The Franklin Field Youth Leadership Project (FFYLP) is an eight-week vocational catering program designed to meet the needs of impoverished, at-risk youth living in the Franklin Field Public Housing Development in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The program will target promising youth who have graduated from NAFI's Youth and Police Initiative training program - a separately funded program in Franklin Field that matches youth with local police officers to open communication and teach de-escalation skills. These youth will enroll in NAFI's Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) and as part of that curriculum, will have the opportunity to take part in the FFYLP catering program as their experiential education and service requirement. The FFYLP will bring youth into the kitchen (located in the Franklin Field Elderly Center) with a trained vocational instructor two hours a week for eight weeks. During that time, they will learn about and practice the preparation of a number of foods using varying cooking styles. Upon completion of the program, youth will be able to join a profit sharing catering venture made up of and led by their peers who have also completed the program. The group offers monthly, catered dinners to the residents of Franklin Field, will work to establish catering jobs outside of the development and all profits are split among the youth. In addition, the program has the support of local restaurants that will become part of a job bank for program graduates. The organization hopes to transition these youth from this vocational service project into part-time, entry-level jobs in the food service industry. The FFYLP follows best practices and teaches valuable life skills designed to increase resiliency and reduce the risk factors present in these youth's lives. Risk factors include poor nutrition, truancy, delinquency, and gang involvement. NAFI strives to offset these factors by developing job readiness skills in the food industry and life skills in the areas of financial literacy, nutrition, food sanitation, team-work, accountability and responsibility. Each step of the process will be documented and chronicle the development of a youth-driven profit sharing venture from its inception to a full year of activity.

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