restaurants and their patrons on the best way to respond to an active shooter situation.
“Restaurants are a large part of what make up our local communities” said Arizona Restaurant Association COO Dan Bogert. “We are thrilled to help organizations like Valle del Sol educate those they serve, and provide an opportunity to learn about industries such as ours.”
