As New York begins to re-open, it will also begin to recover. Alongside our partners across the five boroughs, Hot Bread Kitchen is here to join in a recovery effort that will rebuild our city as a more equitable hub of economic opportunity for all of us—and we need your help.
Throughout this crisis, our partners and funders have rallied to provide relief in whatever form is needed, and our impact has already been tremendous.
This is only the first step in a much longer recovery effort. The economic impact of this crisis is staggering, particularly for women and single mothers. One-third of single mothers already live below the poverty line, and now, one million have lost their jobs. Hot Bread Kitchen remains dedicated to providing essential relief for our members and colleagues in the food industry.
Additionally, the next phase of our recovery effort will:
- Restore opportunities for household breadwinners. We are committed to offering additional training to ensure our workforce alumni have the skills to get back to work in an even more competitive climate. We will partner with organizations to meet the great need of New York City’s unemployed food workers.
- Help small food businesses re-open, reimagine, and rebuild. Hot Bread Kitchen will be there to support women-owned businesses, entrepreneurs, and chefs of color get their products on the shelf and on the table as quickly as possible. We are also committed to providing food assistance for the longer term by sourcing emergency meals from our incubator members, providing relief while promoting recovery.
- Continue to champion improved job quality in the food sector. This crisis has highlighted what we’ve always known—entry-level workers, who are predominantly women, immigrants, and people of color, face enormous inequities at work. From better benefits to flexible schedules, it is more important than ever to model and create quality jobs for our essential workers.
Our work will continue to change with the landscape, but our mission is the same: Hot Bread Kitchen is here to create economic opportunity through careers in food. Now, it’s time to take our next steps toward recovery and rebuild a food community where everyone has the opportunity to come along. We are counting on you to join us.
With gratitude,
Shaolee Sen
