May 24—Notable Santa Fe figures lined up for meals such as chipotle grilled chicken skewers, smoked beets, Mexican street corn salad and Bisco Cheetos during a State of the City address at the Santa Fe Teen Center on Thursday.
The food was restaurant-quality, but it wasn't provided by a fine dining restaurant in Santa Fe, but rather prepared earlier that day by participants in YouthWorks' Social Justice Kitchen program, which offers teens and young adults the opportunity to earn a paycheck while learning culinary skills.
The program is currently expanding, with Youth Works renovating a building it owns on Cerrillos Road into a new commercial kitchen that's about three times the size of the one the nonprofit currently rents on Camino Carlos Rey.
“This is a great investment for Santa Fe's youth and young adults,” said Merrin Schuyler, founder and director of YouthWorks.
The expansion will be boosted by a Community Development Block Grant that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to award to the city in the upcoming funding cycle.
The expansion will cost about $1.5 million, with the city contributing $131,538 in CDBG funds, Schuyler said.
The group is preparing to launch a fundraising campaign for the project, and “CDBG has helped us get a little closer to that goal,” she said.
The 4,400-square-foot facility will also include a front-facing cafe that will be open to the public. Schuyler said having its own kitchen will improve Youthworks' financial situation, allowing it to invest more in youth programming.
The program offers at-risk youth an opportunity to earn money and learn job skills that will help them whether they choose a career in the food and beverage industry or another field. Additionally, Schuyler said the expansion will create jobs throughout the region.
“Having our own facility in downtown Santa Fe and providing industry-accredited training for our employees allows us to support local employers in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico,” she said.
The city's Department of Housing Affordability announced that YouthWorks is one of six community organizations that will receive CDBG funding in the coming fiscal year. The City Council approved the funding allocation on May 8. Other grants include:
* $200,000 to Habitat for Humanity's home repair programs for extremely low-income homeowners.
* Chainbreaker Collective receives $75,000 to renovate its new headquarters on Fifth Avenue.
* $35,000 to Santa Fe Public Schools' Adelante School Liaison program, which provides support services to students experiencing homelessness and their families.
* $35,000 to Interfaith Community Shelter at Pete's Place for a summer “Safe Haven for All” shelter.
* $20,000 to Youth Shelters and Family Services for street outreach programs for homeless youth.
* $7,880 to Youth Shelter and Family Services for repairs and upgrades to the Transitional Living Program campus.
At the time the plan was approved, the exact amount of CDBG funds HUD would award to the city had not yet been finalized. If the city receives more or less than expected, the YouthWorks grant will be adjusted proportionately.
Youthworks grants were chosen for the swings because they allow for the most incremental budget adjustments, Affordable Housing Director Alexandra Ladd said in an email.
“In other words, it is more likely that stages of work can be completed with partial funding than with other projects,” she wrote, “so allowing more flexibility was the logical choice.”
Other groups set to receive CDBG funding said the allocation will have a big impact on their work. This is the first time Chainbreaker Collective has applied for the money, spokeswoman Cathy Garcia said.
Garcia said the money will be used to renovate the new building to make its bike repair facilities and “know your rights” clinic more accessible and safer for customers. The building's previous tenant was a glass installation company, and the current space “has a little bit of an industrial feel,” Garcia said.
The renovations will include soundproofing, replacing some lighting, installing new heaters and making the building more environmentally friendly, she said. The group moved into the new building late last year and plans to have an official grand opening next month.
“We want to make sure everything is safe and welcoming for all those who come,” Garcia said.
In the post-pandemic era, Adelante serves about 1,100 children and youth annually, about 7.5% of the district's student population, according to Michelle Vignaly, a development specialist at Adelante.
The program has a broader definition of homelessness than HUD and helps students and families who are living in shelters or vehicles, in unstable or unsafe housing, and with other family members.
“When we think of homeless people, we just think of the word and immediately paint an image,” she says, “but homelessness is much more than that, and when a child or family is experiencing homelessness, the situation may be different.”
Vignely said the CDBG allocation is about 4.5 percent of Adelante's overall budget, but the city also receives other funding from the city, such as the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
She noted that young people without a high school diploma are much more likely to become homeless, making the program's efforts to ensure students have the basic resources they need to stay focused in school important.
“It becomes cyclical,” she said.
The Youthworks Social Justice Kitchen also serves students at risk of not graduating from high school, and the kitchen currently serves at least 650 young people a year, said John Paul Granillo, Youthworks' director of operations.
“This shows a great demand for our efforts,” he said.
On a recent morning in the program's commercial kitchen, head chef Devon Bernardino was walking students through the process of making spaghetti meatballs for meals that will be delivered to Consuelo's Place.
Since the pandemic began, Social Justice Kitchen has delivered 75 meals seven days a week to homeless shelters, partnered with World Central Kitchen to help deliver meals to first responders and evacuees during the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Wildfires, and has catered numerous private events across the city.
Bernardino graduated from the Social Justice Kitchen program in 2016 and worked in a variety of culinary jobs before returning to head up the program a few months ago.
“It gives me an idea of the kind of kid I was once,” he said of taking the helm.
Students said they enjoyed taking part in the program and believe the new kitchen will be a boon.
“It's been really good for the program,” said Fabian Navarrete, 17, who joined the program about five months ago and said he's enjoying it so far.
“It's a great work environment,” he says. “Everyone's friends, so it's a lot of fun.”
Bernardino's goals for the new space include expanding Youthworks' presence in the culinary world and creating a larger pipeline for Santa Fe residents to enter the restaurant industry.
Looking at the city's larger culinary scene, he noted, “there's not a lot of ownership by people from here.”
He hopes that will change.
“It's going to be amazing,” he said. “I'm ready to take us to the next level.”
