An Opportunity to Save “At Risk” High School Students
Throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, there are many high school districts
that offer Regional Occupation Programs (ROP). These programs are intended
to provide intervention and training for youths who may otherwise not complete
their high school education. But it has become increasingly clear that
most of the existing programs have not produced effective results in reducing
the teenage drop-out population. In the past year alone, there were approximately
47,000 dropouts in the State of California.
One of the reasons for this high drop-out rate, we believe, is the lack of a holistic approach to completing formal education while at the same time preparing for a viable skill in post high school employment. In these programs there is very little focus on the Culinary Arts, for example, largely because of the perception that training in areas such as this is cost prohibitive. The El Cajon Project, however, has largely solved this problem. The food service industry represents nearly 10% of California’s job market, too large an employment base to ignore, so we have formulated a program to address this area. We have garnered the support of the local business community and actually placed significant numbers of students in outstanding restaurants where they can get first-hand training from well-known chefs who care deeply about their community.
The El Cajon Project Offers Solutions…
The El Cajon Project provides the opportunity for “at-risk” high school students to get a second chance at school by introducing them to the culinary arts. Through training with “A” list restaurants, the students can receive high scool credits and learn basic culinary arts skills in a hands-on environment, while continuing to attend school. Equal emphasis is placed on completing core curriculum courses leading to graduation and learning a life-long skill.
Over the past six years, while the El Cajon project has been running on a “proof-of-concept” basis, we have already enlisted many of the Bay Area’s most prestigious restaurants for this training, including Spago, Post Trio, Chez TJ, Farallon, Lion and Compass and Seascape Resort, to name just a few. With only volunteer staff to assist us, we have successfully placed more than 200 17-19 year old’s from five Bay Area School districts in these and other restaurants and have had virtually no drop outs. We know that this formula works.
Success Benefits Everyone…
The El Cajon Project benefits School Districts, Students and Restaurants equally. Each group contributes to the success of the prgram and each group benefits from the other’s success. Now we would like to expand this program to other school districts and to service more at-risk teenagers. To do this will require more resources and we are solicitiing your help.
To learn more about how you can participate in this program, contact:
Betty Ewing ewing@elcajonproject.org (650) 575-8897