Curt’s Cafe Highland Park will open in 2019! The Highland Park Justice Team, a grassroots group of residents and religious leaders, culminated its 3-year effort to establish a Curt's Cafe in Highland Park, a first for Lake County, by signing a lease at 1766 Second Street, in early February 2019. Curt’s Café (Cultivating Unique Restaurant Training) is a nonprofit innovative hybrid education, restorative justice, transitional jobs and community building program that since its founding in 2012, has transformed the lives of over 250 young adults, aged 15 to 24, through its two Evanston cafés. Curt’s goal is to prevent incarceration and to reduce recidivism rates. With 97% of its students employed or in school after a year compared to only 14% of those exiting the justice system (and for a fraction of the cost), Curt’s is succeeding. The cafés are also bustling community gathering places.
From Andy Amend, Highland Park Justice Team (December 2018):
In late 2014 The Justice Project came into being. To honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a campaign was mounted to engage all Open Communities member communities in an effort to become more WELCOMING . The benchmarks to measure this quality fell under the pillars of Safety, Education, and Engagement. Each community chose its own way to enhance the quality of Welcomeness and Highland Park embarked upon the journey to bring a Curt’s Cafe to Lake County.
Curt’s Cafe, a not-for-profit entity, currently operating at two Evanston locations is a friendly place to meet friends, have meetings or talk about books. it is also a place where at-risk young adults receive education and training in both life and food service skills. This “Dine with a Purpose” establishment transforms the lives of young people (ages 15 - 24) who have been disadvantaged from the beginning and enables them to successfully re-enter and contribute to their communities. In its six and a half years of operation under the direction of Susan Trieschmann, Curt’s has transformed the lives of over 250 young adults while enriching the fabric of life among Evanston residents. In fact, it has become a source of pride.
As 2018 comes to a close, the Curt’s Cafe Lake County endeavor has raised enough funds to sign a lease, and begin whatever work is needed to open the cafe. The team that has worked on this project has grown from three Justice Project participants to a well-rounded group that includes people with various skill sets and representatives from area religious institutions. Everyone involved in this journey is dedicated to the original Curt’s Cafe goals, and to enhancing the fabric of life in our communities. We have more work to do and more money to raise, but we can now state with certainty that a new “community gathering place,” Curt’s Cafe, will be open in spring of the coming year.
We are very grateful to all of you who have helped in any way to make this possible.
The team is looking for:
faith leaders to get involved
volunteers
donations for the initiative
Contact us! Andy Amend, David Borris, and Alena Laube at curtscafehp@gmail.com
