Training adults for employment and self-sufficiency
Community Culinary School of Charlotte (CCSC) provides Workforce Development training and job placement assistance for adults who face barriers to long-term successful employment. Our vision is to transform the lives of our students and their families and positively impact our community. We provide paths to careers in the food service industry for adults whose barriers include: lack of skills, incarceration, addiction, homelessness, and Veterans' re-integration issues. CCSC's overarching program goal is for graduates to move from dependency to self-sufficiency through stable employment.
CCSC's Workforce Training Program provides a creative solution to the underlying issues that sustain a life of poverty: unemployment, hunger and homelessness. In each 14-week training session, students learn culinary arts, sanitation and safety protocols, and job readiness skills that are necessary to obtain career-level jobs. Job Readiness includes resume-writing, interview preparation, budgeting and money management.
Our holistic curriculum also encompasses goal-setting, relapse-prevention services and counseling. Counselors facilitate daily and weekly group meetings and individual sessions, helping students explore specific barriers, and create plans of action, leading to greater success in work and in life. By providing students with the training, tools and skills necessary to acquire and maintain living-wage jobs in the culinary field ($13+ an hour), they are able to move from dependency to self-sufficiency through stable employment. The proverb: ‘Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime,’ illustrates the essence of CCSC's program.
We also enable students and alumni with job placement assistance. We maintain a Job Board, act as a reference, and facilitate interviews with potential employers. During the program, students gain valuable work experience by helping to staff the Café and assisting with catering jobs.
David is a CCSC graduate from Class 68. David is from Orangeburg, SC, and he and his wife have a three-year-old son. The kitchen has always been a soothing place for David. “Nothing can go wrong in the kitchen unless you allow it.” David worked for Walmart for 19 years and heard about CCSC from a customer. After researching the School, he told his wife about it, and she encouraged him to apply. He was nervous about not being good enough, but the dedication of his fellow students and chefs have inspired and helped him become better. “[My training] has been an eye-opening experience," says David. "Every morning feels like Christmas morning, where I can’t wait to come in and open presents.”
Since graduating from CCSC in August 2021, David has taken a leave of absence from Walmart so he can focus on his culinary business. He secured a contract with the Nissan dealerships on South Blvd and Independence Blvd to set up his hot dog stand. We’re so proud of David!
Your donations help support students like David, and those pictured below:
Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 919-814-5400. The license is not an endorsement by the State.