On a recent Tuesday morning, Meghan McCarthy was slicing apples and whisking salad dressing in a kitchen at a church in Haverhill.
McCarthy was working on a menu she’d created: bacon grilled cheese, apple farro salad and homemade chips.
“I love the stuff we make,” McCarthy said. “I definitely say the best part of being here [is] just all of us together cooking and having fun together.”
McCarthy is a long-time participant in a North Shore culinary training program meant for adults with intellectual disabilities, including autism and Down syndrome.
The program, hosted by the nonprofit L’Arche Boston North, is one of a growing number of initiatives across Massachusetts meant to provide opportunities to people with disabilities by giving new skills, boosting self-esteem and filling openings for needed work. Organizers plan to expand into a public-facing café in Haverhill’s downtown next year. Other examples include the new Kindness Café in Newton, Chitarra Pastaria in Cambridge and The Guild for Human Services in Concord.
Staff who run these programs say adults with disabilities are often overlooked or excluded from the workforce. But by doing that, they say employers are missing out on untapped talented workers who can fill hiring gaps and help revitalize communities. There are more than 8 million people with intellectual or developmental disabilities in the United States, according to a study from University of Minnesota.
“A lot of times, there is a candidate pool of qualified folks that are being overlooked because of their disabilities,” said Lynette McRae, executive director of L’Arche Boston North.
The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is twice the rate of people without them, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. People with intellectual disabilities are likely to face barriers to finding meaningful jobs, including transportation challenges, stigma and a lack of awareness from managers, according to a 2022 study in “WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation.”
To help attendees, L’Arche provides job coaching, mentoring and lessons on how to advocate for accommodations in the workplace. And it’s worked. Several people who have participated in the program have gone on to get jobs in the food service, organizers say.
“Our goal is to train these folks, for those that desire to work within the community,” said Scott Sanderson, director of the culinary program. “But there’s also, people just want a sense of purpose and a place to come.”
New businesses also face challenges
Despite good news, not all businesses have survived.
In July, the Northeast Arc announced that their business, Breaking Grounds Café in Peabody, is scheduled to close at the end of the month.
For almost 10 years, the Danvers-based disability nonprofit organization ran the café, offering dozens of adults with intellectual disabilities internships.
Jo Ann Simons, the Northeast Arc’s president and CEO, told GBH News that despite its successes, the financial costs were too high.
“The real issue was that the business was continuing to have deficits and the deficits were growing rather than decreasing,” said Simons. “The ability to stay open is the same challenges that face many small businesses.”
Still, Simons says that for a small independent coffee shop to stay open as long as it did is a win. She said it shows a model to produce potential employees to fill critical roles in the industry — and serve as a pipeline for hard-to-fill entry level jobs.
“This coffee shop really proved its concept that you could train individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism and then they could be successful,” she said.
When Breaking Grounds opened in downtown Peabody, Main Street was dotted with empty storefronts.
“We were the first business that invested in downtown Peabody, but since then it’s become a very lively place,” Simons said.
Simons said at least 30 former employees have gone on to get jobs in coffee shops and other food industries. And the group will continue the mission through job coaching and skills development, and through its program at Amazing Pizza & More in Salem, where employees embed with kitchen staff.
Among the beneficiaries is Jessica Plesky who worked at Breaking Grounds for six months. Plesky now works as a barista at Bitty & Beau’s Coffee in Cambridge and says the job at the café was rewarding.
“I enjoyed learning how to make the drinks by hand. The kitchen experience was really nice for me,” she said. “I just enjoy it because it’s not only the food, it’s making an impact on people.”
Plans for Haverhill
L’Arche Boston North opened its culinary program in Haverhill in 2017. The initiative started after several of its residents, living in a nearby group home, started making homemade hummus and selling it at the Haverhill Farmer’s Market.
L’arche Boston North runs a number of shared residential homes and programs for adults with intellectual disabilities. It’s part of a larger organization, L’Arche, with branches all over the country and the world, funded by private donors.
The hummus became a hit in the city. The organization was able to expand the program in 2019 thanks to a grant from the Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, and now use a commercial kitchen in the basement of All Saints Church. People can order meals online for pick up or have them delivered.
In the kitchen, participants learn essential kitchen skills. They also learn confidence. On a recent Tuesday, Mallory Koch, assistant manager for the program, was making salad dressing with program participant Johnny Bisesti.
“Being a witness to the way Johnny has grown, and his confidence on the grill, cooking on the stovetop — it’s taught me a lot about being more confident too,” Koch said about the impact of the program.
When GBH News asked Bisesti where he would like to work eventually, he replied quickly: “A restaurant someday.”
Like many of the 25 other Gateway Cities across the state, formerly industrial cities with large populations of immigrants, Haverhill’s downtown is undergoing a revitalization.
“Haverhill is definitely growing,” Sanderson said. “It’s going to be a busy area.”
The new café — scheduled to open in the spring of 2027 — will offer coffee, breakfast or lunch to the public as well as catering services. Glass walls will allow patrons to see the kitchen activity and get a glimpse of its mission.
“We’re excited about that, to be able to welcome more people into our cafe and get people an idea of who we are and be visible, not in a basement of a church and only seeing us at the farmers market,” Sanderson said.
McCarthy hopes to work there and use all the skills she’s developed in the kitchen.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to do waitressing,” she said.
This story emerged from listening sessions GBH News held with community members, part of our 26 in 26 Gateway Cities initiative. Do you have something about your community that you want to share? Email us at equityandjustice@wgbh.org.
