First Group Completes Super Cupboard Job Training Program

April 2000
Philadelphia, Pa. – It might be called "self-improvement with a focus" for the first five graduates of the Super Cupboard Employment Training Program (SCET). Through a series of six intensive workshops covering topics as diverse as self-esteem to food safety, five Philadelphians now have the skills to work in the food service industry and have made themselves more marketable for job placement in and around the city.

"The pilot program for SCET was a success, with a 100% completion rate," said John Byrnes, manager of Penn State Cooperative Extension’s food safety certification program. Byrnes explained that the SCET program was initiated due to recent welfare reform in which tens of thousands of Philadelphia recipients have lost or are expected to lose some or all of their benefits in the next year.

The Philadelphia County Penn State Cooperative Extension, working with Philabundance and Temple University’s Center for Social Policy and Community Development, seeks to help people find security through employment by way of nutritional education offered through the SCET program.

The first four workshops were taught at Philabundance. The workshops addressed issues of self-esteem, work ethic, communication breakdown, customer service, personal values, goal setting, resume writing, and proper interviewing techniques.

Candidates were introduced to computers, word processing, and other resources for further learning. The fifth workshop was an introduction to commercial kitchens, taught by program coordinator Melenie Jumonbille and her staff, covering food service jobs and duties, food safety and sanitation protocol, household measurements, and accident prevention. The workshops concluded with graduation and a luncheon at the Culinary Art Institute.

With the help from the SCET program two of the graduates are currently taking additional steps toward self-improvement. "One participant is trying to complete her GED, while another has made arrangements to retest for her GED," said Deborah Winans, union coordinator for the Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). "Both have been helped under the tutelage of Melenie Jumonbille, advancing their reading abilities."

SCET administrators plan to follow up on the five participants in April. And as an additional service, promotional letters have been sent to food service employers in the Philadelphia area, giving the program participants the opportunity to apply for positions as they are announced, if they so choose.

For information on possible future workshops, contact John Byrnes at 215-471-2215 at the Penn State Cooperative Extension.

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Contact: Joe Bisconti, executive director of University Relations, Penn State Delaware County, at 610 892 1251 or at