VOA教育报道2024--Cooking School Provides Hope for Future

Cooking School Provides Hope for Future

　　When Clarissa Haglid completed culinary school at the Delaware Food Bank last summer, it was the first time she had graduated from anything in her life.

　　Just a few years earlier, a goal like that did not seem within reach. In 2020, she was charged with armed robbery and later sentenced to prison. Haglid told VOA that she "lost everything," including the custody¹ of her children.

　　As she approached the end of her four-year prison sentence, she learned about a restaurant service training program available to people in jail. Haglid started attending culinary school classes at the Food Bank in Newark, Delaware, when she received permission to take part in the work-release program. Through the 14-week program, students learned cooking and life skills to prepare them for a job in the restaurant or hospitality industry.

　　Some of the students currently at Newark were incarcerated² like Haglid. Others are in substance abuse recovery programs or underemployed, meaning they have been out of the workforce³ for a long time, said Anna McDermott. She is the Food Bank's Chief Impact Officer.

　　Haglid and other students learned how to use knives in cooking, correct food preparation, and how to make the five foundational "mother" sauces and other skills. The program also teaches teamwork, work ethic⁴ and time management.

　　Those kinds of life skills, also called "soft skills," are taught to "make sure that folks are really familiar with what is expected of them in the workplace to maintain employment," McDermott said. "Getting a job is the easiest part, sometimes. It's maintaining that job."

　　At the end of the program, students are provided an entry-level job through the state restaurant association. Haglid is an apprentice⁵ at a nearby hotel, where she receives a paycheck and additional training as a cook.

　　"This program meant everything to me because...it was a way for me to get not my life back, but a life to begin with," Haglid said. Attending the culinary school started to "bridge the gap of restoration between me and my kids."

　　Haglid was able to attend the classes through a U.S. Department of Labor⁶ program called HOPES, Hospitality Opportunities for People Reentering Society. HOPES is operated through the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation (NRAEF), an industry group, which partners with community organizations like the Delaware Food Bank. The group's goal with HOPES is to get incarcerated people training and jobs in the restaurant industry.

　　Rob Gifford is president of the NRAEF. He said restaurant jobs help prevent recidivism⁷, the word for returning to prison. Gifford said food service jobs help people released from prison get work and a way to earn money as soon as possible.

　　Food service, he said, has a "relatively⁸ low barrier to entry," compared to other jobs that might require more training. Since prisons provide food service, there is already a place to provide training. And unlike other work, restaurant jobs often do not require college or even high school degrees.

　　"We're allowing these individuals to get on their feet quickly via the restaurant industry, but we're giving them ... transferable skills," Gifford said. "When they decide they're ready to move on to their next opportunity... they're positioned for success."

　　Employment for formerly⁹ imprisoned¹⁰ people is very important to prevent recidivism. The NRAEF says that formerly imprisoned people who maintained a job for the first year following their release had a 16 percent recidivism rate over three years. That is compared to a 52 percent recidivism rate for those that did not maintain employment. The unemployment rate for people formerly incarcerated is more than six times the national rate.

　　Gifford said about 1000 people have gone through the HOPES program nationwide, and two-thirds are currently employed.

　　Haglid, who said she is regaining¹¹ custody of her children, plans to continue her work in restaurants and one day lead a kitchen as a chef. She also said she wants to support the educational and job training programs that helped her find work. She said the programs are needed to prevent recidivism and provide hope for the future.

　　"When you realize you have the ability to learn, (it) almost creates a hunger in you where you want to absorb as much as you possibly can," Haglid said. "You begin to have a drive that you never had before."

　　Words in This Story

　　culinary –adj. related to cooking and the restaurant industry

　　custody — n. the legal right to take care of a child

　　incarcerated — adj. currently or previously¹² in prison

　　work ethic –n. the idea that work and employment is good, moral and gives people purpose and meaning

　　management –n. the ability to plan, organize or supervise something

　　hospitality — adj.(industry) related to the business of restaurants, hotels, travel and tourism

　　apprentice — n. a person who is in training for a trade which is learned from an established tradesman

　　restore — v. to bring a person back to a position or something back to a former condition

　　transferable skill — n. skills that can be used in everyday life or in any job

　　opportunity — n. a chance for a new job, project or activity

　　absorb –v. to take in or learn something

1 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

2 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

3 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

4 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

5 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 recidivism   

n.累犯，再犯

参考例句：

• Many areas and work units have experienced no recidivism at all for as long as ten or more years.不少地区和单位出现了连续几年、十几年没有发生重新犯罪的好典型。
• It needs to supplement the personality factor to confirm the ordinary recidivism.在普通累犯成立的条件中,应增加罪犯的人格因素。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

10 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

11 regaining   

复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• She was regaining consciousness now, but the fear was coming with her. 现在她正在恢发她的知觉，但是恐怖也就伴随着来了。
• She said briefly, regaining her will with a click. 她干脆地答道，又马上重新振作起精神来。

12 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。