BIGGER MEANS BETTER: The Juvenile Intervention & Faith-Based Follow-Up group is undergoing a renovation and expansion project that will spiff up its lobby, add a new music and arts area and enlarge the basketball gym. -- Image Courtesy Of Jiff

A local ministry that helps young people escape the juvenile justice system also is working to provide answers for what some can do after they're out of it.

As part of a $3.5 million renovation of its current facility on Lauderdale Street, Juvenile Intervention & Faith-Based Follow-Up (JIFF) is building a culinary arts training center to provide youths between the ages of 16 and 22 an opportunity to learn cooking skills they can parlay into careers.

"We believe that this community is desperate for something like this," said JIFF executive director Rev. Rick Carr. "These urban youth are part of a system that's failing. We're looking to provide some answers and some hope and some direction for them through vocational training."

What's cooking lately

The renovation/expansion project will provide needed upgrades to the building such as renovation of the lobby, creation of a new music and arts area and expansion of the basketball gym.

On the second floor, JIFF is adding a game room and education and dining areas that will include a computer lab and classrooms. On the ground floor, a new boardroom, vestibule area and the culinary arts training area will be added.

Construction is set to begin soon, with an expected completion by next summer. JIFF recently filed a $2.6 million construction loan to get started on the project.

"We're still trying to close about a million-dollar gap," Carr said.

Plugging the gap

The culinary arts training program, J-CAT (JIFF Culinary Arts Training), is being developed with help from the American Culinary Federation. JIFF has hired a new culinary arts director, Felicia Williams, who is helping develop the program and will be the main instructor once it gets under way.

The program will be structured with four levels of training, Williams said. The first level of classroom instruction will focus on the most basic educational components, such as food handling, food safety and sanitation. As the students move up from one level to the next, the educational process will become more hands-on, with the students learning how to prepare different sauces and meals.

Williams said the program is a good fit for the young people who come through the JIFF program because so many of them have been out of school for so long and fallen so far behind that they will not be able to graduate from high school.

"We have several students in our program who are behind educationally; however, they are equipped to deliver in a hands-on aspect," she said. "Some people may want to know why we don't just put these kids somewhere like Southwest (Tennessee Community College) or in some vocational school.

"Well, a lot of the young men that we're dealing with have been trapped in the justice system so long and they're so far behind in school that they're just not going to graduate. They're turning 19 and 20 years old and they need a real job and a real opportunity. So, that's where JIFF fills the gap."

A next step

The JIFF ministry works with 12- to 18-year-olds by referral from the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County. The teens come from the 38111, 38112, 38114, 38117, 38122, 38126 and 38127 ZIP codes.

The program is only open to the limited age group, "because what we're seeing is that they're getting through the JIFF program and some other agencies in town, but they don't know what they're going to do next," Carr said. "So we're answering that question, 'Here's what you do next in a career. You go to work.'"

Most of the kids who go through the J-CAT program will have gone through the full JIFF program, Carr added.

Since being hired by JIFF, Williams has been working to build relationships with chefs and restaurants in the area so that once the students have received their training, they will have job opportunities available to them.

Carr said he's in discussions with a business in the city that will design a curriculum to prepare students to work at one of the company's many restaurants. He declined to name the establishment, saying it's too early.

"We're not going to send them out (to the restaurants) unless we know that they are focused in on our core values," Williams said.

Those core values are a strong work ethic, trustworthiness, a teachable spirit, confidence and hospitality.

Since JIFF is a religious ministry, the young people participating in the program begin each new endeavor with prayer and meditation time.

"A lot of people think they can kind of get up and go on their own," Williams said. "But, we know that if they don't have prayer or quiet time to just commune with God, nothing they do will prosper because that's the bulk of our ministry in itself."

Research analyst Kate Simone contributed to this story.