A Recipe for Lasting Stability
What’s the recipe for Ready, Willing & Able‘s success? For nearly four decades, it has combined all the ingredients needed to overcome homelessness — paid work opportunities, vocational training, and support services like addiction recovery, case management, and linkages to housing — together in one place.
Part of that secret sauce is our workforce development programming. Participants can enter vocational training tracks from commercial driving to construction, security and more.
One of the most popular occupational courses is in Culinary Arts. This class equips participants with the skills, industry-recognized certifications, and confidence to thrive in today’s competitive food service industry. Through hands-on instruction, trainees gain experience in food preparation, kitchen operations, customer service, nutrition, and food safety.
Hungry to Make an Impact
That instruction starts close to home. Trainees prepare and serve more than 1,200 meals daily for their peers in Ready, Willing & Able transitional residences. That’s 456,000 meals a year!
After trainees master knife skills and earn Food Handler certifications, our team helps connect them to jobs in restaurants, catering companies, institutional kitchens, and beyond. If you’re in the industry, you can help by becoming an employer partner. Just reach out to [email protected]!
Savoring New Opportunities
In 2025, The Doe Fund restarted its farmers market, creating additional learning opportunities in customer service and small business operations. It’s also rebuilding Dishes by Doe, which provides real-world catering experience while generating revenue to support the mission.
Both initiatives teach far more than how to cook. From learning how to operate within a business, serve customers, and build careers in a dynamic industry, they provide a foundation for long-term success.
Let Them Cook
Behind every freshly-baked Doe Fund cookie is a story of resilience. Take Chef Fresh, who discovered his passion in our Culinary Arts training. In his own words:
All the ingredients were measured in grams, ounces, and pounds. Understanding the different reactions ingredients have when processed was parallel to the products I sold on the street — but instead of flipping drugs, I was now flipping butter, sugar, and flour!
After graduating Ready, Willing & Able, Chef Fresh founded Fresh Taste Bakery. Now, he’s the go-to pastry chef for celebs from Jerry Seinfeld to DJ Khaled.
Or take Derrick, who came to Ready, Willing & Able after nearly three decades in rehab, programs, and prison. In Derrick’s words:
I was broken. I was bitter. I was lost. I was confused. I was angry. I was irresponsible. But instead of judging me, the people here believed in me. They pushed me to show up — to work hard on the job and on myself. And that’s just what I did. I found my passion and purpose in the kitchen.
Today, he serves as the Head Chef at our Harlem Center for Opportunity. He excels as a mentor, telling trainees that “If I can do it, you can too.”
Derrick is a role model in more ways than one. His proudest achievement is taking care of his young daughter, Zaria, after her mother passed away.
“It’s because of The Doe Fund that I’m the dad I was meant to be,” Derrick says.
Countless graduates like Chef Fresh and Derrick have gone on to work in professional kitchens, launch their own culinary ventures, and even return to mentor the next generation of trainees. They show what’s possible with a sprinkle of structure, support, and opportunity.
