Matika Kelly was overjoyed after peeping into the Jack E. Miller Hospitality Studies Center at St. Louis Community College – Forest Park last Tuesday.
“I got excited when I saw my daughter and my fiancé,” Kelly said of 6-year-old, Tiani Redmond, and Jonathan Edwards. Kelly said her daughter’s eyes lit up when she saw her mother donning her chef’s hat and garb.
Edwards and Tiani came out to support Kelly who, along with 13 other women, graduated from ARCHS’ Culinary Institute’s intensive eight-week culinary arts program. It is a Nontraditional Occupation for Women Training Program, with “nontraditional” defined as an occupation where women represent less than 25 percent of the workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
ARCHS partners with the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis, Employment Connection and St. Louis Community College to provide the program. Participants have been convicted of non-sexual offenses and are currently under state or federal supervision with probation and parole officers in St. Louis city or county.
It is a concept that began in a small conference room nearly three years ago, said ARCHS CEO Wendell E. Kimbrough.
“There’s nothing more gratifying than seeing the fruition,” Kimbrough said of the program’s second graduating class.
He remarked that some of the women have already landed jobs, but it is expected that all the graduates will find employment in the hospitality industry. The day before the graduation ceremony, Kelly mentioned that she had a job interview at Washington University in St. Louis for a food service position.
When her probation officer recommended she enroll in the program, Kelly said it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Money was hard to come by, bills were piling up, her utilities were being disconnected, and she had gone days without eating.
“I had been beaten up by life, and I didn’t know what else to do,” she said.
With her life now headed in a different direction, Kelly said she was ecstatic that her daughter had an opportunity to see her graduate. She will miss the group of women she has grown to call “my family,” particularly her classmate Jami Hobbs.
“I know sometimes us being convicted felons, we get frowned upon from society,” Hobbs said. “But, we encourage each other and do whatever we can to pick each other up.”
Hobbs was released from prison several months ago after serving three years for forgery.
“Addiction is addiction. It doesn’t necessarily have to be drugs or alcohol,” Hobbs said. “My addiction was money.”
Hobbs fought back tears as she spoke of Robin Davis, a woman who
encouraged and uplifted Hobbs as she transitioned back into society.
“She needed support,” said Davis, who attended the graduation ceremony. “She needed to know that someone had her back.”
Davis, an employment and life skills specialist at the Center for Women in Transition, helped Hobbs obtain transitional housing upon her release. She also recommended that Hobbs enroll in the culinary arts program after discovering her desire to be a chef. Davis already knew of the program’s success rate.
Hobbs has been incarcerated several times before, but said this is the longest she has gone without being locked up. She realized that she wanted more out of life for herself and, after an honest self-assessment, she made a commitment to change.
“I have a past. I’ve messed up,” Hobbs said. “But, don’t judge me by my past. Judge me on what I’m doing with my future.”
Follow this reporter on Twitter: @Bridjes O’Neil.
