How We Serve

The Sweet Dough Workforce Development Program is a hands-on career readiness and entrepreneurship program designed for youth who have experienced trauma, foster care involvement, economic hardship, or other barriers to opportunity. What makes this program different is that participants do not learn workforce skills from a textbook alone. They learn directly from professionals who have built careers serving and leading others. Through a partnership between Serve + Lead Family Agency and Sweet Dough Cinna-Rolls, participants receive mentorship from a former Social Worker and ABA Therapist alongside a baker and entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience building and operating a successful food business. Classes take place within a real-world business environment and urban farm setting where youth gain practical experience in: • Workplace professionalism • Customer service and communication • Teamwork and leadership • Time management and responsibility • Food production and safety • Inventory management • Marketing and sales • Entrepreneurship and small business development Participants do more than learn job skills. They develop confidence, problem-solving abilities, and a deeper understanding of what it takes to create opportunities for themselves and others. To remove financial barriers, the program is offered at no cost to participating families. Funding helps provide supplies, educational materials, transportation assistance, safety equipment, and workforce readiness activities. Participants may also receive a small business stipend to help launch a business idea of their own and apply the entrepreneurial principles they have learned throughout the program. Our goal is simple: equip young people with the skills, mentorship, and real-world experience needed to thrive in the workforce, pursue higher education, start a business, and become leaders within their communities. When we invest in youth, we invest in stronger families, a stronger workforce, and a stronger future for our community.