Kansas City chef wants to expand food access by teaching students how to cook

Chef Shanita McAfee-Bryant started The Prospect KC in 2019 to address systemic inequitality on Kansas City’s east side through food. Now, the nonprofit is launching a culinary training program that will teach valuable skills in the kitchen.
When Shanita McAfee-Bryant founded The Prospect KC in 2019, she wanted to lift up Kansas City residents struggling with food access. But just handing out boxes of produce wasn't enough.

To McAfee-Bryant, "the solution to hunger is not just giving people just giving people food. There's an educational component that's missing."

That gap is what The Prospect KC's new culinary training program aims to address. The 16-week program will give students kitchen skills and real-world experience at The Spot, The Prospect KC's all-in-one café, coffeeshop and grocer. It'll also provide support services so students can thrive outside of the kitchen.

"What we're trying to do is create a relationship," McAfee-Bryant said. "This is not the type of program where we're doing something for someone, we're doing something with someone."