Café Momentum

Café Momentum provides youth involved in the criminal justice system with life skills, education, and job opportunities. They offer paid internships and job training at their restaurant in Dallas, which offers mental health resources and education. Café Momentum is working on those returning from incarceration, helping them attain high school diplomas and get the skills, support, and credentials for good jobs, especially in the food industry. They partner with other businesses in the community to provide post-program opportunities and employment for young people.

The holistic combination of support that Café Momentum provides meets each intern’s individual needs in a way that helps them recover from trauma, stabilize their lives, build confidence, and gain the skills they need to move out into the world independently and poised for success. To date, the program has served more than 1,200 youth who are now hard at work in colleges and with employers all over Dallas rewriting the possibilities for justice-involved young people.