Franciscan Center extends outreach to include culinary training

While its origin is fuzzy, the adage is familiar.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

The Franciscan Center, which has assisted the economically disadvantaged from its mission on 23rd Street in Baltimore since 1968, is doing both.

Four women and one man are nearing the end of its inaugural Dignity Plates Training Academy, a 12-week course which combines life skills with those that will equip them to work in restaurant kitchens. It could mean the difference between standing in a bread line and being among the employees staffing it.

“We’ve been patiently taking our time,” said Steven Allbright, the director of food services at Franciscan Center, of the pilot course it plans to offer four times a year. “The goal is to get people back into the workforce, help them transition from social services and become self-sufficient.”

Allbright, who converted to the Catholic faith in 2019 and worships at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, can relate. His past includes six years in prison on a domestic violence conviction. His present is dedicated to helping others secure a place in society.

He’s teaching alongside Steve Corrozi, who came to the Franciscan Center to volunteer and became its housing and employment coordinator. His experience includes culinary school and 14 years preparing children from “relatively affluent” families for college and graduate school.

“If a kid has a choice of elite schools, they’re well prepared, no matter where they go,” he said. “At the other end, you have people for whom the risk of failure is greater. There has to be more of a focus on erecting scaffolding around them, so that they can manage risk and maintain focus.”

Corrozi described clients with issues ranging from “mental illness to physical disabilities and undiagnosed learning differences.” He begins every day with a 30-minute “check-in.”

“Showing up every day is part of it,” Corrozi said. “For the most part, they didn’t complete their last (work or classroom) experience. They’ve got to overcome the fear of being put on the spot. We’re stabilizing lives, in ways that will allow them to support themselves and a career.”

The free classes are funded through grants and inspired by the model of D.C. Central Kitchen, which “combats hunger and poverty through job training and job creation.”

Students include Teresa Johnson, a 58-year-old Baltimorean. She’s had some culinary training, and runs a small catering business. Her own challenges include macular degeneration.

“Everybody here is patient,” she said, of the training academy. “You get a better understanding … no matter what kind of skills you have.”

In a city languishing in food deserts – areas with no grocery markets that sell fresh produce – the Franciscan Center’s nutrition education extends from that small class to the people it feeds. In late April, lunch included a salad with kale, tomatoes, beets and raisins.

Its suppliers include First Fruits Farm in Baltimore County and Little Portions Farm, run by the Conventual Franciscans at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City.

Allbright and Corrozi are part of a management team that responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by distributing nearly 348,000 meals in 2020, most of the “grab-and-go” variety after in-room dining stopped last March.

The Franciscan Center has delivered directly to homeless encampments since last October, when it began partnering with the Mayor’s Office on Homeless Services. In April, they began a 16-month contract, which will have the mission supply meals seven days a week to as many as 11 homeless camps.

Jeffrey Griffin, the executive director of the Franciscan Center, wants to grow that service.

“This summer we’ll form a task force of volunteers led by one of our social workers to see what other services we can provide for our homeless neighbors,” Griffin said.

The Franciscan Center is undergoing a major renovation, including the installation of a second kitchen, to be used primarily as a classroom.

“We want them to move from working with a recipe, to how can I make this recipe better?” Allbright said. “Part of learning how to grow is thinking of new things.”

Kevin J. Parks contributed to this article.

Email Paul McMullen at pmcmullen@CatholicReview.org

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