The Jacques Pepin Foundation supports community kitchens that offer free life skills and culinary training to adults with high barriers to employment, including previous incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse issues, low skill and education attainment and lack of work history.
Visit The Jacques Pepin Foundation website.
The JPF strongly believes in the power of culinary education to improve lives and strengthen communities. Thanks to generous support, and the continued growth of the membership program, the JPF granted 16 organizations nationwide, expanded educational culinary video output, and increased our investment in curricular development. Thank you for helping us advance Jacques’ love of culinary arts and education by supporting the teaching of culinary skills through various channels to many communities.
Learn more about the Foundation’s mission, vision and goals.
Below: a photo gallery of Jacques Pepin Foundation people and events.
The Jacques Pepin Foundation’s Vision
Enriching lives and strengthening communities through the power of culinary education.
The Jacques Pepin Foundation’s Mission
The Jacques Pépin Foundation promotes Jacques’ generosity and passion for cooking by supporting individuals that seek, and organizations that create pathways to success through culinary professionalism, skills and technique.
The Power of Culinary Education
The Foundation believes that culinary education and the food service industry can provide opportunities and hope for individuals who feel excluded from the workforce. With commitment and a relatively small amount of training, culinary training can provide confidence, pathways to better health, employment and independence.
The Jacques Pepin Foundation’s Work
As the most trusted name in culinary education, the Foundation believes it is uniquely qualified to advance culinary training for our neediest, willing citizens.
What The Foundation Sees
• Millions of people are unemployed with no specific skills for entering the workforce
• There is a desperate shortage of workers in the food service industry
• Education beyond high school takes many forms. Skills and technique training in the culinary arts provides access to jobs
• Culinary skills training improves not only employability, but self-reliance, confidence and health
What The Foundation Does
• The JPF is committed to supporting the teaching of culinary skills for employment
• The Foundation works to improve and expand culinary training through community-based organizations
• The Foundation provides curricular materials such as cookbooks and technique videos from the Pépin library
• The Foundation assists in fund-raising efforts to increase visibility and sustainability of community kitchens
• The Foundation brokers relationships between equipment manufacturers and education providers
• The Foundation helps organizations join networks such as Catalyst Kitchens to share experiences and best practices
• The Foundation offers grants in support of Community Based Culinary Training Programs
