Southern Smoke brings together top chefs for their three-day festival this weekend
Chris Shepherd and Chef Chad Houser with Cafe Momentum discuss their roles in changing communities for the better HOUSTON — Chris Shepherd‘s Southern Smoke Festival takes place this Friday through Sunday, with the country’s best chefs, live music, tastiest food, and fantastic wine, beer, and cocktails. The three-day event will raise funds and awareness for food […]
Chad Houser gives formerly incarcerated youths a path to stability
The Café Momentum model is spreading across the country from Dallas, offering job training and support to 15-19-year-olds Three years ago, Cameron Carver was 15 and coming out of the juvenile justice program in Nashville, Tenn., after being incarcerated. He needed to help provide for his family, he said. “But I didn’t know how to […]
Can Restaurants Revolutionize the Juvenile Justice System? This Dallas Chef Turned Nonprofit Leader Is Betting On It
BY SANDRA ENGELLAND • MAR 11, 2021 “My priority in social innovation must center around creating ideas for lasting change,” Chad Houser says. It’s been a busy year for the English lit major turned chef, restaurateur, and nonprofit founder—a winding path that prepared him for where he is today. There are no shortcuts, he says. Houser, the creator […]
Workers Paid to Help at Food Banks
By Dominga Gutierrez • Published March 25, 2020 Nonprofit organization, ‘Get Shift Done’, is helping displaced hospitality workers get paid to work at food banks and food distribution centers. “We’ll probably pay about 1,000 different people this week some amount of money,” Get Shift Done Co-Founder Patrick Brandt said. “We’re in no way replacing their income, but it […]
How Dallas Restaurants Are Giving Back to the Community During the Pandemic — And How You Can Help Them
It is especially difficult for Dallas restaurants right now. Yes, they can still deliver and offer take-out, even when the Shelter-In-Place order begins at midnight, but it’s still going to be tough. When adversity comes though, always “look for the helpers,” as Mr. Rogers would often say. And we’ve got plenty of helpers in Dallas. […]
NFL athletes support formerly-incarcerated youth at transformative Super Bowl dinner
As crowds gathered and athletes converged in Miami for the Super Bowl this weekend, some unlikely partners joined together for a unique dinner that has the potential to spark a national movement and inspire change within juvenile justice. In partnership with the Players Coalition and the NFL’s Inspire Change initiative, Stand Together hosted a pop-up […]
It’s Time to Rethink Juvenile Justice in America
It’s Time to Rethink Juvenile Justice in America BY MARK HOLDEN February 12, 2020 For years, the United States suffered under the weight of failed “tough-on-crime” policies, finally admitting defeat over the last decade to more policies that are smart on crime and soft on taxpayers. We have learned that rehabilitation and redemption can enhance […]
Cafe Momentum Celebrates First Graduates Thanks to Sharp, New Teacher
Café Momentum has been propelling teenagers to a better life since Chad Houser started the non-profit a few years ago. “Café Momentum started out as a series of pop up dinners until we opened our own brick and mortar location in January of 2015,” said Margaret Windham, chief operating and developing officer. “So, we have operated […]
Café Momentum’s Margaret Windham Gives Wayward Teens a Chance
Margaret Windham had nearly eight years’ experience working in the George W. Bush White House, three years’ experience as the vice president and director of marketing at Northern Trust in Dallas and four years’ experience as the senior director of individual giving at United Way. But when she joined the Café Momentum team in 2016, the veteran […]
Comcast NBCU Foundation Announces 2019 Project Innovation Winners
May 10, 2019 The Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation Announces 2019 Project Innovation Winners Comcast NBCUniversal is dedicated to supporting organizations that are creating positive change in our local communities. Through Project Innovation, the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal (NBC and Telemundo stations) and the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation recognize non-profits that are pioneering programs to […]
