Baked with Love <3

A competitive and inclusive bakery initiative

Presented by: Rhea Matar

After many chats with my Industrial Engineer/Business minor roommate Sarah, we have identified the four primary standards that we would like to hold our bakery business to. They are as follows:

Personal
Everyone has their favorite local places; a hole in the wall bar, the family owned restaurant down the street, an organic Farmers market in the town square every Sunday in September. They are places that cannot be replicated across cities or states like a Starbucks or Buffalo Wild Wings because they were built as a personalized part of the community. These are places that bring people together in a way that Saturday morning shopping trips to the Super Walmart simply cannot. These are places that have a strong and loyal customer base and radiate the mom and pop atmosphere that knows their employees and customers as more than employees and customers, but rather as people by name to be valued and served right.

Environment, environment, environment

Art on the walls from talented students from the area high school. Puffy couches and the strumming of a guitar from a local resident on a stool by the window. Chairs and tables on a front and back patio decorated with string lights all year round. The smell of coffee and pastries at any given hour. A bell that rings when you open the door, a face that looks up from behind the counter, a greeting that is presented in the same kindness whether you are a regular or new to room. There is something to be said for a place that is colorful, comfortable and inviting. A place that is kind to their employees, maintains high expectations for the services provided and brings people coming back time after time. This is the kind of place we want mothers to bring their children, friends to meet for breakfast, businessmen to stop in after meetings, young people to go on dates and elderly to buy their bread from. The idea is to develop a true, community environment that does neither discriminate nor target particular populations but rather provides an accessible and affirming environment for all employees and patrons.

Community Development:
According to the United States Department of Labor, as of November 2012, the labor force participation of people with disabilities is 20.7% compared to 69.2% of people without disabilities. Yet according to IllinoisWorkNet.com, 87% of the public would rather support a business who hires people with disabilities. Building a partnership between our business and local schools and transition services can provide an opportunity for individuals with and without disabilities who have an interest in food service or baking to develop job and social skills. These are skills that can be used to continue work in food service or to apply to a variety of other jobs that such important social and work skills are necessary for. Supports will be carefully structured and implemented in order to ensure a truly competitive, productive, inclusive and enjoyable working environment for all employees.

Quality:

The intention of this bakery is to be modeled as a for profit business with a focus on community development that raises revenue while furthering the development of job skills and employability of people with and without disabilities. Rather than developing a charity or non for profit that benefits people with disabilities, the idea is that this bakery will create opportunity in a dignified work environment for people to acquire and master the skills necessary to be successful in a competitive work force. In saying this, the expectations and standards will be high. Our products will be delicious, fresh and unique. Our service will be excellent and affirming. Our environment will be clean, welcoming and accessible. We want a loyal customer base and strong community support because our business is the best and not primarily because the community development intentions are good. Brownies and cakes and muffins, oh my! December 2012 <3

Current Inclusive Employment Initiatives for Bakeries

Compiled by Rhea Matar

Sugar Plum Bakery

Location: Virginia Beach, VA

Mission: Sugar Plum Bakery maintains the delicate balance between being a business as well as a rehabilitative facility. On any given day, Sugar Plum has between 16 and 19 people with disabilities working successfully as a part of this competitive business in their community. This business employs people with and without disabilities and serves as an example of how people with disabilities can be accepted and compensated similarly to those without disabilities. Specialties: Runs as both a business and rehabilitative facility; named Best of the Beach by the Virginia pilot for 9 years in a row for their bakery and educational programs Websites: http://www.sugarplumbakery.org/ Supports: Sugar Plum Bakery was founded and incorporated in 1985 as a non-for profit organization after receiving a grant award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities. Since 1987, Sugar Plum Bakery has run as a competitive retail bakery business that is governed by a Board of Directors made up by 13 community leaders. They have many volunteers for day to day operations and in-service training for support staff who have not previously worked with people with disabilities.

Bomb Diggity Bakery

Location: Portland, ME Mission: Providing treats for all eaters; traditional baked goods, vegan and gluten-free treats using any available local and organic ingredients. Bomb Diggity strives to employ bakers of all abilities by mixing passion, energy, and creativity to create a meaningful work environment for employees. Specialties: Gluten free, vegan, organic/local ingredients Websites: http://www.bombdiggitybakery.com/ Supports: Integrated work setting with built in supports from staff of different abilities. Shares space with a local caf that sells their items. Bomb Diggity is a business that hires the best person for the job. It is an extension of Momentum, which provides services to people with cognitive and physical disabilities. They provide opportunities for people to learn skills in the bakery that they can apply to other work environments.

Sweet Comfort Bakery & Cafe

Location: Port Washington, NY Mission: Sweet tastes with a social mission! Offering employment to people with developmental disabilities and providing classes to target needs and interests of people in the community being served. Specialties: eating in outdoor caf; baked goods, sandwiches, salads, smoothies, etc; purchase products to go Website: http://www.sweetcomfortbakeryandcafe.com/about-our-bakery/, http://communitymainstreaming.org Supports: Sweet Comfort is a social enterprise that has been developed as an initiative of Community Mainstreaming Associates: a Long Island based non-profit organization that helps people with cognitive disabilities lead meaningful, productive lives within their community.

Working Together is CMAs vocational program that prepares its participants for successfully employment.

Other potential contacts:

Helping Hands Bakery

Location: Longmont, CO Mission: Founded by Bridget Lane who has three sons with autism and wanted to make a difference in her community in the area of employment and self reliance for people with disabilities. Everyone has gifts to give. Specialties: Many of the products are gluten free and are sold in Whole Foods across 4 states; online ordering Websites: http://www.helpinghandsbakery.com/ (online bakery closed for holidays) Supports: Their vocational training program helps young adults learn to bake and package the goods. Received financial support with start up from Legal Zoom. Products are sold by Whole Foods in multiple states.

The Bakery at Hatties Caf & Gifts

Location: Hudson, OH; Cleveland, OH & Akron, OH Mission: Provides vocational training and employment for adults with developmental disabilities. Specialties: Fresh baked goods, fair trade coffee, salads, sandwiches, wraps, etc; does gift basket orders online Websites: http://www.hattielarlham.org/v/cafe-bakery.asp Supports: Owned and operated by non-for profit organization Hattie Larlham for people with developmental disabilities in Northeast Ohio. This bakery was made possible by a grant from Mayors Office of Economic Development in Akron, OH.

Rhea Matar Laurie Andrews Phase 3 December 14, 2012 Professional Development Reflection This semester, I had the opportunity to experience a unique and often under appreciated aspect of the special education field; vocational training. Cooperating with the high schools

vocational coordinator, I witnessed first hand how important it is to provide students with and without disabilities with an opportunity to develop job skills that make them employable for the long run and how to structure environments to provide these necessary opportunities. While my practicum placement was from the schools perspective of teaching, learning and community participation for our students developing job skills and working at vocational sites; I decided to focus my professional development on the business aspect of employing people with disabilities in an inclusive, supportive and competitive work environment. As I began researching online, I was met with a flood of hits from local initiatives across the nation that have pulled together communities in an effort to provide a dignified and successful work place that employs people with disabilities. My friends and I have gotten through tedious hours of the night doing homework and making minimum wage at entry level jobs with the vision of pooling together our strengths, ideals and resources to open none other than a bakery. After only a few weeks at my practicum site this semester, that vision expanded from opening a competitive small business to also becoming a community development site and initiative. I began gathering information from different bakeries in several states that have opened doors for business in their community in an effort to provide high quality products and supports to build high quality employees that have learned and developed job skills that they can apply to other food service industries and beyond. This is not to say that the expectation for young people with disabilities should be capped at food service; but rather, that an environment can be created in a business we are passionate about that teaches social and work skills that not only make people employable, but allow them an opportunity to be a respected and valued members of a workforce and their community. I was successfully able to gain perspective and deeper knowledge of the business aspect of vocational training by researching different business models such as social entrepreneurship, social enterprise and how partnering with non-for profits to provide rehabilitative services while

bringing in revenue can strengthen a community (please see attachments). While I was not able to interview the founders and managers of many of these businesses and organizations as extensively as I would have liked; I did identify one business, Sugar Plum Bakery in Virginia Beach, Virginia, that I think would serve as our primary model when making plans to open our own bakery in Illinois. Many of the bakeries I found were supported by non-for profit organizations or served as non-for profit facilities but Sugar Plum is truly a competitive business that successfully includes its community in developing an inclusive and meaningful work environment for people with and without disabilities. I have talked throughout the semester with my cooperating teacher about the importance of providing opportunity to young people to develop and maintain job skills to be successful in a competitive work force. I hope to continue learning and being open minded about the potential of peoples abilities and how work environments can be supported and structured to allow people of many different abilities to have a fair shot at self-reliance and a high quality of life. This was also an opportunity for me to really take some of the Illinois Teaching Standards to heart; because truly what are we doing in education if we are not providing our students with every possible avenue of success that is not narrow minded to passing state tests and obtaining a diploma? That instead we truly look at each child as an individual and focus on what they need to be productive, to be independent, to be included, to be appreciated, to be respected and to be happy. That is the current mission of the bakery idea that my friends and I bounce around on the hallway floor of our apartment in the middle of many nights; that Baked With Love is not just a funny idea that may potentially fail or fade out but instead a vision that all people are important and truly deserve to be recognized in that matter.