Dreaming of a culinary career? Let's get cooking!
Recruitment is underway for our next class! Make 2025 the year YOU take action on your culinary dreams!
The Foodlink Career Fellowship will soon be accepting nominations and applications for our 11th class, which begins this fall.
Interested candidates can learn more about the program, and reach out to:
Jes Scannell, VP of Career Empowerment Initiatives, at [email protected].
Interested candidates must be nominated by a community-based organization or mentor. Applications are due by XXXXX. Check out the links below, and for more information, email us at [email protected]!
Learn more about the Foodlink Career Fellowship | Digital forms: Application | Nomination | Printable form: Application & Nomination
Foodlink Career Fellowship
We create pathways to prosperity for individuals with barriers to sustainable employment.
Foodlink’s one-of-a-kind culinary training program prepares people for middle-skills careers with a living wage in the regional food industry, and increases the self-sufficiency, well-being and food security of our Fellows.
About the program
The Foodlink Career Fellowship offers an intensive, yearlong culinary curriculum that includes both classroom and hands-on training within Foodlink’s state-of-the-art commercial kitchen. Fellows play an integral role alongside the Foodlink Community Kitchen’s staff in preparing thousands of healthy meals daily for Rochester children, all while increasing the core competencies needed to work in a fast-paced kitchen environment.
Fellows learn critical culinary skills via Rouxbe, a world-renowned online culinary training software, and work on essential soft skills development to prepare them for future job opportunities. The final months of the program are spent at an externship with a regional employer.
The Fellowship is an official New York State Registered Apprenticeship Training program — the first such cook apprenticeship in the state. In 2020, it was awarded nearly $1 million in NYS Workforce Development Initiative funding to sustain future cohorts. In 2021, the Class of 2021 Fellows helped launch the Foodlink Community Café, a nonprofit, pay-it-forward café at the Central Library in downtown Rochester.
Impact
Pre-Apprenticeship (months 1-3)
- Food Safety – Food Handler Certification, Level 2
- Certification in CPR/ First Aid/ AED
- Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Certification
- Introduction to Culinary Math/ Cooking/Nutrition
- Peer to Peer Mental Health training
Apprenticeship (months 4-12)
- ROUXBE Professional Culinary Foundations, Levels 1 & 2
- Allergen certification (ServSafe/ AllerTrain)
- ServSafe Manager’s certification
- Minimum of 1000 hours of on-the-job training both in Foodlink’s Community Kitchen & Community Café
- Externship with local Employment partner
- Final public presentation of learning
Alumni Engagement (up to 4 years post-graduation)
- Individualized professional development & coaching
- Networking, workshops, and continued educational opportunities
- Support with personal challenges and issues that impact employment and overall well being
- Social engagements with peer network
- Re-certifications
- Mentoring opportunities to current Fellows
- The inaugural class of 2019 celebrated the program’s first graduation at the Rochester Public Market. Eight Fellows moved on to careers at Wegmans, local restaurants and colleges.
- The inaugural class graduated with an average starting wage of $14.22 — more than $3 above the state’s minimum wage. In 2023, our Fellows’ average current wage stood at $17.21.
- 88% of Fellows are active in the workforce, post-graduation (October, 2023)
Testimonials
Community support
Foodlink could not have built this program without input, support and guidance from regional employers, our nominating partners, and, of course, the bold funders who took a chance on this initiative.
Employers such as Wegmans Food Markets were critical to our early success. Other employers such as the Kelaron Group, Del Monte Hotel Group, Native Restaurant & Eatery, Le Petite Poutine, St. John Fisher University, and the University of Rochester all helped shape the curriculum to address the workforce needs of the Finger Lakes region. We also leaned on the national expertise of our friends at Catalyst Kitchens, which supports nonprofits that provide pathways to jobs through a foodservice job-training model.
The pilot year of the program was made possible through the financial contributions of three major funders: The William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, William and Sheila Konar Foundation, and ESL Charitable Foundation. The William and Sheila Konar Foundation also awarded Foodlink a second year of funding to support the Class of 2020.
As the program has expanded, supporters such as The Jacques Pépin Foundation, the City of Rochester (ARPA grant) and the KeyBank Foundation have made significant investments in the Fellowship.
This workforce program is supported by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA). $10,000 of the program is funded with federal funds provided by the Apprenticeship Building America grant program and $932,219 is funded through other sources.
ACFEF-approved program
The Foodlink Career Fellowship was recognized by The American Culinary Federation Education Foundation in 2023. As an ACFEF- approved program, the Foodlink Career Fellowships is recognized as delivering high standards in culinary arts education.
Our FCF Alumni
CONTACT US
The Foodlink Career Fellowship accepts applicants through a nomination process from mentors and local community-based organizations.
If you would like to recommend an applicant for a future class set to begin in 2021, please fill out this form and someone from our team will be in touch.
We will update our website with more information about recruitment for the Class of 2022 at a later date. Thank you!
