Drive Change: Building a More Just Hospitality Sector
By Patrick Hart, Program Director, Aimee McPhail, Research Associate, and the Drive Change team and community
In restaurants across New York City, Drive Change is connecting young people who have previous system involvement with careers in the hospitality industry. Through its Social Enterprise Portfolio, CJII funding helped create a fellowship program that supported these aspiring industry professionals with reentry support, job skills, and more.
Despite worker shortages in many industries, the American job market continues to struggle to connect workers from marginalized backgrounds with employment. Formerly incarcerated job seekers, especially, continue to face high levels of unemployment and struggle to access quality jobs that offer career advancement—jobs that could play a role easing their transition into the community and reduce their likelihood of further criminal legal system contact.
Policymakers and practitioners have proposed and implemented many initiatives aimed at addressing this challenge. CUNY ISLG has been involved with many of them, including expanding access to college in prison and supporting programs that provide comprehensive services to individuals reentering the community.
Programs that connect people reentering communities with specific training in sectors with high wage growth are an essential part of the equation.
Programs that connect people reentering communities with specific training in sectors with high wage growth are an essential part of the equation. The value of sector-specific job training programs (when implemented thoughtfully and with attention to labor market data) is well documented in several industries, including tech and health care. At the same time, a common critique of these programs is that they only serve the most connected and well-prepared potential participants, and do not work with the most disconnected individuals.
Opening Doors to Hospitality Careers
In restaurants across New York, Drive Change is fixing that. Based in Brooklyn, Drive Change is connecting system-involved young people with career pathways in the food industry, while also seeking to change how that industry operates, representing a step forward and a model for the field. Through the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII)’s Social Enterprise portfolio, CUNY ISLG has worked with Drive Change to inform providers and funders looking to build a more just—and palatable—society.
Drive Change was founded in 2014. In 2018, CJII (an initiative of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office managed by CUNY ISLG) began funding the organization to provide paid fellowships for young people returning from incarceration as well as to create social justice-focused training/placement support for restaurants through the Hospitality for Social Justice (HSJ) initiative.
The fellowships focus on industry-specific skills (e.g. Food Handlers’ Certification), general work readiness training (e.g. Google Workspace Certification), job connections, social/emotional support, and justice-oriented community building. Drive Change has had several key successes over the life of its program, which show the power of both Drive Change’s model and the CJII approach to community investment. These include:
Successfully connecting with the focus population. More than any other grantee in the Social Enterprise portfolio, Drive Change succeeded at serving the focus population of the Social Enterprise initiative: 79 percent of participants were long-term unemployed and 94 percent of participants had previously been incarcerated at their time of enrollment.
Delivering results for participants. Drive Change helped 30 participants connect with jobs in the hospitality industry. Behind each of those numbers is a story of success and change, as detailed in some of the examples below. These examples, of course, only scratch the surface of the great experiences Fellows had—one Fellow, for instance, got the opportunity to work with famed chef Mashama Bailey. Drive Change did not merely train participants and help place them in jobs; they continued relationships with participants long after cohorts ended and advocated for participants with both employers and law enforcement. This number would very likely have been higher if not for the impacts of COVID-19.
Weathering the storm of the pandemic. The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic were a catastrophe for the food industry, and particularly for new hires like Drive Change’s participants. But Drive Change rose to the challenge by finding innovative ways to support participants through the crisis, including providing temporary direct employment at Drive Change, negotiating with restaurant partners to find ways to keep young people employed, and providing stipends and other essential items to participants and alumni.
Drive Change’s efforts made a crucial difference for participants, and they shared lessons from this work in CUNY ISLG’s summer 2020 webinar series in which CJII grantees shared their strategies for helping participants through the pandemic.Embracing the CJII approach. No one funding stream can sustain an organization, and Drive Change was proactive from the start in building for the future, using the tools that CJII provided. Drive Change received individualized technical assistance from CJII TTA consultant Public Works Partners, focusing on building out a long-term business plan for the Hospitality for Social Justice initiative.
Drive Change used CJII capital funding to build out a full-service new space that will provide a welcoming program location for participants for decades to come. The Social Enterprises learning community funded through CJII helped connect Drive Change with ideas and opportunities to amplify their work. And ISLG’s communications about Drive Change helped tell their story to funders and build up new funding opportunities for the organization.
What’s Next?
Drive Change has continued to refine its program offerings over the years of working with CJII, and is looking forward to continuing this important work in its beautiful new space with support from a variety of funders. Drive Change continues to attract support, including being awarded the Brooklyn Org Spark Prize.
As the hospitality industry continues to evolve and change following the initial years of the pandemic, the calls for social justice and transformation in this industry will only get louder, and Drive Change stands well-positioned to be a resource and support both to restaurants looking to move the needle on social justice and to young people with a history of criminal legal system interaction looking to embark on a new career pathway.
CUNY ISLG was thrilled to celebrate the ribbon-cutting on Drive Change's new space on Thursday, April 11. This new program space will allow Drive Change to amp up its Fellows program and continue to bring systems change to the hospitality industry.
Below, Drive Change shared some highlights and stories from their participants from that past 10 years.
Participant Success Story #1: Hired at a Michelen-star Restaurant—Twice
This Drive Change Fellow from Cohort 4’s story is a testament to not only the tenacity of Drive Change’s graduates, but the success of its COVID-19 strategy and the investment of its restaurant partners. Prior to the pandemic, this Fellow had landed a job at Gramercy Tavern—one of the top restaurants in NYC and his trial work placement site. It was a “total dream” of his to work there, and during the Fellowship he worked extremely hard to illustrate his passion and commitment. It paid off: he was hired immediately following the completion of his eight-week training program.
When the restaurant had to close due to COVID-19, only two months after he had begun working there, he recalls being devastated. He went through a tough time with his mental health, felt defeated, and really questioned what he had begun to gain clarity on his future vision for himself. He no longer was sure he even wanted to work in restaurants, with a new understanding of the instability. However, after being one of the few people hired back to the team as the restaurant slowly figured out its reopening operations, he rekindled the flame and confidence around his skills and his passion. He has since been promoted to working the line during dinner shifts, and is excitedly thinking about where he can continue to see himself in this journey.
His success is attributed to his determination: he expressed from day one of working at Gramercy Tavern how much meaning this had for him, and the Gramercy Tavern staff heard him. They prioritized rehiring him as they, too, understood the impact of this decision on the Fellow’s life, and the value that having him brought to their team.
Participant Success Story #2: From Work Release to Working as a Manager
In a remarkable chapter of the Drive Change story, one of our Fellows broke the mold and embarked on a journey that began in prison and ended in a managerial role at a Manhattan ice cream shop.
Coming from the Queensboro Correctional Facility's Work-Release Program, he entered Drive Change with a commitment that set him apart from the start. Day in and day out, he would commute between Drive Change and Queensboro, navigating numerous stipulations, including the temporary withholding of his hard-earned paycheck. What makes this story even more exceptional is that he continued his journey as a Fellow while still incarcerated, a first for Drive Change. This was a testament to his exceptional work ethic and unwavering dedication, recognized not only by Drive Change but also by the Queensboro Correctional Facility and his parole officer.
And it paid off. Approximately six weeks into his training, a pivotal moment arrived. He was granted a unique opportunity known as the '5-2' program, which allowed him to spend five nights a week at home, a privilege he hadn't had in two years. This marked a significant turning point in his life, one that resonated deeply with his commitment to personal growth and transformation.
As a community, Drive Change celebrated this momentous achievement with tremendous excitement and pride. It was a collective victory, one that showcased the power of support, mentorship, and the Drive Change ethos. Together, they forged a path towards his independence, solidifying his place as an exceptional Fellow and a beacon of inspiration for all of us.
Today, this Fellow is a manager at Caffè Panna, an Italian inspired ice cream shop in Gramercy Park. Through the Fellow’s dedication and hard work, and the leadership and investment of owner, Hallie Meyer, they have built an incredible business and workplace culture together, one where this Drive Change alumnus has grown and thrived.
Photos by Patrick Hart, CUNY ISLG