Nourishing Metropolis

Background
In urban areas such as Metropolis there is a significant number of homeless families.
Multiple factors contribute to poor nutrition in this population: Lack of adequate cooking
facilities, lack of appropriate food storage, insufficient funds, and prolonged
unemployment. Knowing these factors contribute to the disparity of the homeless
population, and by proxy their children, this program would serve: to enable parents with
children enrolled in local schools to acquire in-house job skills, learn valuable nutrition
information pertinent to child and adult health, develop a facility where meals will be
administered, and serve as a resource center that can provide in house utilities and
connect participants to other helpful local assistance programs.

Target Population
Although all homeless parents can apply to this program and will be considered, this
programs target population gives priority to homeless single parents, as these families
would have reduced incomes and thus require more resources and help accessing
nutritious meals for their children. The requirements for participants are:

- Have children enrolled in local schools and are eligible for free and reduced
lunch
- Be capable of operating in a customer service environment
- Be a part of a homeless or transient family
- Legal Status to work in the state of California
- Speak, read and write in English

Objectives
This program is intended to provide immediate and long-term food accessibility for
transient families, on site every day of the week, to help improve and prevent
malnutrition. The reasoning behind this proposal is based on the likelihood that
participants may not have regular access to such utilities, which create barriers to health
and the acquisition of work. By providing supplementation and education, participants
will garner the knowledge to create nutrient dense, iron-rich, age appropriate meals high
in fiber and protein. By providing these services, the program increases the likelihood of
a transient family becoming financially stable while learning proper nutrition education
and receiving meals to immediately improve the nutriture of participants and their
children. Overall, the program would seek to improve and monitor: BMIs, child growth
curves, reported familial connection with other outside assistance programs, caregivers
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acquisition of job skills as servers and/or managers, and the caregivers ability to find
employment at living wages.

Intervention
Facility

The project will rent an existing restaurant with kitchen equipment, liquor license, and
upper residential space. The upper area will be, at minimum, a three bedroom, two full
bath apartment with laundry. Clients will not be able to live in this limited space, but it
will be available for their bathing and laundry needs. This will also provide space for
childcare and a resource office. The restaurant will be renovated as required to serve as
a midscale full service establishment. Beer and wine will be served. During the day,
Monday through Thursday, the restaurant will be closed to the public and be used for
client education and meal preparation. The restaurant will be open to the public for
brunch on Friday through Sunday, and for dinner seven days a week.

General Client Services

The project manager will do outreach and serve as a resource specialist to help clients
connect with outside assistance services. Specifically, clients will be assisted to obtain
any/all of the following: identification documents, government-provided cell phone,
childrens school enrollment, and childrens free school breakfast and lunch. They will
also be directed to other necessary services they may be eligible for, such as shelters,
GED or high school completion programs, medical coverage, cash assistance, or child
support. There will be limited transportation assistance in the form of bus vouchers or
rides to and from designated locations. Clients will also be assisted to establish a bank
account and to set up automatic transfers to create an apartment fund.

The project manager and the child care specialist will provide client education in the
following: introduction to the program, parenting/child development basics, and
essential nutrition and home food preparation skills. Children will also be given age-
appropriate nutrition and food preparation education. Clients may spend two or more
weeks completing the introductory education modules. These modules will be offered
on a rotating basis, during hours while children are in school. If a client must miss a day
for legitimate reasons (such as illness, a required meeting at Social Services, a part
time job, etc), they can simply continue with the next module and complete the missed
one the next time it is offered. This will also allow them time to demonstrate that they
meet the program qualifications. They may need to acquire documents, enroll children
in school, etc. Once clients complete this process, they can begin job training.
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Nutrition

Children will receive free breakfast and lunch at school. The program will provide client
families with all other necessary meals. Whenever clients are present for training or use
of resources, they will be able to eat prepared meals onsite. Nonperishable meals will
be sent with clients for meal-times away from the facility. Meals will be nutrient dense,
include fresh produce, and be designed with particular concern for adequate provision
of protein and iron.

Job Training and Employment Assistance

Trainees will take the ServSafe Food Handler Certification and receive basic wait staff
training. This module will take approximately two days. Then they can begin paid on-
the-job training. To encourage clients to complete manager training, all positions will be
paid the same: minimum wage plus tips. Tips will be pooled, split according to hours
worked and distributed in paychecks. Clients who do well on the job and who wish to
move on to management training will be rotated through management training modules
including basic kitchen operations, ServSafe Food Safety for Managers program and
certification, cash balance and banking, customer service skills for managers, staff
management, ordering, etc. On the job training will transition from serving to working
with the manager, matre d'htel, and finally assistant manager. Manager training will
take approximately 6 to 8 weeks.

After they have completed training, clients will receive a letter of recommendation and a
program completion certificate. The resource specialist will place clients in employment
whenever possible, and will assist them with all job search needs. Graduates will be
encouraged to work part time at the restaurant to obtain additional experience, for up to
three months.

Timeline
July 2017 through Dec. 2017: acquire and rent property, renovation and repairs,
inspections, purchase capital equipment and office equipment / other necessities,
solidify training / education plan, advertising, hiring process and selection process of
candidates near the end of this period.

Jan. 2018 through Dec. 2018: Program begins Jan. Open restaurant and begin
education and nutrition activities. Assess program at end of March, end of June, and at
end of year.

Jan. 2019 through Dec. 2019: June - Reassess. Seek additional funding. Dec. -
Reassess.
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Jan. 2020 through June 2020: Begin winding down program if necessary, final
assessment.

Budget

(Initial/Year 1, Year 2, Year 3)

1. Rent: Restaurant with kitchen equipment and additional living space ($144,000,
$144,000, $144,000)
2. Renovation / repairs: To create a midscale environment ($100,000, $20,000,
$20,000)
3. Capital equipment / equipment repair, kitchenware ($75,000, $15,000,
$15,000)
4. Computers, office equipment, supplies ($10,000, $5000, $2500)
5. Payroll (mid-Year 1 start date) ($215,000, $430,000, $430,000)
6. Workers compensation (mid-Year 1 start date) ($7500, $15,000, $15,000)
7. Training, education, certification costs (mid-Year 1 start date) ($40,000,
$80,000, $80,000)
8. Uniforms and related necessities (mid-Year 1 start date) ($5000, $10,000,
$10,000)
9. Van; van maintenance, transportation costs (mid-Year 1 start date) ($50,000,
$2500, $2500)
10. Electrical / Gas (mid-Year 1 start date) ($20,000, $40,000, $40,000)
11. Cost of Sales (Food and Beverage) (mid-Year 1 start) ($200,000, $200,000,
$100,000)
12. Client meals (mid-Year 1 start) ($12,500, $25,000, $25,000)
13. Serviceware, menus ($10,000)
14. Advertising ($10,000, $5000, $2500)
15. Property Insurance ($30,000, $30,000, $30,000)
16. Additional ($70,000, $35,000, $17,500)

Total: $2,989,500

Outcome Monitoring
Short Term

All families upon acceptance into the program will have their initial height and weight
taken and BMI calculated. For children, their initial measurements will be recorded in
order to plot their stature for age and weight/BMI for age on CDC growth charts in order
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to inform the parent(s) about their initial growth status and the severity of malnutrition, if
existing. Along with the growth charts, the families will be asked to record their normal
daily food intake as well as their diet recall. Once the initial assessments are completed
and documented, weekly surveys will be taken that include number of meals they ate
last week, and servings during the past week of iron-rich foods and protein rich foods.
For the families that decide to participate longer, every 2 weeks, the children and adults
will have their weight re-measured and BMI recalculated. The children will also have
their height re-measured and growth charts plotted to ensure that they are maintaining
or improve their growth status and health.

Long Term

For the families that decide to stay for longer than 2-3 weeks and participate in the
education classes and employment trainings, their weekly food assessments and
biweekly anthropometric assessments will continue to update and monitor their nutrition
status and ensure proper food intake. After the adults participate/complete their class or
job training and leave the program, the participants will complete a survey that
quantifies attainment of nutrition knowledge and program satisfaction level. Completed
training and graduation rates will be recorded for office use as well as for government
use. Follow-up information will be received through government provided phones
monthly during the first year and then annually thereafter to monitor lasting effects on:
food intake, long term nutrition knowledge, economic standing, job attainment and type
of job attained.

Sustainability Plan
The program environment is meant to be highly supportive and structured to meet the
needs of families in very difficult situations. Each stage offers additional layers of
benefits that are designed to improve participants opportunity to succeed and move on
to a more stable situation. Extensive job search assistance will facilitate the final
transition out of this highly supportive environment and into the job market. Clients can
continue to receive free childcare in exchange for volunteer childcare hours, if space is
available. The resource specialist will also continue to be available to help with their
needs.

Once they leave the program, the participants that stay short term will apply their
knowledge from their experience into healthy ingredient choices and meal planning to
ensure that every member of the family maintain good health and nutrition status.
Participants that gain career skills will eventually get job security and income. With both
income generated and nutrition knowledge from the programs classes, they can then
consistently afford and produce nutritious meals and prevent future malnourishment and
food inaccessibility. Even if the program is no longer available, many of the clients will
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have already secured food and income stability and be autonomous enough to not rely
on any of the programs features.

If this project is not able to secure renewal funding by six months before the end date,
the program will begin wrapping up. The last cohort of clients will begin with enough
time to be fully trained and have up to approximately four months of experience before
the doors close. Because they will be the last cohort, the program can adjust to get all
their training in faster so that they can have this extra time to earn money, gain
experience, and seek employment. This should ensure that they are able to transition
without the additional transitional benefits that earlier cohorts received.