Food Truck That Hires Former Prisoners Coming To E Harlem

EAST HARLEM, NY — A food truck that hires formerly incarcerated young people in order to teach them how to find success in the hospitality field is coming to East Harlem and accepting applications for its paid fellowship program, a neighborhood business group announced.

Brooklyn-based organization Drive Change is partnering with the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Heath Policy and Uptown Grand Central to host an awareness day in East Harlem, according to Uptown Grand Central's newsletter. The organization will serve food and raise awareness about its work and issues such as food insecurity and mass incarceration.

Applications for Drive Change's 2020 fellowship class are open until Feb. 14. The organization pays $15 per hour for a 35-hour work week. Applicants must have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system and must be between the ages of 18 and 25 to qualify for the eight-month program.

Fellows participate in an intensive two-month culinary training before working on the Drive Change food truck and through job placements at businesses that partner with Drive Change, according to the organization's website. During the program, fellows will pick up skills in food preparation and build contacts in the food service industry. Alumni are encouraged to stay involved with Drive Change through events and other work opportunities.

Drive Change was founded in 2013 by Jordyn Lexton, who was teaching English at a high school on Rikers Island. The organization expanded in 2018 to establish an industrial kitchen, which allows Drive Change to employ dozens of people each year. The organization also works with businesses in the restaurant industry to conduct workshops on privilege and unconscious bias.