Climb C.D.C. to Branch Out to Pascagoula

Pascagoula has been looking to bring a community kitchen to the city as a launch pad for entrepreneurs for a few years now and they’ve finally found an avenue to make that happen.

Carlos Vasquez has had an interest in cooking since he was six years old. He’s now getting the chance to turn his love for cooking into a money-making job while getting his G.E.D., thanks to the Café Climb C.D.C. program in Gulfport. Vasquez says, "I’ve been trying to find a place where I can do something positive and my friend introduced me to the program and I’ve signed up and I’ve been here ever since.”

The program targets at-risk youth between the ages of 16 and 24, a demographic Climb C.D.C. has found to be in need of the most help, and provides them job placement in the culinary arts profession. Lori West, C.E.O. and founder of Climb C.D.C., says, "We realized that if we were going to help make families whole that we had to help target that population and help them get employment skills and get that education that they needed to become self-sustainable.”

Climb C.D.C. and Café Climb have been so successful in Gulfport that the City of Pascagoula has reached out to them and wants to work with them to open up a branch in Jackson County. Pascagoula has been looking to open a culinary school to help launch entrepreneurs and youth into the workforce and decided Cafe Climb was the perfect fit.

Jen Dearman, Community and Economic Development Director, says, “Climb C.D.C. has done it so well over in Gulfport. They’ve been highly successful. They take a little bit of a different approach with the at-risk youth program, which we really like as well. It was just a perfect partnership when we discovered it.”

Climb C.D.C. is excited about its new partnership with Pascagoula and is ready to help more students like Vasquez explore their culinary love and help them turn their passion into a full time job and lifetime opportunity. The cost of the project will not be available until Climb C.D.C. develops a business plan, which they plan to present to the City Council in early 2015.