ProStart Culinary Arts Program

HeartLove Place fills a major gap in Central Milwaukee by offering the ProStart Culinary Arts Program to community members who require job readiness training as well as soft/life skill development. The ProStart Program was developed by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) and trains and prepares participants to obtain entry-level careers in the food service and hospitality industry.

Upon successful completion of the ProStart program, participants are awarded the ProStart National Certificate of Completion. Many university hospitality programs accept ProStart courses for college credit, knowing that graduates of the ProStart program have completed an approved curriculum and meet high standards of excellence. For example, the University of Wisconsin-Stout will credit ProStart graduates with up to 12 academic credits towards a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Restaurant and Tourism Management. Reference to ProStart program completion on past participant resumes has also gained the attention of prospective employers, not to mention the increased preparedness and self-esteem exhibited during interviews.

Upon successful completion of the ProStart program, the Instructor will also facilitate testing for the nationally accredited food safety manager certification - ServSafe (Wisconsin law requires food service operations to obtain a nationally accredited food safety manager certification. The state of Wisconsin and many others recognize a ServSafe certification as fulfillment of this requirement).

Since its inception at HeartLove Place (HLP) in 2002, ProStart has graduated over 450 people from the 20-week program and has helped place 75% in industry-related jobs. Other graduates have gone on to open their own companies, advance their education further, and take positions in other industries. Through the ProStart Program at HeartLove Place, individuals are prepared to work in an industry that continues to be in high demand; their employability and life skills are permanently improved thus allowing them to more easily obtain employment; and they are less likely to make negative decisions and life choices because they have more options available to them (higher education, employment, apprenticeships, internships, etc).

HeartLove Place firmly believes that successful job training and retention programs are vital to systematically ending the tide of poverty, violence and hopelessness experienced by so many within the boundaries of Central Milwaukee and empowering area residents with the skills they need to overcome life’s most hard-hitting obstacles and feel the pride that can only come with self-accomplishment.

In recent years, the restaurant and hospitality industries have been growing in Milwaukee and in the State of Wisconsin. In 2004 alone, Wisconsin outpaced most of the nation in the addition of jobs in the hospitality industry (cited in the July 17th edition of the Journal Sentinel). In fact, it is estimated that from 2006 to 2016 the number of jobs in the restaurant and food service industry is projected to increase by 1.9 million - of which approximately 47,000 will be management positions.

Program Components (classes include instruction in the following areas):

Food Groups/Nutrition
Culinary/Cooking Terminology
Basic Cooking
Customer Service
Host/Hostess Responsibilities
Hospitality Management
Career Planning
Food Preparation & Health Codes
Temperatures & Formulas
Wine Selection
Vegetarian/Special Dietetic Needs
Purchasing & Cost Control
Menu Planning
Marketing
Communications
Banquet Preparation
Catering
Entrepreneurship Opportunities

Besides intense, hands-on job skills training, the ProStart curriculum reaches outside the kitchen as well, teaching entrepreneurial skills, appropriate workplace attitudes and habits of dependability. In addition, participants are taught to prepare a wide range of recipes from soul food to a five course meal suitable for a banquet; they are also taught customer service, menu planning, marketing, cost-control and other topics directly related to managing a business. The course is completed with an intense hands-on internship where participants actively work in a food program at HeartLove Place (HeartLove’s Kids Café, Meal programs or with the Banquet and Catering Services Department).

For more information about the ProStart Culinary Arts Program, please contact Chef Dion Willis at (414) 372-1550, ext. 128