Meet the Member: Root

Meet the Member: Root

Beth Alaimo, Root North Shore

Root’s mission is to prepare youth, ages 16 to 24, with a pathway out of poverty. Through life and work readiness skills, health and nutritional education, and development of social capital, students leave Root prepared for success in the workplace.

Tell us a bit about you and what you do? This could be your mission statement but we (and interested consumers) would love to hear about what you do in your words!

Root is a non-profit that utilizes the culinary arts as a tool for preparing young people to enter the workforce. To do so, Root offers a 3 month job training program that combines intensive culinary arts and food service training, workforce preparedness, life skills workshops, and on the job experiences. Root relies on its enterprises including Root Cafe, Catering by Root, and HarborPoint event space to provide on the job training along with its 40 restaurant/food service partners around the North Shore.

What part of your job would you consider creative, and why do you enjoy that part of what you do?

Creativity at Root lies in the kitchen. Every day our staff and youth participants use their knowledge of taste and flavor to create nourishing food for themselves and others. In turn, new challenges are presented and valuable lessons learned.

How does your creative work contribute to the growth and stability of the Creative Economy? If this isn’t applicable: Why do you feel a healthy creative economy is important to a successful community?

Roots mission of preparing youth to enter a creative industry such as the culinary arts is how we connect ourselves to the creative economy. Root graduates are well trained and eager to fill the gaps of a field that is constantly looking for new talent. Ultimately, we are proud to draw attention to the creative process that offers hospitality to the public and jobs for others.

What’s your favorite part of running/managing a local business? (References to how this ties in to your specific community are even better)

The best part of Root is making personal connections within the community. That includes the youth we serve and hire, patrons of our businesses, restaurant partners, other non profits, and volunteers that support our mission.

What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you our your business?

One of our most popular recipes, the Vegan Salem HarBar, was created by one of our youth program graduates!

Want to learn more? Visit their website at rootns.org

Interested in having your business featured and partnering with the collective to grow your business. #jointhcollective today.