Atlanta, Georgia Local News
Nonprofit Café Momentum plans pop-up dinner series in Fall 2024
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Café Momentum, an award-winning nonprofit restaurant that provides paid internships to justice-involved youth ages 15-19, kicked off their first of several series of pop-up dinners to support its expansion to Atlanta at Gunshow.
This invite-only dinner was the first in a series of Momentum Rising Exclusive Pop-Up Dinners to introduce Café Momentum to the broader Atlanta community, ahead of opening its permanent brick-and-mortar restaurant in October.
The dinner, presented by Georgia-Pacific, was prepared, and served by 10 justice-involved youth alongside Gunshow’s team. Café Momentum works closely with these young individuals to train in front-of-house and back-of-house responsibilities.
The pop-up dinner is designed to introduce Café Momentum’s program design and raise funds to open the doors. It also raises awareness to the ability of Fulton County’s justice-impacted youth to reach their full potential when they’re given the tools, resources, and opportunities to do so.
Café Momentum is partnering with Fulton County’s Department of Juvenile Justice to establish a supportive framework for youth transitioning out of the juvenile justice system, empowering them to transform their lives.
Stewart Williams, executive director of Café Momentum Atlanta, said the reason they wanted to expand to Atlanta because it is right for a program like this and has an expressed interest in the community.
“It’s bottoms up approach the community said we need to serve our young people and these young people who have been at risk have been forgotten and we want to remind them how important they are,” he said.
Williams also said they work with “justice-impacted youth”, and these are young people involved in the juvenile system. They are often a population of young people that are forgotten, he said. “We really don’t talk about recidivism here at Cafe momentum. We’re talking about open opportunities for them to get a second chance.”
In some cases, he said, these young people even haven’t had a first chance. Working with justice-impacted youth, they’re able to give them an internship working to learn the understandings of a restaurant.
He said they the work front and back of the house and get paid while they’re doing it.
“It’s a yearlong program, so they get skills in terms of that industry, hospitality and often times, we will partner with other organizations to help them seek career opportunities beyond capital momentum,” he said.
As far as the menu, Williams said it’s going to be no American fine dining establishment they have in Atlanta, but instead a “seasonal menu”.
“It’s going to rotate by the seasons. We’re going to change it depending on the seasons and what’s available for some of our local farms and providing fresh produce and things like
That,” he said.
As the new executive director, Williams said this work is coming back to his roots as he started his career working in the juvenile justice system as a juvenile detention counselor in Newport, Virginia.
“I understood the revolving door of this population coming in and out of the system and not getting any real support long term,” he said.
Reggie Elliot, current intern in the program and Atlanta native, said he feels great and blessed to be a part of the program.
“I feel loved because the things they are doing for me, the opportunity they’re giving me, and the things they’re teaching like life skills has taught me so much,” he said. “I can’t do nothing but take it in, learn, and understand because this is my opportunity to make it out the struggle.”
As for advice, Elliot said he want to tell other individuals in the black community to follow their dreams and work hard.
“You can do whatever you want to do in life. Just follow your dreams. It’s about being consistent, passionate, and understanding of what you want to do in life.
Senior Momentum Ambassador I’munique Liggens said she’s overwhelmed with emotions, one being proud and the other, grateful.
“I’m proud to see these young men show who they can be and grateful to be in the room with these young men, to be able to guide them through this experience has really been truly impacting to my life,” she said.
Liggens also said it showed her what a Momentum Ambassador means, and the impact that I can have on a youth life, and not just youth, but people that work in the community of the youth.
Ambassador Tristyn Williams, who completed the program in Dallas in 2022, said it has filled her heart because the boys have been so willing and open to them.
“You could tell as soon as they walked through the door, they were committed and that’s something me, personally, I admire, because it took me so long to realize that I needed to make that change in myself, and they’re just real sweet boys, they really just needed an opportunity,” she said.
There will be three more pop-up dinners at various locations and restaurants throughout the city between now and the official opening in October. Williams says this is laying the groundwork in preparation and bringing awareness to the Atlanta community.
For more information, visit https://cafemomentum.org/atlanta/.
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Isaiah Singleton
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