Appetite For Change
- Primary Cause
- Food, Agriculture & Nutrition
- Secondary Cause
- Youth Development
Appetite For Change is a community-based, food-justice organization in North Minneapolis. Our mission is to use food as a tool to build health, wealth and social change.
Our programs include community cooking workshops, urban agriculture and organized food policy efforts. We train local youth in urban farming, food preparation and leadership, with a focus on providing career pathways to the food-service industry and beyond.
Appetite For Change also owns and operates Breaking Bread Café & Catering - a fast-casual restaurant serving healthy, global comfort food - and Kindred Kitchen - a rental commissary kitchen and food business incubator.
Appetite For Change
Youth Training & Opportunity Program
Our youth training and opportunity program is giving North Minneapolis young people ages 14-24 the opportunity to grow, cook and sell food in our community. Youth are trained in all areas of our organization: cooking, urban farming, food safety/sanitation, customer service, sales, entrepreneurship, community organizing and more. Not only are they learning these substantive life and work readiness skills, but they are also earning a wage and gaining soft skills necessary to increase social and emotional well-being.
Sound familiar? Maybe you saw the music video we created as the capstone to our 2016 program - "Grow Food". Haven't seen it? Check it out in the video section below!
Appetite For Change
In 2015 Appetite For Change engaged 31 youth, creating 21 jobs for those young people. We hosted or facilitated over 100 Community Cooks workshops, feeding 1332 people including 811 children under 18. We also supported 9 urban farms, producing over 5000 pounds of local fruits and vegetables.
After Community Cooks, 85% of participants reported increased confidence in cooking skills and 97% report knowledge increases about the relationship between the food system and their community. One community member served said "Thank you all for the information and service you provide to our community- may you reach the masses."
Appetite For Change
Appetite For Change is always open to connecting with volunteers who enjoy growing, cooking and eating delicious foods. We can use an extra set of hands at our cooking workshops, in the gardens, at the farmer's markets, or even in our cafe. If you are interested, visit our website www.appetiteforchangemn.org and fill our the interest form for volunteering at the bottom of any page. We look forward to breaking bread with you soon!
Want to help? Skill-based volunteers are needed in the following categories!
- Graphic Design
- Marketing
- Web Development
- Other
- Fundraising
- Evaluation
Appetite For Change
Suggested Donations
- The Teaspoon: sponsor one family to participate in a cooking workshop ($25.00)
- The Tablespoon: seeds to plant an entire urban farm site ($50.00)
- The Full Cup: a full day of training and employment for one youth ($100.00)
Funding Needs
Appetite For Change is doing great things, but we are growing really fast! We planned to serve 12 youth in our training and opportunity program in 2015, but ended up engaging 31 youth. Kids were sitting on the floor because we didn't have space for everyone!
Appetite For Change needs funding to expand our youth training and opportunity program to meet the demand in the community as well as to acquire additional space for our work. More funding for this programming allows us to engage and hire more young people in North Minneapolis.
