A 'Word of Thanks' from Next with Kyle Clark

The mission of Work Options is to help people overcome barriers to sustainable employment by building confidence while providing resources and culinary job skills training.

Your donation will provide hands-on culinary skills training taught by professional chef instructors. In addition to core culinary skills training, students also receive job readiness instruction and cognitive behavioral therapy sessions that aim to help individuals identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and to learn practical self-help strategies.

Work Options intentionally recruits and trains some of the Denver metro area's hardest-to-employ, under-resourced individuals - folks who face multiple and substantial obstacles to employment. Work Options offers culinary skills training plus individualized, holistic support services to help students overcome their individual employment barriers and to stabilize their lives, thus increasing the likelihood that program graduates will be positioned to retain permanent employment over the longer-term. All training and wrap-around services are provided to each student at no cost to them.

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Work Options trained 146 individuals who faced significant barriers to employment. Eighty-seven percent of students were justice-involved; 79% of students were un-housed or were in unstable housing situations when they entered training; 42% had prior felony convictions; 58% of students reported they had experienced domestic violence; 31% of students stated they had less than a high school education; and 57% of students reported they were a single parent with responsible for a minor child.

In addition to providing hands-on culinary job training and holistic wrap-around services, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Work Options has been preparing healthy, delicious, emergency meals for individuals and families in need in the Denver metro area. To date, Work Options has prepared and delivered over 100,000 emergency meals to the community.

With your help, Work Options will continue to provide critical job skills training, holistic wrap-around services, and produce and deliver free emergency meals to those in need. Thank you for your support and your dedication to community care.