Our Mission
Through experiential learning in culinary arts, hospitality, and entrepreneurship, we prepare and empower our students to continue their education and cultivate sustainable careers.
Our Values
COMMUNITY
We define community as the people and groups who share our values and are committed to supporting our mission.
We promote community by building partnerships and programs that align with our core values, which honor diversity, inclusion, enrichment, and education.
EMPOWERMENT
We define empowerment as the act of emphasizing the strength of our community to take leadership roles in creating a world that values them.
We promote empowerment by centering and amplifying the voices of our students so that they know that they are valued and heard.
EQUITY
We define equity as the act of providing each of our students with what they personally need to thrive, based on where they are and where they want to go.
We promote equity by treating our community with respect and by providing fair access to opportunity, networks, resources, and supports.
INTEGRITY
We define integrity as the uncompromising willingness to put our values above all else.
We promote integrity by ensuring that all opportunities we pursue and actions we take authentically embody every single one of our core values.
JOY
We define joy as the shared positive feeling when our students are championed and valued by an exuberant and excited community of advocates.
We promote joy by creating opportunities for our community to support and uplift each other.
Who Are Our Students?
97%
of students we work with identify as BIPOC
1.25
average commute time in hours for our students
85%
of our students live below the poverty line
500
average hours students spend in FEF programs
90%
average graduation rate of our partner schools
860
students enrolled in FEF programs
100%
of job training graduates hired since 2017
5
boroughs represented by our students
Where Our
Students Live
Our students come from all five boroughs of New York City, some traveling more than to two hours each direction to get to school.
Alumni Stories
Lazarus Lynch
Lazarus honors his late father's southern cooking with his internationally acclaimed brand "Son of a Southern Chef." Lazarus is a best-selling cookbook author, TV show host, regular guest on major TV networks, musician, and artist.
Sofia Mendoza
Sofia always knew that because she was a DREAMer, winning scholarships would be the only way for her to attend college. After winning a full-tuition scholarship to CINY at Monroe College, Sofia worked her way up in Front of House positions at world-renowned restaurants including Eleven Madison Park, the Modern, and Daniel.
Hezekiah DaCosta
After training at the elite Johnson & Wales University, Hezekiah climbed the ladder throughout the hospitality industry at some of the finest restaurants, inspiring him to create his own catering company ChefnTailor. Since then he has catered for A-list clients such as, DaBaby, Jadakiss, The Patriots, and many more.
Our Team
Dr. Danielle Beam
Executive Director
Kat Taveras
Program Director
Winnie Arzu
Program Manager
Gaby Perez
Culinary Coordinator
Kyle Mackinnon
Program Coordinator
Kittrell Breland
Director of Postsecondary Success
Our Board of Directors
-
NAN SHIPLEY
Board Co-Chair & Founder of Shipley Realty
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SEAN FEENEY
Board Co-Chair & Co-Founder, Grovehouse
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GIOVANNI COLAVITA
President & CEO, Colavita USA
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DANA COWIN
Founder, Speaking Broadly
-
WENDY CHEN
Head of Capital Markets Americas, Fosun Group
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JEHAN ILAHI
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
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QUESTLOVE
Musician, Author, Foodie
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DEB PUCHALLA
Senior VP, Digital Programming and Video, Food Network, Genius Kitchen & Cooking Channel
-
ALEXIS ROSENZWEIG
Talent and Brand Manager, Producer, Quest Loves Food, Randy Watson
-
ERICA D'SILVA
Head of Global Vendor Strategy, LinkedIn
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SASHA AHUJA
Strategic Financial Consulting
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KERRY DIAMOND
Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Cherry Bombe
-
JOHN MEADOW
Founder & President of LDV Hospitality Group
Our Junior Board
Dana Beninati
Annie Blumenfeld
Vincent Capobianco
Jo Chang
Kurt Chessman
Hezekiah DaCosta
Courtney Dawson
Victoria Duran
Fouad ElAmir
Rebecca Gildiner
Tiffany Iung
Jazmin Johnson
Victoria Jordan
Alex Kean
Yoni Kintzer
Maya Land
Brian Lindo
Amber Luan
Diana Manalang
Jonathan Moldenhauer
Danielle S. Mooney
Sierra Murray
Melissa Patel
Nikhil Perincherry
Natasha Pickowicz
Gabbie Reade
Yajaira Saavedra-mendez
Sakari Smithwick
Thomas Wheet
Alan Zurita
Ashley Lonsdale
Industry Advisory Board member Chef Tom Colicchio with Students
Industry Advisory Board
Carla Hall (Chair)
Danielle Alex
Sunny Anderson
Mike Anthony
Greg Baxtrom
Justin Bazdarich
Dana Beninati
Rob Bleifer
Eric Bromberg
Andrew Carmellini
Sue Chan
Adrienne Cheatham
Lena Ciardullo
Amanda Cohen
Tom Colicchio
Frank Costantino
Lawrence Covitt
Suzanne Cupps
Keith Cohen
Ina Garten
Michelle Gauthier
Andrew Gold
Ingrid Hoffmann
Jason Hua
Behzad Jamshidi
Sicily Sierra Johnson
Elizabeth Karmel
Dan Kluger
Mark Ladner
Bobbie Lloyd
Christa Lynch
Lazarus Lynch
Daisy Martinez
Hemant Mathur
John Meadow
Gaby Melian
Jonah Miller
Liz Neumark
Nini Nguyen
Kwame Onwuachi
Jason Pfeifer
Natasha Pickowicz
Joe Quintana
Anthony Ricco
Missy Robbins
Surbhi Sahni
Aaron Sanchez
Chris Santos
Amy Stevenson
Bill Telepan
Steve Tenedios
Jamie Tiampo
Christina Tosi
Miguel Trinidad
Paola Velez
Jessica Weiss
Melba Wilson
Brian Yazzie (Yazzie the Chef)
Stephen Yen
Mike Surabian
Our Impact Partners
While it takes thousands of you to make our work possible, a few of our partners have stepped up to the plate in extraordinary ways. These impact partners support our work with a significant financial commitment, direct program involvement, and are ambassadors of our work.
Where We Work
Food & Finance High School
525 W 50th Street, NY, NY 10019
High School of Hospitality Management
525 W 50th Street, NY, NY 10019
Brooklyn STEAM Center
141 Flushing Avenue Building 77 | Suite 301, Brooklyn, NY 11205