Interesting News and Updates about Primed & Prepped

Kelly Armstrong, Program Director and Creator of Primed & Prepped: A Hospitality Management /Culinary Arts Mentoring and Job Training Program Photo by Toni Brock

What is Primed & Prepped? Primed & Prepped: A Hospitality Management/Culinary Arts Job Training and Mentoring Program (P&P) is a personal development-training program targeting African-American males ages 17-26. The program's main objective is to prepare students with vital life skills tools that will enable them to compete in an industry that generates $8.9 billion annually in the San Francisco market alone and $1.4 Trillion nationally.http://selectusa.commerce.gov/industry-snapshots/travel-tourism-and-hospitality-industry-united-states

Dr. David Jones Plants the Seeds for Mentoring Program

 

Dr. David Jones

Administrative Director of Dept. Of Hospitality Management,

University of San Francisco

 The impetus of Primed and Prepped began with Dr. David Jones, Associate Professor, Hospitality & Tourism Management San Francisco State University, College of Business, concerned about the lack of African American student enrollment in the Hospitality Management program at San Francisco State. So, in 2006, Dr. Jones and I began working on the program concept. Over time, I elicited the help of  Dr. Veronica Hunnicutt, currently, Dean of the Office of Student Affairs, City College of San Francisco, Janet Sim, Chair & Professor, Hospitality & Tourism Management at San Francisco State University,  Tannis Reinhertz, Department Chair, Culinary Arts & Hospitality Program, City College of San Francisco,  Emanuel Brueh, Assistant Director of Human Resources, Hilton San Francisco, Casey Neuburger, Director of Human Resources, InterContinental, Man Kim, Owner of Lori's Diner and FAZ of FAZ Restaurants, Perla Barrientos, Associate Director/CSL Director, Institute for Civic & Community Engagement/San Francisco State University College of Business, Darnisha Wright, Former Executive Operations Officer, Economic Opportunity Council of San Francisco,  Photographer Toni Brock, Mikael Wagner, Managing Director, Promotions West, Jackie Wright, President, Wright Now Enterprise, Cedric Brown, Managing Partner, Kapor Center for Social Impact, Larry Saxxon, Owner of Saxxon & Associates and others.

The need for the program was affirmed after reading that young black males are in a state of crisis and what they are calling a "national catastrophe" of African-American male achievement in a study released by the Council of the Great City Schools. Primed & Prepped vetted on the real-life needs of youth, and the culmination of strategic training has evolved to a course offered at the Bayview YMCA. Gina Former, District Vice President, Bayview YMCA, saw the importance of the program and its impact on the lives of young men, their families, and the community.

 There's A Chef in the House! Faz Visits the Bayview YMCA's New Kitchen

Gina Former, District VP Bayview YMCA & Faz Poursohi of Faz Restaurant

Faz inspecting equipment

Faz Poursohi is one of the first mentors and supporters of Primed & Prepped. Utilizing his engineering background and restauranteur experience gave consultation regarding equipment installation and proper utilization of the space. Within weeks after visiting the Bayview YMCA, Faz hired Robert Wright, 20 years of age, unemployed for two years. Robert had no restaurant experience and is now gainfully employed as a Busboy at Faz in Oakland. To learn more about Faz, visit http://fazrestaurants.com/.

Opportunity Knocks

    

Matthew Thomas, V.P. Marketing, Black Meetings & Tourism, Kelly Armstrong, Man Kim, Owner, Lori's Diner

Thanks to Man Kim, Matthew Thomas, and I enjoyed being his guest at the Union Square Business Improvement District's 4th Annual Luncheon. It provided a great networking opportunity for both of us.

  Thanks for tuning in, and I will be in touch with more updates soon!

Primed & Prepped: A Hospitality Management/Culinary Arts Mentoring and Job Training Program will be part of the solution to reducing these startling statistics: 1 in 6 black males between 15 and 25 are out of school, out of work, or incarcerated.

Kelly

++