The Hogg Foundation at The University of Texas
While restaurant staff teaches them how to work in a kitchen, case managers address urgent basic needs and work through issues like anger management, trauma recovery, fatherlessness and abandonment. A community service center extends the nonprofit's reach beyond the restaurant: It's a safe place for interns to study, connect with others and recharge. Volunteers help with tutoring, and they provide life-skills workshops.
Abillyon was released that day. He eventually graduated from the internship program, got his high school diploma, has enrolled in college and is an ambassador for Café Momentum.Brian is another current intern. He's 17 and is wearing Houndstooth chef pants and a white snap-up chef’s shirt. He joined the internship program in 2021; he was out for a while but returned and is on schedule to graduate later this year.
Before service one evening, the restaurant is empty of customers as the staff and interns prep. The doors then swing wide open and two other interns slink in. There's a round of applause. A manager rolling silverware into napkins jokes about them showing up. The young men are embarrassed and smile but quickly head to the back of the restaurant.
Haymon's goal is to make sure all the interns are prepared for life as if they’d never been involved in the justice system. That includes needs like acquiring identification, learning how to participate in a job interview or creating a résumé and applying for college. But she points to interactions with customers as an important aspect of the learning curve here.