Carving their own niche Kansas City institute trains underemplo

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Guadalupe Culinary Arts Institute student Alida Williams flashed a lottery winner's smile as she slipped her arms into the pristine white chef's coat, her name embroidered over the left breast pocket.

"Getting the jacket was, man, like an accomplishment. Wow! My face said, 'Hallelujah!' It was exciting. Overwhelming," Williams said later.

Referred to the program by her friend and fellow student, Bethena "Peaches" Phillips, Williams wanted to refine her cooking skills for better pay.

Bolstered by lead case manager Manuel Rios' promise that completing the program would get her "a lead in life," Williams was determined to graduate.

"I know I gotta cook. I like to see people's reaction when they take their first bite," Williams said.

The jacket and the program have proven to be her ticket to success. A 29-year-old mother of four who left home at 13, Williams is finally on a path of her own choosing.

Since October 2000 the Guadalupe Center, a not-for-profit organization based in Kansas City's predominantly Hispanic West side, has operated the intensive nine-week study of the food service industry kitchen.

Sessions are at the Pioneer Campus of Penn Valley Community College in a boxy room that's part classroom and part shiny, stainless steel kitchen. Students gain hands-on experience cooking on industrial stoves and convection ovens. They learn how to use standard restaurant equipment such as stand mixers safely and, perhaps most importantly, how to use a 10-inch chef's knife safely.

A simple theory

The course is designed to give adults 18 and older the skills to find work as prep cooks in restaurants, hotels, casinos and other businesses that provide food services.

In theory the mission of the Guadalupe Culinary Arts Institute is simple.

"We take those that are un- or underemployed and put them on the path to become active participants in society, so they can take care of themselves and their families," said Margo Ramirez, assistant program director.

But because the program targets the urban core and serves a neglected population, support services from Guadalupe Center often begin with the first query from a prospective student. Former students have become some of the greatest advocates for the program; since those early sessions, the Guadalupe center has had to do little advertising.

The course is free to participants; funding has been provided by the U.S. Department of Labor. Students, however, must be able to work legally in this country and, after graduation, students must commit to working a minimum of six months in the food service industry.

Ramirez estimates that it costs an average of $4,800 a student. Additional funds are available to help students purchase appropriate chef's clothing and knife sets. Beyond the basic kitchen skills, participants receive help with resume writing, interviewing skills and basic life skills training.

Students choose from day or evening sessions, each with 25 to 30 students a class. Coordinator Virginia Hudson runs the early sessions, orders all the food for classes and assembles each day's recipes.

'Save the bacon grease'

Every class is one part basic instruction, one part frugal food use.

"What do you do with the bones? Remember?" Hudson asked the day they practice cutting up and deboning chicken. Those bones will become the base for stock, as do the clean trimmings from the vegetables.

Later, during the breakfast cooking class, she explains in rat-a-tat-tat fashion ways to cut food costs. "Save the bacon grease. We'll use the bacon fat for another project. ... French toast is a way to use up old bread. ... If you've spent money to buy bread and now it's drying out, make croutons, make bread pudding. ... Cut the vegetables up. Saute them so they're slightly cooked for the omelets. ..."

When students feel ready, they begin interviewing for jobs, ones which generally start at $7.50 an hour. "We try to place people in a part of the food service industry that will allow them to expand what they have learned here," Ramirez said.