BRATTLEBORO — Strolling of the Heifers will offer up to 16 people a chance to enroll in a paid apprenticeship program designed to help them start culinary industry careers.
The Stroll's Farm-to-Table Culinary Apprenticeship program is a 12-week program offering training that can lead to permanent food-preparation positions at restaurant and institutional kitchens.
The program is free to participants who meet income employment status qualifications, including veterans. It includes classroom time, as well as on-the-job experience at restaurant and institutional kitchens, for which participants will be paid.
The aim of the program, says Orly Munzing, founder and executive director of Strolling of the Heifers, is to place all participants into permanent culinary employment at the conclusion of the program.
“If the participant is successful at completing the course work, we're pretty sure we can successfully place that person,” she said in a news release.
The program was first offered last year, graduating 11 people who all were placed in full-time, permanent jobs in the culinary field. All 11 are still employed in those jobs, or have moved on to even better jobs in the field, Munzing said.
The program is supported this year by grants from the Sandy River Charitable Trust, the Thomas Thompson Trust and the Brattleboro Retreat, and by donations from Strolling of the Heifers supporters. The Vermont Department of Labor is a partner in the program.
The program's curriculum director is Tristan Toleno, a member of the Vermont House of Representatives who is also a partner in Entera Artisanal Catering. In addition, chefs and other food professionals from participating restaurants and institutions will provide instruction.
Classroom and lab space will be at the Stroll's downtown Brattleboro headquarters, the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, where a new educational kitchen has been completed with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The program includes instruction and practice in:
• Food processing skills: basic food preparation, knife safety and techniques, kitchen safety, commercial dishwashing, culinary math skills, customer etiquette, nutrition, plating and presentation, expediting, and minimizing food waste.
• Introductory management skills, including inventory and cost control.
• Commercial food basics: sanitation, cooking science, nutrition information, and sourcing.
• ServSafe food handler training (successful completion provides ServSafe food handler certificate).
• Local food systems and the value of maximizing use of local food.
• Job readiness skills: timeliness, cleanliness, grooming and appropriate dress, personal finance, time management, being supervised, and resume building.
• On-the-job training: Participants spend more than half their time gaining experience in local commercial kitchens. They will be paid for that time through the Vermont Department of Labor's workforce development programs.
Enrollment is limited to 16 persons. The program will take place from July 5 until Sept. 16.
Qualifications include a history of low income and unemployment or underemployment, a serious interest in a culinary career, a willingness to commit to the program's values, rules, and requirements, and a drug-free lifestyle.
The deadline to apply is Tuesday, June 14. Further information and an application may be found at www.strollingoftheheifers.com/apprenticeship, or in person at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, 157 Main St., Brattleboro.