We help people overcoming barriers to employment gain job and life skills while feeding our community. It starts with food but grows from there into career pathways that provide stability and economic mobility.
FareStart is a social enterprise nonprofit focused on job training and employment. We run food-based businesses that serve as classrooms for our students to learn on-the-job skills that will prepare them for careers while nourishing the community and sustainably funding our mission. Our end goal is personal stability and economic mobility for people overcoming barriers to employment.
The holistic approach to our programs helps address the root causes of poverty and food insecurity.
Food is the foundation of our work. It’s the tool we use to transform lives, disrupt poverty and nourish communities. Our restaurant and cafés have long been central to this work.
FareStart’s dining venues serve as classrooms for our students and help support our mission. We run these social enterprise businesses to train people on the job for future careers in food-related industries. Your support and patronage have a direct impact on our ability to fund these job training programs.
FareStart businesses are open and providing on-the-job training opportunities for students, including the FareStart Cafés, our Community & School Meals Program and made-to-order Box Lunches.
In addition, plans are underway to fully reopen the flagship FareStart Restaurant later this spring for breakfast and lunch, cater private events at the FareStart Restaurant and host Guest Chef Nights.
We measure the impact of everything we do to ensure we’re delivering on our mission to disrupt poverty and nourish communities through food, life skills and job training.
We have helped almost 15,000 adults and youth work toward personal stability and economic mobility since 1992.
On average, 82% of adult students have secured jobs within 90 days of graduating from our job training programs.
Since 1992, we have prepared almost 19 million meals for local nonprofits, shelters, respite centers, youth and adult daycare centers and schools.
We have consulted with nearly 300 organizations in 51 states and provinces across the U.S. and Canada to advance job training programs and realize better employment outcomes.
Stay up to date on all the latest FareStart news.
Dear FareStart Community, The year is already off to an exciting start here at FareStart. Our cafés in South Lake Union and Beacon Hill buzz with...
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Laura (she/her), a FareStart graduate and FareStart sous chef, generously and openly shared her story at our first in-person Guest Chef Night since...
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Your gift to FareStart helps provide students with job training, wraparound support, and other critical services that empower people to escape the cycles of homelessness and poverty.
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