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Steven Allbright instructs Teresa Johnson on the preparation and plating of chicken cacciatore at the Franciscan Center's culinary training academy. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Franciscan Center extends outreach to include culinary training

June 7, 2021
By Paul McMullen
Catholic Review
Filed Under: #IamCatholic, Feature, Local News, News, Social Justice

Harrell Shanks, a student of the Dignity Plates Training Academy at the Franciscan Center in Baltimore, prepares salads May 4 for an upcoming catering event. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

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.”

Ranzinka Manning, a student in the Dignity Plates Training Academy at the Franciscan Center in Baltimore, prepares salad May 4 for an upcoming catering event. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

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.”

Steven Albright, chef and culinary director for the Franciscan Center in Baltimore, shows Judith James, a student of the Dignity Plates Training Academy, safety guidelines when mixing hot soup in a food processor. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

“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.

Teresa Johnson adds carrots to soup stock at the Franciscan Center in Baltimore. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

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

Also see

Cardinal Gregory urges reflection on ‘weighty moral question’ of capital punishment

Maryland Catholic Conference says ‘phenomenal’ advocacy made difference in legislative session

CCHD celebrates ‘50 years rooted in justice’ at 43rd annual Social Ministry Convocation

Loyola University Maryland hosts its first expungement clinic to benefit Govans neighborhood

CCHD invites the faithful to annual Social Ministry Convocation

Maryknoll Lay Missioners from the Archdiocese of Baltimore serve in Kenyan mission

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Paul McMullen

Paul McMullen, a resident of Austin, Texas, served as the managing editor of the Catholic Review from 2008 until his retirement in September 2021.

The author of two books, Paul has been involved in local media since age 12, when he began delivering The News American to 80 homes in his neighborhood. He began his journalism career with the Capital-Gazette Newspapers in Anne Arundel County, and spent more than 25 years as a sports writer for The Sun in Baltimore. His favorite writing assignments have included the Summer Olympics in Australia and Greece, the Archdiocese of Baltimore's response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and “Feet for Francis,” a 2015 walking pilgrimage from the Baltimore Basilica to Philadelphia to see Pope Francis.

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