FROM HALLWAY TO GATEWAY
Helping youth at City Hall
Rolling a tortilla into a wrap is tougher than it looks. So says budding chef and restaurant worker Kris Smith, one of 10 youth taking part in a new program at City Hall.
There’s creating the stuffing, folding the skinny pancake on either side, then rolling it so the whole thing doesn’t explode, insides out, on the patron’s lap.
“It’s been surprisingly hard for me,” says Smith, 16, with a slow, dimpled smile. “It’s taken a couple of tries, but I ended up doing it great.”
Smith is part of the inaugural cohort of folks, ages 16 to 24, with a variety of challenges who are part of a new program called The Hallway Cafe.
The program is designed to teach life and work skills necessary to move from poverty toward success on the job or at school.
Born of Kids in the Hall, a groundbreaking program initiated some 20 years ago by the Edmonton City Centre Church Corp. (e4c), The Hallway Cafe and Take-away has renovated the old space and refined the former training system, adding new elements designed to increase chances of success for participants.
Closed since June 2017, the City Hall cafe reopens today after a million-dollar facelift. The gleaming Hallway Cafe space will operate on a coffee shop, quick-service model, offering from-scratch options such as a porchetta sandwich that can be eaten within the 36-seat restaurant, or taken back to the office. There is a special oven for making pizzas, crafted with handmade dough and sauces. The menu focuses on fresh and healthy, with breads, muffins and cookies made in-house by staff and students in the training program.
Brian McBride, a NAIT grad with 20 years of culinary experience, is director of culinary at Hallway Cafe. Along with case manager Holly O’Brien, who has a social-work background, McBride has designed a curriculum that emphasizes kitchen training, but also looks at how to turn knife skills into life skills, using culinary arts as a way to teach healthy eating, time and resource management, and organization in everyday life.
“They are an at-risk population,” says McBride of trainees, acknowledging the challenges that lay ahead.
Those participating in the $1-million-a-year program (still financed by e4c) may have struggled with addiction, family dysfunction and erratic school attendance. McBride, who joined in the summer of 2017, brought in Kids in the Hall graduates to consult as Hallway Cafe took shape, young people who had made the transition into the hospitality industry, or a school program.
Hallway Cafe doesn’t take young people who are fresh off the street, but rather assesses youth for two to four weeks beforehand to make sure they have, for instance, stable housing and health. Participants come from Youth Empowerment and Support Services, the Catholic school board’s Fresh Start Academic Centres and iHuman Youth Society.
“We want to make sure it’s a positive growth that runs through the intake process and the program,” says McBride. “There are periods when some of the youth might hit a crisis and disengage for a short period and go through a treatment program, or go through a change of housing, and we will always support them through those things.”
The students are paid minimum wage, plus tips. Over 17 weeks, youth move through five training modules, including customer service (how to work the till, make espresso and engage customers). They will staff the grill line, and the pizza and baking stations. There is a job placement at the program’s end, and training to work up a resume. McBride has high hopes for the program; already one of the youths that started in January has been accepted into NAIT for culinary arts in the fall.
Smith also hopes Hallway Cafe will be a stepping-stone. He’s found that being in the program for the past couple of months has helped him with his shyness and anxiety.
“If I didn’t do something right, they would approach it in a kind and friendly way,” says the Grade 11 student.
Smith has also enjoyed learning about new foods, and how to cook in a rush. His goal?
“I want to get good experience so I can move on to a different kitchen and continue culinary arts.”