The inaugural class members of the Foodlink Career Fellowship had more than the weekend to look forward to, as they walked into Foodlink on Friday. 

The inaugural class of Fellows celebrated the completion of the first quarter of their yearlong training at Foodlink. A small tasting event was organized Oct. 5 to celebrate their accomplishments, and show gratitude to the community partners and funders who made this program possible. 

PHOTO ALBUM: Check out more images from the event on our Facebook page

The Foodlink Career Fellowship is Foodlink’s newest workforce development venture — a yearlong culinary training program in the Foodlink Community Kitchen. Foodlink recruits individuals who have had barriers to employment — but a passion for food — into the program with the ultimate goal of training them for a middle-skills job in the regional food industry. The first class began their journey in July, thanks to the generous funding from the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, William and Sheila Konar Foundation, and ESL Charitable Foundation. 

Fellows spent the first three months of the program learning the skills needed to work in a kitchen, both with hands-on experience in Foodlink’s Community Kitchen and Value-Added Processing Center, and through a renowned online training program, Rouxbe. Their training will continue for the next nine months, which includes a 3-month externship at Wegmans before graduation in June 2019. 

At Friday’s event, the Fellows prepared several delicious dishes, including:

• Exploding Eggplant
• Lil Spice Empanadas
• Cajun Salmon Bites
• South Meets East
• Latinas Mofongo Bites

In a brief ceremony, each Fellow received a new knife set, and their first paycheck from Foodlink.