All Youth Deserve To Dream
We create opportunities for justice-involved youth through an ever-expanding network of award-winning restaurants and training programs. Youth, ages 15–19, gain industry skills and a strong support system. Restaurants alone can’t transform the juvenile justice system, but they can reshape communities and futures—one meal, one person at a time.
Learn more about our model
Our Impact
Our justice system can be very messy, especially when it comes to the way it works (or doesn’t) for young people.
Despite reforms, youth incarceration remains a critical issue in the United States, which continues to have the highest youth confinement rates among developed nations. As of the most recent data, approximately 36,500 youth under age 18 are detained in juvenile facilities on any given day, a significant decrease from prior years. However, disparities and systemic challenges persist. Around 200 children under age 12 are confined annually, and some youth are still held in adult facilities, despite reforms aimed at reducing this practice.
Our Mission
Café Momentum's mission is to transform young lives by equipping our community’s justice-involved youth with life skills, education and employment opportunities to help them achieve their full potential.
Transforming Lives
A Decade of Hope, Growth and Impact
For 10 years, Café Momentum has empowered justice-involved youth to dream big, rewrite their stories and build brighter futures. With over 1,200 lives transformed, our work proves the power of community and opportunity.
Watch Tristyn and Chad’s story and see how your support fuels the next chapter.
10 Years of Momentum: A Bold New Vision
Today marks a momentous milestone for Café Momentum: 10 years of transforming lives, breaking down stigma and proving what’s possible when we invest in opportunity for our youth.
10 Years of Cafe Momentum
Events
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June 8, 2025 | Dallas
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August 10, 2025 | Dallas
In the News
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May 12, 2025 | Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Pittsburgh
5 Questions With Chad Houser on culinary change, community, and second chances.
We’re excited to share that our founder and CEO, Chad Houser, was recently featured in High Five—a storytelling series created by Brené Brown. Brené is a research professor, six-time #1 New York Times bestselling author, the host of two award-winning podcasts and one of the most influential voices on courage, vulnerability and leadership today. Her […]
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April 17, 2025 | Pittsburgh
Cafe Momentum’s Plating with a Purpose brings guest chefs into downtown nonprofit’s kitchen
Cafe Momentum, a nonprofit restaurant that provides workforce development opportunities for incarcerated juveniles, has launched a new event series that brings in guest chefs serving specialty dinners. The first event was led by Cory Hughes, the chef of North Side restaurant Fig and Ash and former chef at Google. Hughes also has been heavily involved […]
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April 16, 2025 | Pittsburgh
Citizens awards grants to two Pittsburgh small businesses and nine nonprofits
One of the region’s largest banks has announced Pittsburgh-area recipients of two different grant programs. Citizens recognized two local small businesses among 25 across its footprint that are winners of its 8th-annual Small Business Community Champion Awards. It also awarded $120,400 in financial education grants and ongoing volunteer support to nine western Pennsylvania nonprofits as […]
Our manifesto
Dreams are the ink with which we write our stories
We learn to dream the moment we take our first steps: We’re told we can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone. That we’re limited only by what we dare to imagine, and how hard we’re willing to work for it. But for some of us, there are limits. Some of us don’t get to write our own stories.
Read full manifesto
