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Parolees cook up new career skills in culinary arts program

Siskiyou Daily News - 8/3/2021

Aug. 1—People on probation are getting a crash course in the culinary arts, helping them prepare for new careers in food services.

The program — a collaboration between Siskiyou County Probation and Dunsmuir Adult Education programs — teaches students about types of foods and their health benefits. It is taking place through the Siskiyou County Day Reporting Center in Yreka.

Once the class concludes, students receive their safe-serve food handlers' certificate. Those who complete the program become eligible for food service jobs through the probation department.

Weekly classes began July 9 in the unused portion of the Charlie Byrd Juvenile Detention Facility. Students learn how to safely operate professional-grade equipment in the facility's commercial kitchen, and proper cleaning and sanitation practices.

Another objective of the class is to teach good eating habits through cooking nutritious meals.

"My hope is to help (students) with taking care of themselves by learning proper techniques needed to purchase, prepare and enjoy serving — nutritious meals made from scratch," Dunsmuir High School culinary arts teacher Jeff Capps said.

This is a new program for Siskiyou County, with officials saying they believe it can play a positive role in helping those on probation learn skills and perhaps use these new found skills to find a job.

Traditionally, evidence-based curriculum has been a method used by the probation department to help reduce recidivism, said Chief Probation Officer Michael Coley. Recidivism is the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend. While evidence-based practices are scientifically proven to work there might be something else that will compliment services currently being utilized, he said, with the hope the cooking classes will provide a positive skill set for those they work with.

Combining resources with Dunsmuir Adult Education isn't just a pragmatic approach to reducing chances those on probation with commit more crimes, Coley said. It's also a chance for participants to experience something new, "something we hope they find joy in doing and, hopefully, offer them an opportunity they did not think was possible."

At the forefront of helping set the program is Day Reporting Center's behavioral health specialist Melinda "Mimi" Klepach.

Klepach said she believes allowing someone to develop a passion or hobby for something will give them hope for the future. Someone finding pleasure in cooking may be able to use it as a coping mechanism when dealing with past trauma, she said.

The course is a potentially life-changing to those she works with, Klepach adding that she "aspires to make a difference in somebody's life."

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