Cincinnati Cooks has been giving low-income Cincinnati residents opportunities to get back in the workforce since 2001. This week, Cincinnati Cooks announced a partnership with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College to create the Urban Accelerated Skills Training Academy (UASTA).
Cincinnati Cooks is a free, 10-week program that prepares students looking for work in the food-service industry, as well as help students with their personal lives. The UASTA will help extend that goal by giving graduates of Cincinnati Cooks an opportunity to attend classes at Cincinnati Sate.
The academy is geared toward unemployed, underemployed or low-wage individuals who have graduated from the Cincinnati Cooks job development program, or are recommended to participate by food service businesses or organizations. It has three main components:
• Applied Skills Training, which is offered through Cincinnati State’s Workforce Development Center that will include Team Building, Customer Service, Computer Basics, Effective Communication and Financial Wellness.
• Kitchen Management Certificate, a credit-bearing certificate offered through Cincinnati State with hands-on skills in Budgeting, Sanitation, Inventory Control, Scheduling, Cost Management, Labor Relations and Personnel Management.
• National Career Readiness Certificate, an industry-recognized, evidence-based credential that certifies essential skills needed for workplace success. This will be offered through the recently-established Pathway to Employment Center. The PTEC is essentially a “one-stop” career assessment, planning and placement center, operated by Cincinnati State and funded by private contributions, government grants and the College’s own funds.
The academy's initial $65,000 grant from the state of Ohio through the Department of Jobs and Family Services will fund its first year of operation. The first class will last three months and include 20 participants.
“This is a program that fits Gov. Kasich’s vision for a tightly focused training and employment readiness program,” says Cincinnati State President O'Dell Owens. “The Freestore Foodbank and Cincinnati State have proven the concept works. Now we want to expand it.”
Do Good:
Volunteer: At the Freestore Foodbank in many different ways.
Donate: both money and surplus food to the Freestore Foodbank.
By Evan Wallis
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.