DCCK Mission & Programs Overview >>

DC Central Kitchen began its first phase of operations on January 20, 1989, redistributing the excess food from the Presidential inauguration. The Kitchen is founded on the premise that when fighting poverty, one must fight to win by using every resource available. Be it food, money, or people, we hate to see wasted potential. Since its inception, DC Central Kitchen has used the kitchen as a central location to recover unused food, prepare and deliver meals to partner social service agencies, train and employ homeless men and women for the food service industry, and intellectually engage volunteers.

DC Central Kitchen is not a 'soup kitchen'. Our cohesive approach to solving the interconnected problems of poverty, hunger, and homelessness has led us to become a recognized national leader in our field. As a community kitchen, we recycle over one ton of surplus food each day that would otherwise go to waste and turn it into 4,000 daily, nutritious meals for the greater Washington, DC region. Among the people preparing these meals are the students of our Culinary Job Training program; once homeless and hungry individuals themselves, these aspiring men and women are equipped with professional and life skills. DC Central Kitchen uses the existing ingredients of our society to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities.

As we continue to focus on long term solutions, we look to forward to creating a more sustainable future. By partnering with local farmers, small businesses and concerned citizens, our goal is to increase our sustainability by generating 50% of our own revenue, while shining a light on new forms of business as philanthropy. At the same time, we will step forward to advocate for an engaged and flexible non-profit sector as we face rapidly changing demographics and issues in our society.

Mission
The mission of DC Central Kitchen is to use food as a tool to:

• Strengthen Bodies
• Empower Minds
• Build Communities

Programs Overview
DC Central Kitchen focuses its efforts into the following program areas:

• Through First Helping, the Kitchen uses street-level meal service and outreach to build trust with clients and help them access health services, insurance benefits and housing.
• As part of our Food Recycling program, the Kitchen collects and re-prepares more than one ton of surplus food every day from area food service businesses. We have also made a substantial move to source food from local farms, thus stimulating the local economy, increasing sustainability, and improving community nutrition.
• Our Meal Distribution program provides meals to community non-profit programs throughout the DC metropolitan area, saving them money and allowing them to focus on their own unique and worthy missions.
• The Kitchen offers a nationally recognized 12-week Culinary Job Training program for unemployed adults who are either homeless or receiving public assistance. It is a cohesive effort to teach culinary, professional, and life skills to individuals seeking self-sufficiency and financial stability.
• Our Healthy Returns initiative offers healthy meals, quality snacks, and nutrition education to disadvantaged youth through partnerships with DC area social service agencies.
• The Kitchen operates a full-service catering company and employment development project, Fresh Start Catering, that not only provides outstanding catering and contract foods service to clients, but excellent employment opportunities for graduates of the Culinary Job Training Program.
• DC Central Kitchen puts its model to work on university campuses through The Campus Kitchens Project (SM), providing a unique service leadership opportunity for young scholars. Since opening the pilot Campus Kitchen at Saint Louis University in October 2001, nineteen more locations are thriving on campuses across the country. Once idle kitchens are now turning up the heat on hunger.

DC Central Kitchen’s multi-faceted programming uses food as nutritional sustenance, as fuel for minds, and as a training tool for the unemployed. Together, these three uses of food present a powerful front against the dangerous cycles of poverty, and against the stereotypes surrounding hunger in America.