ServSafe Training for Food Service Workers: a Correctional and Restaurant Foundation Partnership

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

The Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation (RAMEF) and the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation have partnered on a program that addresses the workforce needs of the region’s rapidly growing restaurant industry for better trained workers while also offering the opportunity for soon-to-be-released incarcerated individuals to participate in the training at no cost to themselves or to the county. At its core, the partnership is based on a bartering relationship: in exchange for hosting RAMEF’S award winning “ServSafe” training program eight times a year within a classroom at the Montgomery County Pre-Release Center (PRC) – a 173 bed residential community correctional work release facility, the DOCR’s Pre-Release and Reentry Service Division selects and enrolls four soon-to-be released incarcerated individuals into the training program without charge. These individuals participate in the 2-day/16-hour program side-by-side with others students who have no involvement in the correctional system. These other students are sponsored by restaurants or attend the training on their own accord with the goal of obtaining their Food Manager’s ServSafe certificate. As all restaurants in Montgomery County are required to have at least one employee with this certificate onsite during business hours, this credential significantly enhances an individual’s employability and career advancement. Through this partnership, four incarcerated individuals benefit directly from the training and the opportunity to network with other food service workers. At the organizational and industry level, the partnership allows RAMEF to directly serve the workforce needs for restaurants in one of the fastest growing areas of the county, and the County’s work release program and its clients also receives favorable attention for its role in hosting the training.