Photo courtesy of Capital One
The organization also offers participants the opportunity to enroll in its Culinary Small Business Incubator, a 9-week training course that teaches participants to create and scale their own food-based startups.
During that program, LA Cocina VA provides participants with support for developing the internal operations of their businesses and provides a shared kitchen for community members to rent space at affordable rates.
Patricia Funegra, who founded La Cocina VA in 2014, said that helping people like Klohr is exactly why she wanted to create the incubator.
"I have firsthand experience of the difficulties of being an immigrant and person of color in America," said Funegra. "At the same time, I also know the enormous opportunities that exist here to improve people's lives."
With the help of funding from Capital One, the center has been able to support 160 participants since opening with roughly 85% of graduates being hired for jobs in the food industry upon completion.
La Cocina VA also received support from Capital One's Community Finance team as it provided financing for the construction of Gilliam Place, an affordable housing unit in which La Cocina VA moved its operations into in 2020.
After moving into Gilliam Place, Funegra launched the Zero Barriers Training and Entrepreneurship Center, a hub for startup founders that includes a kitchen incubator and a community cafe to provide workforce development opportunities for residents.
That support comes as part of the Capital One Impact Initiative, a multi-million dollar commitment to support growth in underserved communities and advance socioeconomic mobility by closing gaps in equity and opportunity.
La Cocina VA students also worked alongside Capital One Cafe ambassadors to learn skills in management and personal finance.
Photo courtesy of Capital One
"The COVID-19 pandemic forced entrepreneurs, especially people of color and immigrants, to shift their entire business models just to survive," said Emilia Lopez, the Senior Vice President of US Card Customer Resiliency, who serves on La Cocina VA's Board of Directors. "As a La Cocina VA board member, I am proud of the commitment and support Capital One provides La Cocina VA and thankful for their effort this past year to help entrepreneurs quickly adapt their businesses to support alternative dining options."
La Cocina VA is also in constant communication with employers, partners, hotels and restaurants to make them aware of their pipeline of graduates.
"La Cocina VA taught me not just the physical work that goes into baking and cooking but also how to have a good understanding to mentally and financially launch my business," said Klohr. "They're helping me make those connections and I know they'll always have my back."
Milk brings so much joy to our everyday lives. It's the sweet creaminess in our cereal. The fluff in our scrambled eggs. And, for many, the last thing they drink before going to bed.
It's easy to forget that something most of us enjoy every day is also good for us as well. Milk alone delivers 13 essential nutrients that are important for adults and a vital part of children's diets.
While the dairy industry recognizes they still have a way to go, it has made an important pledge to work towards bettering the nation's environmental health.
Countless family farmers across the U.S. have committed to a more sustainable future. They know that it's good for the animals and also better for the planet.
"I love taking care of the cows; in taking good care of cows, we take care of you and it's better for the environment," Dave Graybill, a sustainable dairy farmer, and owner of Red Sunset Farm in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, told Upworthy.
Thanks to modern and innovative dairy farming practices, producing a gallon of milk in 2017 required 30% less water and 21% less land than it did in 2007.
Taking a step back and looking at this progress on a macro level, the dairy industry has reduced its carbon footprint by 63% since 1944.
Now, the future looks even brighter because 37,500-plus dairy farm families — collectively working together under the U.S. Dairy banner — created new goals in 2020 that promise even more dramatic improvements. They pledge that by 2050 the dairy industry will achieve greenhouse gas neutrality and will have optimized water quality by promoting better utilization of manure and nutrients.
Farmers across the country have been working to meet these goals by reusing water, switching to sustainable cow feed, and repurposing manure for fertilizer.
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy is inspiring farmers by highlighting those who have made a serious commitment to reaching the industry's 2050 goals. Dave and his wife Marie were recently named a 2021 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award Winner alongside other innovative farmers from across the industry.
Since starting their family farm two decades ago, the couple has implemented more than 30 conservation practices designed to make it an environmental and economic asset.
"We have implemented a lot of sustainability practices whether it's conserving water, conserving nutrients, taking better care of the cows," Dave told Upworthy. "You can look at sustainability in a lot of different ways."
"Another way we work to decrease our farm's carbon footprint is through better nutrition and animal care to help our cows live longer and produce more milk through improved feeding practices," he added.
When cows are healthy, it's better for the environment, too.
The Graybill's farm has a 700,000-gallon storage tank that holds a year's worth of nutrient-rich manure produced by their cattle. The manure is then used to fertilize his crops, which are used to feed the cows.
"We're just recycling nutrients all the time," Dave said. "That's efficiency. That's sustainability."
They also practice contour farming where crops are planted in rows that follow the natural lay of the land to ease erosion across the field. This helps protect the nearby Chesapeake Bay.
Dave hopes that his award will bring more attention to the wonderful developments happening in the industry. "Lots of farms are doing it, but not getting the recognition they deserve for doing good in their communities and implementing these practices," he admits.
The incredible work the Graybills and countless dairy farmers across the nation are doing for the environment proves that there is room for sustainability in every curve in the circle of life.
Peach was just a kitten when Chris Henderson fell head over heels for her. He had recently moved from Scotland to Houston, and the whole city was under quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic. Chris was waiting for his fiancé Emma's visa to come through so she could join him, and he was feeling a bit lonely. He thought perhaps a pet might help with that. When he found Peach on Best Friends Animal Society's website, he was struck by her.
"There was just something unusual about her coat, and she looked pretty adorable," Chris said.
Best Friends
A few days later, he met Peach at her foster home and the rest, as they say, is history. After he adopted her, he was grateful to have learned about the kitten's habits from her foster mom.
"Peach uses her voice a lot when she wants something," Chris said. "It would have worried me, as it was different to the cats I had growing up. But knowing that was just her nature really put my mind at ease."
Emma met Peach via video chat and was instantly smitten. Once Emma arrived in the U.S., the couple adopted another kitten from Best Friends—a little black and white sister for Peach named Lyra.
"Adopting her was the best decision I made during the pandemic by a large margin," Chris says.
Chris and Emma weren't the only ones who turned to pets for comfort and companionship when the pandemic hit. A record number of pets found temporary or forever homes in 2020. In fact, some animal shelters saw their kennels cleared out for the first time ever as people sought pets to keep them company.
However, pandemic pet adoptions have waned as people have started to come out of isolation and return to work. According to Best Friends, pet adoptions are down 3.7% overall this year. Meanwhile, the number of animals coming into shelters in June was up 5.9% compared to 2020. Despite rumors of hordes of people returning their "pandemic pets", the data doesn't actually show that trend; however, shelters are struggling with too many pets in need and not enough homes to help them.
Adding to the crisis, shelters are experiencing the same employee shortage affecting many industries nationwide. A survey of more than 150 shelters and animal organizations conducted by Best Friends found that 88% are short on staff, 57% have cut hours or programs due to short staffing, and 41% are down more than 25% of normal staff levels. This, of course, puts more stress on those who are still working in shelters.
"I've said it many times before, but now more than ever, we need the public to adopt or foster," says Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, a national animal welfare organization dedicated to saving dogs and cats in shelters around the country and helping families to keep pets in homes.
"If you have been considering getting a new pet, now is the time. The public stepped up during the pandemic, and we need to do it again because countless animals' lives are at stake if this progress backslides."
Adopting or fostering from shelters genuinely does save lives. When animals outnumber people willing to take them in and the cost of caring for the animals outweighs available resources, animals unfortunately end up being euthanized. Thanks to advocates like Best Friends, the U.S. has gone from killing 17 million animals per year to about 347,000, which is great, but we need to remember that each one of those numbers is a life lost. Best Friends is dedicated to making the U.S. an entirely no-kill nation by 2025—an ambitious goal, but one that is within reach if more people choose pet adoption.
Best Friends
People who love animals but don't want to commit to lifelong care can foster, which frees up space in shelters, gives animals a temporary loving home until they are adopted, and helps get animals socialized with humans.
Fostering can also be a first step. Alix Walburn had only been a foster mom to a sweet dog named Giddy for about a week when she realized she didn't want anyone else to adopt her. Giddy had heartworm disease, and the plan was for Alix to foster her just during her course of medication. As it turned out, Giddy snuck right into Alix's heart with her cute face, loving eyes, and cuddly, playful personality.
"She will just curl up next to you, or put her little head on your lap," says Walburn. "No matter where you are, she just instantly melts into your hands."
Foster-Win! Heartworm positive dog gets adopted by amazing foster www.youtube.com
"Shelters, and the animals in them, need our help in a big way," Castle says. "Pets have been a part of our lives long before the pandemic, and we want to work with families to help them find their best friend while also saving a life."
Not everyone is in a position to adopt or foster animals, of course. But you can still help animals by donating or volunteering with your local shelter. You can also support the Best Friends mission of making the U.S. a no-kill nation by 2025 by checking out the Pet Lifesaving Dashboard to see where your community ranks. (Shelters with a 90% save rate are considered no-kill shelters, since some animals arrive at shelters too injured or sick to save. So far, just two states have achieved no-kill status, so there's work to be done.)
Adopting or fostering a pet from a shelter is a win-win-win choice—the animal gets a loving home, the shelter gets space freed up to help more animals, and you get a new friend to love and enjoy. If you've been thinking of adding a cat or dog or some other pet to your life, now is the time. Go to bestfriends.org to learn more about how to adopt or foster a pet.
