National Expansion
Cafe Momentum is growing
We’re changing outcomes one community at a time
Our impact
Real communities nourish each other
We aim to transform the lives of justice-involved youth nationwide through the Momentum model and its ecosystem of support. To do that, we’re working to build more Café Momentum restaurants and programs across the country to offer living wages, culinary job training and holistic support to young people who have gone through the system.
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Shifting the model for juvenile justice in the U.S. could save between $8 to $21 billion per year!
In addition to our restaurant and programming, we’re working to inspire change in the juvenile justice system itself — moving away from an apparatus that has historically targeted and incarcerated youth of color, and moving it toward a focus on young people’s potential. Part of achieving our goal is to establish 8 brick and mortar locations across America by 2030, with 10 by 2035.
This will create a national network of social enterprise restaurants that serve justice-involved youth and demonstrate proof of concept. The Dallas Flagship is our primary training site, supporting program consistency and operational excellence through in-depth training, standard operating procedures and curated national convenings.
Expansion Process
We continuously explore and vet prospective markets, with two or three locations selected annually. Suggestions for new markets may come from team members, market contacts, funders, supporters, board members or community members.
In deciding whether to enter a new market, the Café Momentum team evaluates against the following criteria:
- Funding
- Justice-involved youth population
- Juvenile justice at a city and state level
- Community and workforce
- The market
Launch Committees
A critical part of our expansion process is the establishment of local “launch committees” in markets with viable opportunities. The launch committee works alongside our team to raise the capital needed to establish the program, build programmatic partnerships, advocate for our model in the community and provide guidance on hiring the initial team.
To learn more about joining current launch committees in Houston, Denver or Baltimore, please contact Jessica Metcalf, National Vice President, Development.
Inquire About a New Location
If you would like to learn more about our expansion or recommend a location for expansion, please complete the form below.