Allegheny County

Program at Cafe Momentum in Pittsburgh helps teens move on from juvenile justice system

PITTSBURGH — Teenagers coming out of the juvenile justice system have found a path to success at Cafe Momentum.

Concentration and laughter fill a kitchen on Forbes Avenue, but that wasn’t always the case for 18-year-old Jamar.

“I started off getting in trouble, hanging around the wrong crowd, getting into stolen cars and stuff,” Jamar told Channel 11.

Those life decisions landed him in the Allegheny County Juvenile Justice System.

“One of the questions they asked when we started the program is ‘What do we see in ourselves and where will we be?’ I didn’t have an answer,” Jamar said.

Jamar eventually embraced Cafe Momentum, which is where he found his answer.

The program is a paid internship for teens ages 15 to 19 involved in the juvenile justice system in the last year.

While they get mental and social services help, they also get to learn all the jobs in the restaurant hands-on.

“Our focus isn’t to necessarily create restaurant workers, but it’s to help them find their passion, what they are interested in, what they are good at. If we can do that successfully, we will then help them find the next landing spot,” said Gene Walker, executive director of Cafe Momentum.

With two dozen interns working through the program, Jamar said the key is you have to want to change your life for this to work, and he hopes to keep doing the work long after his internship is over.

“Lead the company and be an ambassador. Talking about the program in other cities, states, and influencing kids to take this program seriously and get into it, because it’s something that’s good and actually helps people,” Jamar said.

The original restaurant started in Dallas and has seen tremendous success with its interns. What they need to reach that level here in Pittsburgh is for the public to come out and support them by eating a meal at the restaurant.

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