HospitalityMaine, state prison system partner on training program

A woman serves food at a buffet to two men and another woman.

Photo / Maureen Milliken Irina, second from right, who is the Maine Women's Reentry Program in Windham, serves at HospitalityMaine Summit buffet lunch Tuesday, part of a training partnership between the organization and the state Department of Corrections.

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By Maureen Milliken

HospitalityMaine, the state’s nonprofit restaurant and hotel trade group, and the Maine Department of Corrections have partnered on a training program to prepare those incarcerated in the state's prisons for jobs in the hospitality industry.

The partnership was announced Tuesday at the HospitalityMaine summit, at Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley, where five participants in the program worked the buffet line. The program was described as a win-win by both hospitality officials and state corrections officials — a way to give those released from prison a productive path forward as well as a way to help with the shortage of hospitality workers in the state.

Through HospitalityMaine’s apprenticeship program, inmates can work as culinary apprentices while they prepare for their release, when they will be encouraged to continue their training working as line cooks at participating restaurants. Those working at Sugarloaf yesterday, with training from the resort's staff, are inmates at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston and Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center in Windham.

The hospitality association, which represents the food an lodging industry and has more than 1,000 members in the state, is the first association to partner with the Department of Corrections to make career opportunities available to inmates, according to those involved.

“We know how to reduce recidivism,” said Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty in a Wednesday news release announcing the partnership. “Education, job training, support services and stigma reduction. That’s exactly what this partnership is all about.”

At Tuesday's conference, he said, "The primary factor ensuring successful transition back into the community [for those being released from prison] is housing and employment.

"We've all fallen short, we've all asked for forgiveness and we all believe in redemption, when it applies to us," he said. He said hiring individuals from the program will help three generations — the parents of the person hired, the people themselves and their children. "If they don't have employment, how can they be good dads and good moms?

"This partnership isn’t about taking a chance on someone, it’s about standing beside someone worthy of redemption," he said. "We applaud HospitalityMaine and all those associated with the hospitality industry in Maine. You recognize everyone has a role to play, each one of us has the ability to be of value.”

'A real step forward'

There are 1 million open jobs in the hospitality industry across the nation, and thousands in Maine.

“So much of this has been talked about,” said Terry Hayes, the association’s director of workforce development, who launched the hospitality apprenticeship program in March.“This population needs meaningful, living-wage employment and our members need a fresh source of talent. Our collaboration with DOC is a real step forward toward solving our state-wide workforce needs.”

DOC Deputy Commissioner Ryan Thornell said in Wednesday's release that the department is working with the Department of Labor to track employment post release, "something that hasn’t been done before in Maine.”

'An unrealized dream'

HospitalityMaine proposed the program to the Department of Corrections after HospitalityMaine CEO Steve Hewins met Texas chef and restaurant owner Chad Houser and learned about what he was doing in Dallas.

Houser, who gave Tuesday's keynote speech, owns Cafe Momentum, which is staffed by residents of that state's youth incarceration program. The restaurant opened in January 2015 and since has been named one of the top restaurants in Dallas. While the state recidivism rate is 50%, the rate for the 800 young men and women, between the ages of 15 and 19, who have worked there is 15.2%, he said. The state has saved an estimated $34 million in tax money with the lower rate, Houser said.

He said the participants have all also achieved academically.

He told those at the conference, "You've changed five lives," by taking part in that day's lunch.

Irina, one of the servers, said before the lunch began that the program opened up "an unrealized dream" for her. She's already got a job, working at David's 388 in South Portland.

Dustin, another one of the servers said that the program has opened up a new opportunity for him for when he's released from Mountain View. Previously, he'd done odd jobs and worked in construction. "Mostly working for myself," he said.

He said that he'll do whatever restaurant job is available "for whoever decides to take me on."

Tuesday's was the second workforce training announcement made a that conference. Monday, it was announced that a grant from the Maine Community College System will allow 125 students to take part in a culinary and lodging apprenticeship program, tuition-free.