Five-year-old Housed Working & Healthy helps Denverites start food industry careers by supplying them with mental health services and safe housing.
While working as a job counselor at Jewish Family Service in 2017, Brad Volin became convinced that job training and placement would only be successful if people’s basic needs were first met. That’s why he pivoted from a career as a serial tech entrepreneur to community service and established the nonprofit Housed Working & Healthy (HWH) in 2018, which began serving individuals in 2020.
“You can’t have a job or keep a job if you don’t have housing,” Volin says. “You can’t have housing if you don’t have a job and you can’t do either one if you don’t have your mental health. [HWH] addressed all three of those…. Housing is provided while they’re in our program through one of our partners, and we focus on [food industry] job training and mental health.”
HWH works with partner shelters for those experiencing homelessness to identify and enroll participants in a three-to-four-month program that teaches them culinary and life skills so they can not only graduate with a job in the food industry but also have the tools to continue excelling in their professions. About two-thirds of their time is spent in HWH’s commercial kitchen learning from two accredited chef-instructors using a curriculum co-developed with Emily Griffith Technical College Quick Start and the National Restaurant Association’s ProStart programs, which also involves earning their ServSafe certification.
HWH has been experimenting with revenue generation through social enterprise, partnering with local coffee shops and establishments to provide student-made wholesale baked goods and snacks such as cookies, brownies, granola, and holiday pies. It also partners with social enterprise businesses such as Cafe 180 and GraceFull Cafe to provide students with on-site experience.
Housed Working & Healthy founder Brad Volin with participants.
