Patricia Funegra arrived in the U.S. from Lima, Perú, in 2007. Holding a degree in Business Administration focused on Marketing, in 2010 she began working in the international development area of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in Washington D.C.
There she began the journey that two years later led her to found La Cocina VA, in Arlington, Virginia.
At the beginning, Funegra focused only on the local Latino community. That’s what she always had in mind when the idea came up. At the IDB, she found she needed to be more directly involved in the projects, to have a closer experience of their results. That’s why, as she told The Story Exchange, she started looking for ways to do something of the kind in the D.C. area.
She volunteered at DC Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that offers training to unemployed people on culinary and catering skills and also donates the food they prepare to low-income residents of the Washington D.C. area.
Funegra came up with the idea of replicating the model but only for the Hispanic community and asked the executive director of the organization if she could. He agreed. Six months later, according to The Story Exchange, Paty Funegra launched La Cocina VA. She still had her job, so she used breakfast and lunch hours to find sponsors and partners. She also did online courses on how to create nonprofit organizations.
She found a partner, Mount Olivet, who donated the basement for the kitchen. Funegra left her full-time job to devote herself to the new project.
In 2014 the nonprofit inaugurated the 16-week bilingual culinary training program, the core of La Cocina VA. The program offers training to low-income people in different areas of the catering industry carreer. They teach their students skills from the basics to the most advanced, knowledge of nutrition, product recognition, kitchen safety, and sanitation. Once they complete the program and graduate with a certificate from Northern Virginia Community College, La Cocina VA helps them with job placement and supports them for two years.
120 people have since benefited from this bilingual program, which currently serves not only Latinos in the area, but also “immigrants and refugees from across the globe, veterans, returning citizens, and victims of domestic violence and other trauma,” according to the nonprofit website.
Daniela Hurtado, the programs manager at La Cocina VA, wrote in Arl.now that 85% of those who obtained a certification got jobs and 78% of them kept them after two years. “These jobs offer hourly rates from $14.30 to $21.00, provided by more than 50 employer partners,” she added.
Through the Food Assistance program, which partners with agencies and other organizations, La Cocina VA donates the food they cook in class to people who live on the street or who struggle to make ends meet and can’t afford sufficient food for their households. The nonprofit gives them healthy food that not only reduces hunger, but also helps fight diabetes and obesity.
” Our concept goes far beyond just offering food to the needy by also offering the necessary tools and resources to overcome poverty and create a better, healthier future for individuals, their families, and future generations,” says Patricia Funegra, also a CEO of La Cocina VA.
They will open a new center in March, next year, according to The Story Exchange, in a larger space whitin a housing complex, which will now be able to train 120 people a year. It will have a café that will allow LA Cocina VA to generate income, and an incubator for ideas and projects of new entrepreneurs. Funegra says she looks at Latina women who dream of starting their own businesses. “I am immensely proud that now, in the very near future, we will be able to support them to … create jobs and to contribute to the economy.”
Photo: La Cocina VA