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STREETS INTERNATIONAL Opens New Program in Vietnam June 10, 2009 (New York)– STREETS INTERNATIONAL, a U.S.-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of disadvantaged youth in developing countries, will open its first culinary training center and restaurant in Hoi An, Vietnam on June 22nd. The Hoi An center will be the model for what is expected to be a global network of self-sustaining STREETS programs that will offer young people hope for fulfilling lives with rewarding careers where no such possibility existed before. “The admission of the first class of 16 participants to the Hoi An residential training center and restaurant represents the culmination of five years of intensive planning and fundraising,” says STREETS founder and president, Neal F. Bermas, Ph.D. “When I first encountered street kids in Vietnam, I was moved by their vulnerability. I felt they deserved the chance for something better than a life of selling pencils, postcards and shoe shines,” says Bermas, an international management consultant and educator with extensive experience in high-end restaurants and hotels. “I envisioned STREETS as a response to their predicament, a way to lift them up and provide them with lives of dignity and self-respect. This is not a course in rudimentary kitchen work. Upon completion of the STREETS program the trainees will be prepared to be culinary professionals at five-star international restaurants and hotels, freed from an otherwise uncertain future.” Participants in the Hoi An center’s 18-month program will be taught by top Vietnamese culinary professionals. Training will be conducted in classrooms and in the center’s restaurant, and will set these youth on career tracks in restaurant operations and management, or in gourmet food preparation. They will be trained to high standards in conjunction with the award winning Institute of Culinary Education (www.instituteofculinaryeducation.com) in New York. The training will be overseen by international personnel, with start-up and regular visits by ICE senior faculty Chef Erica Wides (www.chefsmartypants.com/bio.html). STREETS will provide education in essential “life skills,” and also in English, with an emphasis on “Hospitality English.” STREETS trainees will live in clean, modern residences for boys and girls, where they will be supervised by fulltime house parents trained in social work. Medical care will be provided, and nutritious communal meals prepared each day by supervising chefs and by the trainees themselves in the center’s restaurant. Every six months, a new group of 15 participants will begin to cycle through the STREETS training program. It’s a life-changing opportunity none of them could possibly have dreamed of. All of the youth have compelling stories. Typical are the 16 year-old girl who was living in a detention center after repeated arrests for street begging; a 17 year-old girl with a harelip, selling flowers in the street to support her father who was crippled by Agent Orange in the Vietnam War; and an 18 year-old girl shuttled between her destitute family and an orphanage, and forced to work for pitiful wages in a seedy bar, where she fought off the unwanted attentions of its male customers. With the opening of its Hoi An center, STREETS is able to offer a clear path out of despair to a happy, healthy and productive life. The ancient city of Hoi An, located on the south central coast of Vietnam, has been designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO. This picturesque town draws a fair share of tourists, making it an ideal location for the first STREETS culinary training center and restaurant. Bermas notes that while the center is one of the first international social enterprise initiatives permitted to operate in Vietnam, it is entirely independent of the country’s government. The STREETS Hoi An center has a ten-year lease on an iconic Vietnamese “shop house,” where the new trainees and staff will have to get up to speed quickly. On June 22nd the STREETS restaurant is fully booked for a party of 44: a group of privileged international students from an exclusive prep school in Bangkok, Thailand. “It should be a unique two-way learning experience for our students and their guests,” says Bermas. “We want to expose them from the get-go to interaction with the type of clientele they’ll meet in their professional careers. We also hope that our guests will help to spread the word about STREETS. Although our centers are set up to pay for themselves once they’re up and running, we’re compelled to continue fundraising in order to achieve our global vision.” The STREETS Hoi An culinary training center and restaurant has been capitalized with an initial investment. After that, it’s expected to be self-sustaining, the operational model for all future STREETS training facilities and restaurants. “We’re confident that the exquisite food and first-class service our restaurants will provide, will make them flourishing profit centers, and also create a demand for our graduates in the hospitality and culinary industry,” says Bermas. “All of our guests will be able to enjoy a memorable dining experience along with the satisfaction of helping to make the world a better place for those less fortunate. The STREETS Hoi An center is only a beginning. All of the work I’ve done in restaurants and hotels around the world has been just a prelude to the ongoing mission of STREETS.” STREETS INTERNATIONAL is a not-for-profit, sustainable social enterprise initiative for street kids and other disadvantaged students in developing countries around the world. Founded in 2007 by hospitality and food industry educators and businesspersons, along with international development organizations, as a U.S.-based 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, STREETS INTERNATIONAL aims to expand its program throughout Southeast Asia and other developing regions with the goal of offering more disadvantaged youth hope for a better future. For more information please visit our website (www.streetsinternational.org). Top New York Chefs Rally to Support STREETS INTERNATIONAL On March 11, 2009 January 26, 2009 (New York) - STREETS INTERNATIONAL is hosting its annual benefit event on March 11, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Astor Center in New York City. STREETS is a non-profit organization that helps disadvantaged youth in Southeast Asia by providing them with the opportunity to achieve independent, productive lives through culinary education, training and employment. The event will feature street foods prepared by some of the city's most celebrated chefs. Tickets are $150 per person and are available for purchase at www.streetsinternational.org. All proceeds will benefit the program. Guests will enjoy tastings of authentic
and iconic street food from around the world, including Vietnam, Thailand,
Singapore, the Philippines, India, Italy, Mexico and the U.S. The participating
chefs and restaurants include:
Chef Floyd Cardoz of Tabla, Chef Michael
"Bao" Huynh of BarBao (formerly Rain) and Baoguette, Chef Romy Dorotan
and Amy Besa of Cendrillon, Chef Kenny Callaghan of Blue Smoke, Chef Pichet
Ong of P*ONG and Batch, Chef Gabe Thompson and Joe Campanale of dell'anima
and L'Artusi, Chef Susana Trilling of Rosa Mexicano
"We are touched by the generosity and
support that we've received from New York's culinary community, especially
the chefs who have donated their time, energy and passion to this event,"
said Neal Bermas, Ph.D., STREETS INTERNATIONAL's founder and president.
"This will allow us to further our efforts to help disadvantaged youth
get off the streets." Entertainment will be provided by The Jazz Standard
Youth Orchestra featuring accomplished local student musicians featured
weekly at Danny Meyer's Jazz Standard. They will perform New Orleans street
music throughout the evening.
A silent auction will be held to raise
additional funds, with items up for bid that include NYC Wine & Dine Weekends,
Celebrity Personal Chefs, specialty cooking classes and other culinary
delights.
STREETS was envisioned by Neal Bermas,
who in his travels throughout Southeast Asia was moved by the plight of
children living on the streets. There are an estimated 250 million kids
living on the streets around the world. The program provides training
certified by the renowned Institute of Culinary Education in New York
City. It offers an intensive 18-month curriculum that prepares students
for a successful career in the hospitality industry. The curriculum includes
training in professional cooking, as well as hospitality service and management,
English language classes and life skills courses. Trainees complete their
internship at a Streets restaurant that provides hands-on experience.
They gain skills, knowledge and self-respect, that result in employment,
self-reliance, and most importantly, the prospect for a dignified future.
STREETS will open its first culinary
training centers and restaurants in Vietnam and the Philippines in 2009.
Subsequent locations are planned for Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Tourists,
residents and local dignitaries will enjoy the outstanding food, beverages
and hospitality, while at the same time support this innovative social
enterprise for disadvantaged youth.
STREETS INTERNATIONAL is a global, not-for-profit, sustainable, social enterprise initiative for street kids and other disadvantaged youth. STREETS works in developing countries operating training restaurants to provide participants with certification in hospitality and culinary arts, housing, medical care, community support and English language skills. It was founded in 2007 by Neal Bermas along with other hospitality and food industry educators and businesspersons, and international development experts, as a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. For more information, please visit www.streetsinternational.org. Innovative Street Kids Program to Open in Vietnam July 2008 (New York) - STREETS INTERNATIONAL has just been awarded funding by the ONE FOUNDATION, based in Dublin, Ireland. The grant further supports STREETS in developing its program site in Vietnam. Over the first several years this program will help hundreds of Vietnamese street kids and disadvantaged youth. Slated to open in 2009, the program will
combine culinary and hospitality education with a STREETS full-service
casual dining restaurant. The self-sustaining program offers disadvantaged
youth an education, training, housing and lifestyle support services,
dramatically changing lives while providing a career and a future off
the streets.
"We are so pleased that the ONE FOUNDATION
has taken the lead to support our global initiative by helping this program
for disadvantaged youth in Vietnam." said STREETS INTERNATIONAL founder
and president Neal F. Bermas, Ph.D. "The reality is that there are too
many youth today worldwide surviving alone in a vulnerable world of poverty
on the streets."
STREETS is also honored to have the support
of award winning Chef Michael Bao, partner in New York's Vietnamese Mai
House and Bun, and Pichet Ong, internationally acclaimed Chef and owner
of P*ONG. Both have recently joined the organization's Advisory Board
and will be working closely with the program both in the United States
and in SE Asia.
STREETS INTERNATIONAL is a not-for-profit,
sustainable, social enterprise program for street kids and other disadvantaged
youth in developing countries throughout the world. It was founded in
2007 by hospitality and food industry educators and businesspersons, along
with international development experts, as a United States-based 501(c)(3)
non-profit organization. Beginning in SE Asia, the program's mission is
to bring economic initiative, business experience and financial support
to serve street kids around the globe.
The ONE FOUNDATION is an Irish foundation
based in Dublin, funding charitable causes both in Ireland and the developing
world. They operate with the philanthropic principle of "giving while
living." The ONE FOUNDATION intends to fully distribute all its resources
by 2013.
For more information visit www.streetsinternational.org
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