{"id":12619,"date":"2019-07-03T12:02:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T16:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/?p=12619"},"modified":"2022-01-12T12:08:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T17:08:41","slug":"orange-county-jails-culinary-program-serves-up-job-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2019\/07\/orange-county-jails-culinary-program-serves-up-job-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County Jail\u2019s Culinary Program Serves up Job Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tory Blackwell, a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orangecountyfl.net\/JailInmateServices.aspx\">Orange County Corrections Department<\/a> inmate, is now lead cook at a popular local restaurant thanks to IN2WORK vocational training. The culinary program is designed to provide offenders with the skills and knowledge to secure jobs post-release in the food service, retail and warehousing industries \u2013 in turn reducing recidivism and successfully rehabilitating offenders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe program gave me a chance to learn a skill I could use to secure a good job,\u201d said Blackwell, who started out as a dishwasher and worked his way up to become lead cook.\u00a0\u201cIt also really helped me with my interpersonal skills, which you need to have in the food service industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blackwell immediately embraced the pre-culinary program, which teaches basic kitchen operations in the classroom through instructor-student interaction. Participants also get practical kitchen time to gain hands-on experiences working in the kitchen and helping prepare meals for Work Release Center residents. Upon completion of the course, Blackwell passed a final exam and received a Safe Staff Florida Food Handler Certification, which helped him gain employment at Mediterranean Blue. Today, he enjoys making Greek favorites such as moussaka and souvlaki.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe program gave me a chance at a real life,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel a sense of accomplishment when I cook for other people, and for the first time in my life I\u2019m really proud of what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The four-week, full-time program is a partnership between the Orange County Corrections Department and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aramark.com\/\">Aramark Corporation<\/a>, which provides various food services to education, healthcare, business, corrections and leisure clients. Graduates receive direct job placement services through <a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodwillcfl.org\/\">Goodwill Industries of Central Florida<\/a> Job Connection Centers, including assistance with applying and interviewing for jobs, resume writing, computer training and career counseling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of our participants have gone on to steady culinary employment and haven\u2019t returned to incarceration,\u201d said David Nickens, program instructor with Aramark. \u201cSeveral have become managers and supervisors. They achieve progress and stay out of the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Orange County Corrections Department and Aramark are happy that graduates clearly see the opportunity to improve their chances for employment post-release by taking advantage of the program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been truly blessed to have reached and connected with so many people who have persevered and turned themselves into positive, motivated individuals who gained confidence in themselves,\u201d said Nickens.<\/p>\n<p>Another successful program is the jail&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2019\/03\/building-skills-and-providing-second-chances\/\">Construction Program offered in partnership with Valencia College<\/a>. The Corrections Department is focused on re-entry initiatives since 96 percent of inmates return to the community in an effort to become productive and contributing members of society.<\/p>\n<p>Photo Caption:\u00a0<em>A student in the Orange County jail\u2019s culinary program helps prepare meals at the Work Release Center.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tory Blackwell, a former Orange County Corrections Department inmate, is now lead cook at a popular local restaurant thanks to IN2WORK vocational training. The culinary program is designed to provide offenders with the skills and knowledge to secure jobs post-release in the food service, retail and warehousing industries \u2013 in turn reducing recidivism and successfully [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-12619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-services","tag-corrections"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Orange County Jail\u2019s Culinary Program Serves up Job Skills<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2019\/07\/orange-county-jails-culinary-program-serves-up-job-skills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Orange County Jail\u2019s Culinary Program Serves up Job Skills\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tory Blackwell, a former Orange County Corrections Department inmate, is now lead cook at a popular local restaurant thanks to IN2WORK vocational training. The culinary program is designed to provide offenders with the skills and knowledge to secure jobs post-release in the food service, retail and warehousing industries \u2013 in turn reducing recidivism and successfully [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2019\/07\/orange-county-jails-culinary-program-serves-up-job-skills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OCFL Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrangeCountyFlorida\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-03T16:02:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-12T17:08:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Culinary-photo-OC-Corrections-1024x803.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"803\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daniel Bonnells\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OrangeCoFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OrangeCoFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Bonnells\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/orange-county-jails-culinary-program-serves-up-job-skills\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/orange-county-jails-culinary-program-serves-up-job-skills\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Bonnells\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d51ee3b41851861f18691e4c7901248c\"},\"headline\":\"Orange County Jail\u2019s Culinary Program Serves up Job Skills\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-03T16:02:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-12T17:08:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/orange-county-jails-culinary-program-serves-up-job-skills\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":460,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/orange-county-jails-culinary-program-serves-up-job-skills\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Culinary-photo-OC-Corrections.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Corrections\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community &amp; 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