The NFL wants to draw more attention to youth recidivism even as some major cities have lost funding devoted to keeping troubled teens out of correctional institutions.
Current and former NFL players have enjoyed meals from Café Momentum — a culinary training program non-profit staffed by at-risk teens and have also supported the program’s mission to transform the lives of youth involved in the justice system and prevent reincarceration. Players interacted with the teens in February just before Super Bowl LVII and again in April a day before the NFL draft, as Café Momentum teens catered a private dinner for some players attending draft activities in Kansas City and provided snacks for players and the public who attended Super Bowl events in Arizona.
“Together with its players, the NFL is committed to working with non-profit organizations nationwide to advance social justice and reduce barriers to opportunity,” said Clare Graff, the NFL’s Vice President of Social Responsibility & Community Affairs. “Several of our partners in the criminal justice reform space focus on recidivism, and we are proud to support their critical work to provide support and career opportunities to justice-impacted individuals.”
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Café Momentum aims to reduce teen recidivism by offering juvenile offenders a second chance in life by using culinary training and providing them with education, life skills and employment opportunities through the restaurant industry. Café Momentum participants work in a restaurant setting for about a year and learn everything from dishwashing and bussing tables to prep cooking and serving as a host. The nonprofit has restaurants in Dallas and Pittsburgh.
Chad Hauser, a Texas chef, opened Café Momentum’s flagship in Dallas in 2015 after he volunteered years prior to coach eight young men at a detention facility for an ice cream competition in Dallas. The experience helped one young man in particular, Hauser said.
“I realized that for both of us our lives were dictated by choices that were made for us before we were born,” he said. “The only thing I knew to do was to volunteer more time in the juvenile department and listen and hear the staff use two words over and over again: consistency and stability.”
The NFL-Café Momentum relationship started prior to this year’s event. The teens catered a pre-draft meal for players just before the 2019 draft. Former NFL MVP Shaun Alexander said he remembers how impactful the meals have been for players.
“We don’t pass out a collection plate, but there’s definitely people that get inspired,” Alexander said.
Alexander said the catered events have been so successful that draft event attendees have asked how they can replicate the Café Momentum model in their city. Others asked how they could further help the teens who provided the meals.
“Some of it is introducing us to other people whether it’s in the judicial system, whether it’s people that want to be donators, or it’s people that have jobs for these kids when they do come out (of the program),” Alexander said.
Alexander is a member of the social justice nonprofit the Players Coalition and an ambassador for the nonprofit Stand Together Foundation. He helped arrange Café Momentum’s activities during the NFL draft events.
Alexander and Hauser and others said they hope Café Momentum will grow to other U.S. cities in the coming years.
Next Week: Change in the criminal Justice System.
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