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The Oakland Tribune
Sunday, August 22, 2004

Employment Rises with Bread Class: Oakland nonprofit teaches baking to those desperate for work
By Angela Hill, Staff Writer

Two or three brief, temporary clerical jobs in the span of two years do not an income make.

What they did make for Stephanie Bodene, 58, of Concord was crumpled self-esteem, an empty bank account and little hope for anything better. She'd been unable to find work after moving here from the East just as the economy went south, and soon concluded nobody wants to hire a mature woman even for entry-level jobs when they could get a fresh-faced college student instead.

Then Bodene found bread to be the stuff of her new career. She signed up and qualified for The Bread Project, a highly praised, nonprofit program that teaches baking, cooking, job-seeking -- and job-keeping -- skills to low-income people, immigrants with limited English speaking or writing skills, the developmentally challenged and even ex-convicts.

The program, currently held at the Berkeley Adult School and at the San Francisco Baking Institute in South San Francisco, is now expanding its operation to Oakland, with classes starting in September at kitchen facilities provided by St. Vincent de Paul at 675 23rd St. Organizers are recruiting students for the roughly 20 slots available for the 12-week Oakland course.

Applicants must be drug- and alcohol-free, able to lift 50 pounds and fluent enough in English to read recipes. Classes are free to students, with funding provided through donations and from private and public agencies.

But it's no cake walk. A lot is expected of the students -- especially a good attitude.

"One thing that is so wonderful is that people don't need to have an academic background or any particular skills," said the program's executive director, Lily Divito. "They just need a real interest in food and a willingness to work and actively seek a job after they graduate from the program.

"The work ethic is very important here," she said. "We have a very strict attendance policy. We try to make the classes as true to the real workplace as possible so students will be familiar with it when they get out there. Knowing the skills of how to cook is important, but you also need to know how to show up every day, or you're going to get fired."

Indeed, that's why The Bread Project has won numerous awards from social service agencies. In addition to baking techniques -- how to scale, shape, bake, use the specialized ovens -- the program teaches students to prepare resumes and fill out applications. They perform mock job interviews and practice cold calls to employers. And teachers follow up with students a year after they graduate. At least 77 percent of students still have a job at that time, Divito said.

Bodene graduated from the program in February, and immediately got a job washing dishes at Boudin's in San Francisco, where she worked for about five months until the store cut back on shifts. She quickly got another position -- this time as an assistant baker -- with a start-up shop in Alameda called the Feel Good Bakery, an artisan-bread bakery that is scheduled to open this week.

"The Bread Project is one of the greatest things that ever happened to me," Bodene said. "It gave me a complete redirection and professional retraining. I don't know what I would have done."

Bay Area residents Susan Phillips and Lucie Buchbinder came up with The Bread Project idea in 2000. Both were involved in the management of low-income housing and saw many tenants who wanted to become financially independent, but lacked the job skills to do it.

At that time, their research found the baking industry to be fast-growing and in need of entry-level workers. With the slowdown of the economy, they have incorporated basic restaurant cooking into the program.

Since the first site opened in South San Francisco in 2001, the program has assisted about 200 people. The Berkeley program works with the adult school, which allows use of its kitchen facilities and pays the teacher's salary. The Oakland site is a three-way collaboration of The Bread Project, St. Vincent de Paul and Oakland adult schools.

"People can learn they don't have to be on welfare. It might be only $8 an hour, but you're getting medical and dental benefits and getting off public assistance," Divito said.

"Even if they get just an entry-level job, it's not at all a dead-end job in the restaurant industry," she said. "They'll maybe start as a janitor or dishwasher, but that's how most famous chefs got started. You can advance from there if you prove yourself to your employer."

A "high tea" fundraiser for The Bread Project will be held Oct. 3 at the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco.

For more information on the fundraiser and The Bread Project, call (510) 644-4575 or e-mail thebreadproject@aol.com . Or visit www.breadproject.org