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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August 10, 2025 | Dallas
In the News
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June 11, 2025 | Atlanta
More Than a Meal: How One Restaurant Chain is Redefining Opportunity for Justice-Involved Youth
For many young people, the path to opportunity is full of obstacles. For justice-involved youth, these challenges can be even greater, limiting access to education, employment and the stability needed to build a successful future. At Café Momentum, a nonprofit network of award-winning restaurants and training programs, these obstacles are transformed into pathways toward brighter possibilities. […]
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June 9, 2025 | Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Pittsburgh
Today Show:How This Café in Atlanta Is Serving up Second Chances
At Café Momentum in Atlanta, Georgia, teens who were once caught up in the criminal justice system are getting a second chance to serve the community in the restaurant — and in life — through an internship program created by award-winning chef Chad Houser. The teens learn about every role in the business while also […]
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June 2, 2025 | Dallas
James Beard Foundation Honors Cafe Momentum Founder Chad Houser
In April, the renowned James Beard Foundation’s Achievement Awards committee announced Chad Houser, Founder of Café Momentum, as the 2025 Humanitarian of The Year. The award is given to “an individual or organization working in the realm of food who has given selflessly and worked tirelessly to better the lives of others and society at […]
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
