It starts with food for the body. D.C. Central Kitchen, which you have led for the past decade, has come to provide to a large percentage of that city’s residents meals that are healthy, affordable, and locally sourced—much of it using ingredients that would have gone to waste. These meals are distributed through shelters, schools, a catering service, and neighborhood stores. It is also food for the soul. Healthy eating helps break the cycle of disease and
poverty, and the kitchen’s job training initiative has changed the lives of more than 1,400 men and women, all of them formerly incarcerated, addicted, homeless, or chronically unemployed. They graduate from the 14-week program with culinary skills, life skills, job placement support, and the welcome new taste of hope. Over time, their employment rate remains high and their rate of recidivism low. In the end it is also food for thought. The kitchen addresses in creative ways needs that are widespread. And it has increased it’s operating revenue fourteen-fold with almost no reliance on public money. Citing D.C. Central Kitchen, not surprisingly, as a model, the founder of the World Social Enterprise Forum has named it “one of the ten greatest social enterprises in the world.”
In recognition of your distinguished achievement in community development, Williams College is proud to honor you with its Bicentennial Medal.
September 19, 2015