Mainebiz

V O L . X X V N O. X X V I I I D E C E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 9 20 WOR KFOR C E DEVELOPM ENT "We have to have creative ways to tackle that," Hewins says. Meanwhile, those who have served time often have trouble finding work. Speaking at the lunch where Erickson served, Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty said, "We know how to reduce recidivism — edu- cation, job training, support services and stigma reduction. at's exactly what this partnership is all about." Terry Hayes, HospitalityMaine's director of workforce development, says, "is population needs meaningful, living-wage employment and our mem- bers need a fresh source of talent. Our collaboration with DOC is a real step forward toward solving our state-wide workforce needs." Trying to get by When Erickson arrived at the Maine Correction Women's Center in Windham in September 2018, she says, "I had every intention of not working." "I was scared out of my mind," says Erickson, 48, as she sits for an interview in a conference room at the Women's Re-entry Center. "I was literally just try- ing to get by, minute by minute." She'd never been incarcerated before and, because of the nature of her offense, she wasn't in contact with her family. She felt she had no support system. She was assigned to work in the kitchen, and got involved in a culinary program run by culinary arts instructor Krista Okerholm. A turning point for Erickson was taking the ServeSafe certification course, which teaches food handling and other kitchen safety rules. It was grueling, Erickson says, and not very glamorous, but she enjoyed it. e culinary program at the re-entry center, which was in place before the new apprenticeship program, helps women find jobs when they're released, mostly at places like Applebees and Dunkin' Donuts. Okerholm hooked Erickson up with David's 388 in South Portland. 'We don't want them coming back' Hewins became CEO and president of HospitalityMaine last year, when the merger of the Maine Restaurant Association and Maine Innkeepers Association became official. While the group's mission also includes advocacy and education, Hewins focused on workforce devel- opment from the beginning. ere were already individual programs to introduce the industry to the state's incarcerated population, including Okerholm's and another through Southern Maine Community College. In looking to form a wider-ranging formal program, Hewins toured the Maine State Prison in Warren with Liberty, who was the warden. Liberty said something that stayed with him: "ese are real people and we don't want them coming back." Six months ago, Hewins met Texas chef Chad Houser at a hos- pitality conference. Houser owns Café Momentum, in Dallas, which is staffed by residents of the state's youth incarceration program. Houser's restaurant opened in January 2015 and since has been P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY F O C U S Irina Erickson Irina Erickson, who is a resident , who is a resident of the of the Women's Re-Entry Center Women's Re-Entry Center in Windham, works at in Windham, works at David's 388 David's 388 in South Portland. She is part of in South Portland. She is part of a new apprenticeship established a new apprenticeship established by by HospitalityMaine HospitalityMaine and the state and the state Department of Corrections Department of Corrections. It's given me a sense of purpose. It opened my mind. It changed my life. — Irina Erickson participant in apprentice program I rina Erickson looked at home serving up mulligatawny at the final lunch at HospitalityMaine's annual summit at Sugarloaf in early November. Dressed in a black tunic, she chatted and served up cups of soup with the com- fort of a food service industry veteran. But she and four other servers at the Nov. 5 lunch were also serving a bigger purpose that day. ey are inmates at the Women's Re-entry Center in Windham and Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston. At the lunch, HospitalityMaine and the Maine Department of Corrections announced a ground-breaking appren- tice partnership, the first time an industry organization in the state has partnered on such a program, officials say. e state's hospitality industry employed more than 79,000 in full and part-time jobs in 2018, accord- ing to a recent HospitalityMaine study. ere's no available figure on how many more jobs went unfilled, but it's in the thousands, says Steve Hewins, CEO of HospitalityMaine, which represents 1,000 members in the restaurant and lodging business e industry is in a workforce crisis. BIG STEP Industry of second chances takes a A partnership between HospitalityMaine and Department of Corrections aims at filling workforce gap, changing lives B y M a u r e e n M i L L i k e n

• Cover