A few nights ago, I had the privilege of having dinner with Robert Egger of the L.A. Kitchen. It was part of an event at Baldwin Wallace University and the Campus Kitchen project in cooperation with the NEO LaunchNet and the Center for Innovation and Growth. The reason I was invited was because Mr. Egger is also a proponent of reentry employment and training.
I have to say that it was refreshing to hear some of his ideas, and I felt validated. He has given several TED X talks on his innovative use of food to draw people together to solve social issues. It reminded me of Edwin's Leadership and Restaurant Institute here in Cleveland, as well as the soon to be launched Bloom Bakery. His idea was similar but had a twist. He uses the L.A. Kitchen to address the issues of hunger, nutrition, and reentry. He is especially interested in the issue of elderly hunger. With a quickly aging Baby Boomer generation who generally do not have enough saved to support them for the duration of their extended life expectancy, this is becoming a major issue.
The way he addresses these issues is by preparing healthy and delicious meals that emphasize plant based nutrition as a method of preventing disease. He felt that the traditional model of a food pantry was not a sustainable model, and that it did not really provide good food to those who need it. It is usually made up of leftover canned goods and such that no really wanted in the first place. There was little in the way of fresh produce. He also realized that the single mother with one or more jobs was the emerging face of hunger in America. They often did not have time to prepare fresh produce, so he decided to cook the meals for them using these healthy ingredients. Mr. Egger has done this in both Washington DC and Los Angeles. He also realized that the traditional model of nonprofits relying on grant funding and donations was also likely to fail in the future. Giving is down across America, so he believes in the social enterprise model, as well. Lastly, he often uses ex-offenders, former addicts, and the homeless to cook the products after training them in culinary skills. They learn a valuable skill and receive pay when they work for him. This last part is what really called to mind our local culinary nonprofits that help with reentry.
The conversation turned to the use of social enterprise to solve the funding shortfall. He seemed generally supportive of the idea, but he posed an interesting question. What about nonprofits that are not able to use this model in their particular area of focus, such as a day care for the poor? The point was a valid one. It made me wonder what nonprofits like that will do to supplement lost funding. While there may be other ideas out there, I think it will call on nonprofits to be ever more creative. While the IRS generally frowns on social enterprises that aren't mission related, there is some leeway. Think about Goodwill as an example. Goodwill uses its stores, which are not mission related, as a training tool for clients, which is mission related. I think the real challenge lies in using social enterprise for nonprofits where the client is completely unable to work, like severely mentally and physically disabled persons or children. I'm not sure what the answer is to that particular problem, but I have faith in the creativity of America. In the case of reentry, I believe social enterprise is the best solution. Most returning citizens are physically and mentally capable of learning a marketable skill and working in the social enterprise that is run by the nonprofit. I would take that one step further. Many of the formerly incarcerated were very entrepreneurial in their previous lives, and often demonstrate the aptitude for business ownership. I think a great tool to long term reentry success would be not only to train them in job skills, but also in the skills of owning one's own business. Nonprofits could then franchise the business to qualified former clients, who in turn could hire mission employees of their own. This model could create a real sustainable solution to the reentry employment problem.
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