NEW ORLEANS — Like many restaurants in New Orleans, Café Reconcile in Central City is closed on Mondays, but the stove fires still burn.
“You need a day where you don’t have to go live on a show. You need a day where you can sit and think and have one on one time without the pressure of delivering,” said Chief Development Officer at Café Reconcile Caitlin Scanlan.
That needed day is because “delivering” is more than just feeding hungry diners. What happens at Café Reconcile is real-time workforce training for New Orleans youth, served up one dish at a time.
“A lot of our young people in our city face a lot of barriers connecting with education and employment. We want to remove all of those to make it as accessible as possible,” said Scanlan.
A recent big tip will help with that mission. Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and known for her surprise donations, gifted Reconcile New Orleans $4 million.
“You could have pushed me over with a feather,” said Scanlan.
Scanlan says she had no idea Scott was even eyeing the nonprofit. It’s the biggest gift Reconcile has gotten in its more than 20 years.
“This $4 million gift to Reconcile is really about a belief in young people from this city and the capacity for what they can do,” said Scanlan.
Watching youth overcome life adversities, Scanlan has seen what they can do when they leave the program. Many use their skills learned here to pursue careers and higher education.
“The experience of being at Reconcile should be about what options do exist for me and how do I get there,” said Scanlan.
That’s why Scanlan is excited to help figure out the best ways to put all that money to good use.
“What we’re going to do is be really thoughtful stewards and plan for the future and say how do we continue to do our jobs well, how do young people feel about that work,” said Scanlan.
Scanlan says that work wouldn’t be possible without the community, especially hungry customers who show up for lunch.
“The only reason we were in a position to accept a gift of this kind is because of that generosity. It takes everybody,” said Scanlan.
That, Scanlan says, is one of the main ingredients for success.
Reconcile’s paid work force training program lasts 14-weeks and is open to youth between the ages of 16 and 24.
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