Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 56 NOVEMBER 2018 CONTACT 42 Warren St., Lowell, 978-856-3974, cafeutec.org / L I V E + P L AY / UTEC, a nearly 20-year-old organiza- tion whose acronym stands for United Teen Equality Center, offers services ranging from mentorship and counseling to job train- ing and social justice advocacy within its 20,000-square-foot LEED Platinum certified headquarters. Disenfranchised young adults find peers, positivity, and hard evidence that meaning ful change is possible—83 percent of UTEC youth avoid arrest and 82 percent are employed two years after leaving the organization. A pillar of its approach is something the organization terms "social enterprises," a set of programs designed to give UTEC pupils foundational work skills through jobs ranging from mattress recy- cling—the entry point for UTEC newcom- ers—to woodworking and food services, which include a popular catering business, an on-site event service, and the café. Café UTEC, located in the nonprofit's main facility, is arguably the most publicly visible of the culinary enterprises, all of which require entrants to complete at least five weeks of training in basic cooking tech- niques. When they begin working in the café, Austin says, young adults add more layers to their education: restaurant economics, cus- tomer service skills, and, ultimately, ServSafe Manager certification, a résumé-boosting food service credential. "We're really honing general and specific cooking skills, develop- ing a culture around customer service, and then giving [the young adults] the knowledge of how a restaurant works," Austin adds. (He specifically calls Mirambeaux a "customer service star.") e food is tasty, too. e café's offerings center on healthier fare and seasonally chang- ing ingredients, from soups and build-your- own salads to turkey paninis and meatball subs to the aforementioned quinoa salad, a wildly popular dish made with roasted Brus- sels sprouts, sweet potatoes, parsnips, and quinoa over arugula with Dijon vinaigrette. e specials offer young adults a chance to bring their own ideas to life; Austin says a recent special of off-the-panini-press chicken quesadillas flew out the door. And the prices are light on the wallet—a $7 sandwich is the priciest item on the menu. ere are harder-to-quantify benefits of working at Café UTEC, too, like an emerg- ing spirit of benevolence and community service. In September, when the young adults in UTEC's kitchens received word that a Law- rence shelter was both occupied and lacking hot food in the days after the region's gas explosions, they immediately went to work cooking up and delivering some 60 plates of chicken broccoli ziti, salad, and rolls. "ey stepped right up—it was completely their decision," Austin says. "ere was no question or argument. It was just 'Let's go,' and it was a really beautiful thing to see." For young adults like Tico Mirambeaux, a little café on Warren Street has been a backdrop for broad transformation. Café UTEC provides a path that points away from life's dim margins and toward a brighter, bet- ter future, validating lessons that UTEC has espoused all along. "UTEC as a whole, they help you with everything, not only with work skills," says Mirambeaux. "ey help you with life. Period." "We're really honing general and specific cooking skills, developing a culture around customer service, and then giving [the young adults] the knowledge of how a restaurant works." Chris Austin is the director of UTEC's food enterprises.