The Cafe Too Partnership has been named a Merit Finalist for the 2005 Mutual of America Community Partnership Award. Cafe Too is located at 4554 N. Broadway. Inspiration Corporation received this award for the Cafe Too Partnership.
Inspiration Corporation was started in 1989 by a Chicago police officer who wanted to help the city's homeless; it was created in partnership with Heartland Human Care Services (HHCS), a branch of Heartland Alliance, which has been providing social services in Chicago since 1888. Cafe Too offers a 13-week culinary class and job placement program, in which students hone their skills through on-the-job training, preparing and serving meals to the paying public. Two of the six yearly culinary skills classes at Cafe Too are reserved for recent refugees served by HHCS, which offers various types of assistance including English as a Second Language instruction. The other four classes offered by Cafe Too are for those who are low income and may be homeless or mentally ill, or who simply lack job skills.
Cafe Too aims at helping people find jobs and regain their independence in the process. "A lot of people come in here angry, defeated, hopeless," says Margaret Haywood, director of training. "They have a sense of accomplishment completing the training."
The criteria for the Community Partnership Award are the duration of the partnership (a minimum of one year), a demonstration that the partnership has made a difference, the ability of the partnership to be replicated and stimulate new ideas for partnerships to address social issues, and the partnership's commitment to advancing the mission and principles of the organization. |
