Food insecurity versus at-risk communities can be difficult to distinguish because they are closely related. However, both issues deserve to have the same level of concern. At Caterina’s Club, we work to provide children with opportunities, sustainable warm meals, and a future career. Along with helping children, we want to also provide their families with the same resources. With at-risk communities and food insecurity as a subject of concern across America, we are striving to do our part with programs such as Feeding the Kids, Welcome Home, and The Hospitality Academy.
Learn more about how to identify at-risk communities from food insecurity below:
Understanding At-Risk Communities and Our Hope for the Future
At-risk communities are typically used to describe children who are “at risk.” Often times, this is used to refer to poor life outcomes, long-term deficits such as school failure, death, or economic dependency.
At Caterina’s Club, our programs Welcome Home, the Hospitality Academy, and Feeding the Kids cater towards at-risk communities because we hope to bridge the gap and bring families the stability they need. Caterina’s Club acts as an out-of-school program to provide goals for children in Southern California that can improve grades in school, and avoid conflicts in the future. Our team hopes to reverse the effects of an at-risk community and replace it with love, support, and education.
The Hospitality Academy is one of our favorite programs for at-risk communities because it gives teens the opportunity to get off the streets and learn the workforce of the hospitality industry. The Hospitality Academy is also in a partnership with Anaheim Union’s P21 Mentorship program, to provide at-risk teenagers with a nine-week program that teaches content and skills not taught in the traditional school day.
The academy is an extended learning opportunity where students are introduced to the Orange County Hospitality Industry at large and then trained in restaurant specific skills. Executives from major hotels, hospitals, culinary schools, and businesses have been secured as guest speakers to provide students insight on the opportunities that lie ahead as they prepare to exit high school and enter the workforce.
Finally, we believe that providing young adults with the necessary skills to become employed will be instrumental in preventing the cycle of homelessness.
What is Food Insecurity?
According to Hunger and Health Feeding America, “poverty and food insecurity in the United States are closely related. Not all people living below the poverty line experience food insecurity, and people living above the poverty line can experience food insecurity. Wages and other critical household expenses (such as caring for an ill child) can also help predict food insecurity among people living in the United States.”
Food insecurity is a difficult topic to discuss, but we know many families across the nation face food insecurity. Although we wish to help as many families as possible, we have started with our local communities with our program, Feeding the Children.
At Caterina’s Club, we want to help at-risk communities and food insecurity. We discussed our program that fights to improve at-risk communities, The Hospitality Academy. But, our program, Feeding the Kids is additionally bridging the gap of food insecurity for families across Southern California. These programs work together to fight the cycle of homelessness, global hunger and provide families with stability to give their children a better future.
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