Today we’d like to introduce you to Chad Houser.
Chad, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2007, I had the opportunity to teach 8 young men in a Dallas County juvenile detention center how to make ice cream for an ice cream making competition at the Dallas Farmers Market. I had soon realized how I had stereotyped these young men because each of them called me “sir” and were more polite than most people I knew. Working in kitchens, you are called a lot of names, none of them include “sir.”
For that competition, we used real raspberries. For those 8 young men, raspberry wasn’t a fruit that you ate from the carton; it was a flavor of candy. Two days later, they handed out samples of the ice cream that they had made, alongside college culinary students, and one of the young men that I worked with won the whole competition.
That young man that I worked with came running up to me and yelled “Sir, I just love to cook,” and I yelled back “Sir, me too!” He was beaming with pride, a sense of accomplishment pushed his chest out with complete joy. He said, “I just love to cook food and give it to people and put a smile on their face.” And then it hit me, that I would never see this young man again. He is a juvenile, under the custody of the juvenile department.
At the end of the day, he is going back to the same house, the same street, the same neighborhood, the same schools, the same gangs, the same every single thing that had led him to the juvenile detention center in the first place. And I thought it’s not right. Somebody has got to do something about this. And then I realized, I can be that somebody to do something.
In June of 2011, Cafe Momentum started doing pop-up dinners around Dallas at top-rated restaurants where we would bus in juveniles from the detention center, and they would help cook and serve the meals to people who purchased tickets. The more pop-up dinners we did, the faster the tickets sold.
In 2015, Cafe Momentum found its permanent home in Downtown Dallas where people can come and eat meals that are prepped and served by juvenile offenders Thursday-Saturday. Cafe Momentum is a 12 month paid post-release internship for young men and women aged 15-19.
Each Intern goes through the different stations of the restaurants; busser, waiter/waitress, line cook, dishwasher, pastry chef and host/hostess. They start off earning $9.00 an hour and work their way up to $12.00 an hour.
We have a team of Case Managers and Intern Experience that build an ecosystem of support around our Interns and help them meet any need they may have; parenting classes, financial planning, tutoring, therapy, etc. We focus on life and social skill training as well, helping address issues such as homelessness, hunger, health care and more.
Cafe Momentum transforms young lives by equipping our community’s most at-risk youth with life skills, education, and employment opportunities to help them achieve their full potential.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road to Cafe Momentum has not always been a smooth road; people were convinced that the Interns would stab each other with knives, that they wouldn’t work or were just in the program to get a paycheck.
People gave every reason imaginable as to why this program would not work, and each reason was because people were stereotyping the Interns. We will always face challenges as our interns face challenges – this is part of our program and supporting them through the challenges.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We provide a transformative experience through a 12-month paid post-release internship program for young men and women coming out of juvenile facilities. They rotate through all aspects of the restaurant, focusing on life and social skills, coaching and development.
We employ a case management staff, providing an ecosystem of support around our interns to help them achieve their greatest potential. We are a top-ranked restaurant that is open to the public Thursday-Saturday. We proudly serve fresh, locally sourced, sophisticated American cuisine in the heart of downtown Dallas.
Each and every meal is prepared and served to you by our award-winning team of chefs and the young men and women involved in our program. By dining at Café Momentum, you provide hope, confidence, and motivation – encouraging our interns to achieve their greatest potential.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
With the combination of the economy in Dallas, which fuels our customer base, and the community generosity support in funding opportunities for our youth, it is a great location.
Pricing:
- $100 donation covers one intern’s daily needs
- $500 covers six months of transportation for an intern
- $1,600 covers one month pay
- $2,500 covers the monthly curriculum (life social skills, healthcare access, and education assist)
Contact Info:
- Address: 1510 Pacific Ave Dallas, TX 75201
- Website: www.cafemomentum.org
- Phone: 214-303-1234
- Email: info@cafemomentum.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/cafemomentum
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/cafemomentum
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/cafemomentum
Image Credit:
Starbucks Upstanders
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