ALDEN, N.Y. – An Erie County Sheriff’s Office PILOT program – in partnership with SUNY Buffalo State and Peaceprints WNY – has proved successful as eight Incarcerated Individuals at the Erie County Correctional Facility have graduated from the Training in Hospitality for Returning Individuals are Valued Employees (THRIVE) Pipeline Program.
The THRIVE Program, which falls under the umbrella of the award-winning Project Blue collaboration between the Erie County Sheriff’s Office and Peaceprints WNY, consists of 15 sessions in which Incarcerated Individuals learn culinary and hospitality skills.
“What is different about this program, everybody wants to be involved with this,” said Correctional Officer Thomas Bollman, a Community Reintegration Officer with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s not people coming down here just to get off the block. They want to do this.”
The Incarcerated Individuals learned under the direction of Don Schmitter, an Instructor, Executive Chef and Culinary Lab Coordinator at SUNY Buffalo State.
“It surprised me how well they did,” Schmitter said. “I wasn’t sure what kind of reception I was going to get and how interested they would be. That’s why it has blown me away.”
The participants also have a chance to build their resumes and earn their ServSafe certification, demonstrating proficiency in sanitation skills.
Schmitter said the program has been in the works for about a year and a half. Plans are already in development for the next cohort of Incarcerated Individuals.
“I think we already have a high demand,” the chef said.
The initiative culminated in a banquet on Thursday, August 1st. The menu included scallops, steak sliders and chicken skewers. Participants weren’t just demonstrating their skills for Schmitter. Stephen Forman, the Regional Executive Chef for Delaware North Sportservice in Western New York was in attendance and taking notes.
“I (could) see these guys absolutely being in my kitchen,” Forman said.
That means some of the Incarcerated Individuals who completed this program could be cooking up food at Highmark Stadium or KeyBank Center after they are released.
“I see focus,” Forman said. “You get people who come in off the streets and they could care less. They have no passion. There’s no focus. But watching these guys, you can see their focus. You can see the interest that they have, which is huge because that means that they can be trained. They can be taught. They can be led.”
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