The CROP Foundation is a local nonprofit devoted to creating opportunities for young culinary students. It was established in 2014 by Founder/Executive Director, Kip Poole.
The foundation recently partnered with a Norfolk restaurant, Commune, to create another avenue for culinary students to work and learn. In August, the new CommunexCROP opened its doors as a student-led restaurant to provide students with additional working experience. Poole has a history of pairing students with master chefs to deepen their learning experience. In fact, it was in a similar manner that he learned to cook.
A Portsmouth native, Poole grew up traveling with his family and was able to experience some of the best foods in the country, going from restaurant to restaurant. He started recreating these dishes that his family was experiencing at the age of 12. Once he discovered his passion for cooking, he later went to Virginia Tech for Culinary and Hospitality studies with a Master’s in Education.
Later on he started working for a Title 1 School in Philadelphia where he soon realized that he had a deeper desire to create opportunities for inner city students and help them find their purpose. He found that when he paid attention to each student, he was able to inspire the best in them. Instead of wanting to go home at the end of the day, they wanted to stay and cater events. In four years he raised $70,000 in scholarships for his students. This inspired him to start the CROP Foundation, to create “food with purpose.” The foundation is a tight knit community and every mentor is passionate about helping “little chefs and farmers.”
“In this partnership, people who eat at Commune NFK, they are not just supporting local agriculture and purveyors but also providing education and real-world learning opportunities for young culinary enthusiasts who are beginning a career in food services, hospitality, food advocacy and sustainable food-related fields,” said Poole.
Zyakenah Harris is a student who has been a part of the foundation for a year and will be finishing up in the next couple of months. Her passion for cooking started at an early age, watching her grandmother in the kitchen. She specializes in baking and pastry, and her favorite dessert to make is tarts. In the program she’s learned about the fundamentals of baking and pastries, different techniques, and has learned how to decorate cakes. “Our teachers really want us to succeed, and they take their weekends to help us perfect our skills.”
Zyakenah wants to start her own business in the future and open her own shop. She feels that all her dreams can become a reality by being a part of the CROP Foundation.
Learn more about this innovative program at thecrop.org, and visit communevb.com to learn about the restaurant’s Norfolk and Virginia Beach location.
If you’d like to learn more about how to get started in a trade career, read about local training partners and apprenticeship programs on our Resources page.
