Hey guys!
I have chosen to donate to Greyston Bakery and the Greyston
Foundation. Greyston Bakery is located in Yonkers, NY. It operates with an
open-hiring policy, meaning that they offer employment opportunities regardless
of education level, work history or past social barriers like addiction,
homelessness or incarceration. A fundamental part of Greyston’s mission
statement is that everyone is entitled to a path to success, and employment is
the first step.
Greyston Bakery employs over 180 individuals at a time.
Since demand for a job is much higher than that, they have a waiting list with
an average wait time of about one year. Once a vacancy is available, they simply
call to the next person on the list to come in for a job. Training for the
position is extensive, with the goal that only those most serious about
employment will continue on to a full-time job at the bakery. While working at
the bakery, employees also receive personal development resources and
professional skill training.
Greyston Bakery is also the exclusive supplier of brownies
for Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie and half-baked flavors, and also
supplies brownies and cookies for Whole Foods.
The Greyston Foundation also offers resources with the
intention of helping community members and their employees overcome poverty.
They provide a variety of programs, such as workforce development, low-income
and affordable housing, after-school programs for children and community
gardens. Workforce development is a training program that provides basic skills
training for career preparedness. In terms of low-income housing, Greyston
offers housing units for employees, senior citizen housing and housing for
previously homeless individuals. With the Greyston Learning Center, almost 100
children of bakery employees are provided with daycare services and school
preparation programs. The community gardens are an opportunity for members of
the community to grow their own food while also learning about healthy eating
habits and entrepreneurship.
Greyston Bakery itself identifies as a for-profit business,
but all profits from the bakery go directly to the Greyston Foundation, which
funds the community programs.
If you’d like to learn more about Greyston Bakery, check out
this TED talk!
A lot about this post really resonated with me. I think this is a really great organization and it really is a worthy cause to support. Its almost shocking that there aren't more businesses like this because it really does have a great impact on society both locally and as a whole. One idea that we've really been focusing on a lot lately in class is how everything is interconnected. If someone does go to jail and can't find a job when they are released and rehabilitated, then there is no way they could possibly support themselves and will most likely become homeless unless they turn back to crime. This is a really vicious cycle and it has a really negative affect on society. In the Ted Talk that you posted with this Mike Brandy makes a point of saying that the founder of the organization was a monk because why else would anyone do something like this, and that is really the main issue at hand. Why is it that no one is willing to help our fellow humans. I mean, I get it, employers want to hire someone that they know they can trust and rely on and those aren't the first things that come to mind when you think of a convicted felon, but does't everyone deserve a second chance? You barely hear about organizations like this and it really is a shame. Since bakery has opened, it has employed over 2000 people who have given $15 million back into the economy. That is a lot of money, and if more organizations provided opportunities like this there is no telling what effects it would have on a local economy and its overall welfare. That being said, there definitely needs to be a push towards more businesses like Greyston that actually wants to make a positive change in its community.
ReplyDeleteWith so much incarceration in this country, and such a strong stigma against ex-convicts, that aspect of acceptance Greyston Bakery promotes alone, in my opinion, makes it stand out as an organization. Giving an optionless ex-convict who has no other options work amidst the social capital against that action is admirable. The open-hiring policy in general is a boon to the homeless, and the undereducated as well. Ultimately this organization seems absolutely incredible to me, simply put; because it not only gives these people work, but it also helps educate and provide skills training. It extracts willing workers from the poverty and unemployment lines, and because of its acceptance of all workers regardless of background and active effort to promote meaningful change for the individual, the organization can function successfully as a mediation, to mitigate the vicious intertwining cycles of homeless, poverty, addiction, etc. This was an excellent choice for an organization, especially because of its amazing systematic approach to philanthropy; I'm very happy that this kind of group is being supported. (P.s., I'm for Cortlandt Manor, so I'm familiar with the area, too; this sounds like a great reform opportunity there, specifically)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post about the Greyston bakery and Foundation! In our society today, getting a job can be difficult for people with college education and no criminal history, so for people with a history of crime or incarceration or little education due to financial or health issues (disabilities, mental health issues, etc. ), getting and keeping a job is that much harder. I think that organizations like Greyston are much needed in many areas and are extremely valuable to society. In class we've discussed how interconnected different issue areas are and how it can be hard to decide where to intervene with our philanthropy in order to make a meaningful difference in the overall system. In my reflections I've been analyzing the system within which childhood poverty occurs, and have seen the connections between education, job skills, financial stability, and the cycle of poverty. Greyston seems to be intervening in a lot of these areas by providing housing, teaching job skills, providing employment opportunities, providing education support, and creating an overall sense of community that is inclusive for people from many different backgrounds, who all deserve a fair chance to improve their lives. If we could find an organization in Broome County that believes in a multi-faceted systems approach to ameliorating our issue area of education/youth services in a way similar to Greyston, I think that our money would be making a real, positive, and hopefully long-term impact.
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