Baltimore Community Fellowships

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Galen Sampson spent years running the kitchen at the exclusive Harbor Court Hotel in downtown Baltimore. Again and again in the kitchen, he ran into people facing major obstacles to holding down a good job. Many were ex-prisoners or former drug addicts. Some were homeless. At the same time, he heard fellow chefs despair about the lack of qualified kitchen workers.

In response, Sampson, 42, has established a culinary training program that will teach cooking skills to people in transition from addiction, homelessness or the criminal justice system. The "Chefs in the Making" program will operate out of a new Hampden restaurant Galen has opened. Already he has brokered partnerships with drug treatment facilities.

"I got tired of seeing an endless cycle of people who had friends and family members with criminal records and who had absolutely no opportunity to advance out of the lower levels of the workplace," Sampson says.

After his trainees complete the one-year training program, Sampson will work to place them in jobs. "I will do everything I can to vouch for them, to give them that step up that they need to succeed."

Related Article Serving Up Hope Stephanie Shapiro November 5, 2006 In this Baltimore Sun profile, noted chef and Baltimore Community Fellow Galen Sampson offers help for troubled lives by teaching culinary skills.