Second Chances, Changing Lives
“We use food as the foundation to change lives and strengthen communities.”
At Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, we’ve been “cooking up opportunity” since our doors opened in 2013 and our first graduates completed our Culinary Jobs Training Program in 2014.
Since then, we have helped over 500 community members successfully complete our program and move on to the next phase of their lives with stable employment in, or adjacent to, Pittsburgh’s culinary industry.
Regardless of someone’s past or present, each person who walks through our doors has the potential to succeed. We offer training programs, transitional employment opportunities, apprenticeships, and job placement services that are designed to meet them where they are at.
We also understand that financial barriers may exist. We help remove those barriers by providing our training and services AT NO COST to participants, as well as providing other supports to help them succeed.
If you like to cook, if you’re looking for work, or if you’d like to make a change, read on to learn more about our programs.
If you believe that every person has the potential to succeed when given the supports needed, read on to learn how you could help.
What Do We Do?
FREE Culinary Jobs Training
As a student in this program, you will work and train alongside professional chefs, learning various skills necessary to have success in the culinary industry — at AT NO COST TO YOU.
In addition to our culinary training programs, our students and staff also prepare thousands of meals per week to help provide hunger relief across the city. From the Summer Feeding Program to Meals on Wheels to meals for our houseless community members, we are serving “love on a plate”.
Hunger Relief
We work to increase access to healthy meals and snacks for food insecure community members of all ages.
How do we do it?
Our Social Enterprises
Catering
Preparation of high volume items like catering services is great real-world practice for students in training.
Food Truck
Find our truck popping up across the city!
When you order something from the #CKPghFoodTruck, “your dollars make change”.
Butchery
Heavy emphasis on butcher training and business support to build a highly skilled workforce that supports farm-to-fork meat economies.
Events
Events such as our Signature Guest Chef Dinner Series and Annual Fish Fry give our students the incredible opportunity to get hands-on experience in coursed dinner events (Guest Chef) and fast-paced high-volume food service (Fish Fry).
All proceeds and donations received at these events directly support our Culinary Jobs Training & Community Meals programs.
GIVE
#SupportCKP
While our Social Enterprises fund approximately 65% of our operational budget, we still depend on our individual supporters to help us continue our work.
By making your contribution today, our dedicated staff can put it to work right away to benefit our students and the community.
We’re able to provide our culinary training program and job placement services at no cost to participants thanks to the generosity of our supporters — via individual contributions, grants, and our various social enterprises.
We’re honored to have received grants and funding from local/regional organizations such as Heinz Endowments and Appalachian Regional Commission, as well as national organizations such as the Jacques Pepin Foundation and Alcoa Foundation.
The “Secret Sauce”? Our Social Enterprises.
The services that we offer (aka, social enterprises) fund our culinary training program and help us to continue achieving our mission.
What is a Social Enterprise?
Proceeds from our social enterprises currently fund approximately 65% of our operating budget as well as the foundation for our training and employment programs. These proceeds roll back into our programs, allowing us to continue our mission and serve our community.
When you use one of our services — order catering, order from the food truck, make a butchery purchase, or attend an event — your dollars make change.