A Dallas restaurant, Cafe Momentum, is going to the Super Bowl.
Cafe Momentum is popular in Dallas for its farm-fresh fare and its employees. The restaurant hires kids coming out of juvenile detention under its internship program.
One of the staff, Jedarrian Jones, told NBC 5 News about his journey through Cafe Momentum’s internship program. Per the news outlet, Jones, whose probation officer referred him to the restaurant to earn some money after leaving detention, joined the post-release internship program in 2016.
He graduated from the internship program in 2017 and went to work with other downtown restaurants.
This year, 21-year-old Jones is now a staff member at Cafe Momentum, serving as an ambassador for the program, in hopes that the model can spread across other cities.
Olivia Cole, the Chief Marketing Officer for Momentum Advisory Collective, said that exposure at the Super Bowl could be a propelling force for the model. Momentum Advisory Collective is the non-profit’s expansion arm.
Cole further said that the big game is an opportunity to help young people with the support they need and “prevent them from going into a cycle of incarceration.”
The Super Bowl LVI is scheduled to be held on February 14.