Wanda Alston Foundation begins culinary program

‘Slay and Sauté’ launched in Southeast D.C.

August 12, 2025

D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth, on Aug. 11 officially launched a culinary program aimed at training LGBTQ youth with cooking skills for future employment.

With about 25 supporters looking on, Alston Foundation Executive Director Cesar Toledo described the program’s goals in a kitchen filled with cooking utensils and supplies of food in one of the buildings at the Wayne Place Apartments, a group of small apartment buildings on the 100 block of Wayne Place, S.E., where the Alston Foundation’s 20 youth clients currently live.

Located in the city’s Congress Heights neighborhood, Toledo said the LGBTQ youth clients occupy 10 apartments at the apartment complex. The apartment where Toledo and other Alston Foundation officials hosted visitors on Aug. 11 had been converted into office space, with the kitchen set up for the culinary training.

“They began the lessons today, making smoothies, and air frying chicken wings,” he told the Washington Blade.

Toledo reminded the visitors that the Alston Foundation, founded in 2008, is among the organizations working on addressing homelessness among LGBTQ youth, who he noted make up 40 percent of the homeless youth in D.C. according to studies.

“It’s a national crisis. And we see it firsthand here in the District of Columbia,” he told the gathering. “So, I’m happy to report that after today, we’ve raised over 60 percent of our goal,” he said, in referring to the fundraising effort for the Alston Foundation’s strategic plan, which he said has been named Queer Legacy, Bold Future.

Toledo said $17,500 had been raised so far, with the D.C. Front Runners Pride Run 5K Foundation, an LGBTQ sports organization, donating $16,000. He said the remaining $1,500 was donated by Wegmans.

Among other things, the funds have been used to purchase for use by the Alston Foundation youth residents “air fryers, rice cookers, smoothie blenders, healthy food, and condiments,” Toledo said in an earlier statement.

Among those attending the Aug. 11 gathering and expressing support for the program were Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; Chris Holland, community engagement and communications manager for Wegmans; Belinda Pearson, operations manager for the Alston Foundation; David Perruzza, owner of the D.C. LGBTQ bars Pitchers and League of Her Own; and Max Finland, property manager for the Wayne Place Apartments.

“This is a great opportunity for a program, and I love the ingenuity of it and its direct results for our residents who need skills and need to feed themselves,” Bowles said. “So, this is really cool.”

Read more in the Washington Blade here.

Homeless Youth Want To Work, But Advocates Say Programs Designed To Help Them Lack Critical Support – DCist

While D.C.’s workforce development options are available to all residents — including 16- to 24-year-olds — many young people experiencing homelessness say the available programs don’t take their specific needs for logistical and emotional support into account. In response, youth advocates are pushing for a specific workforce development program that would target youth experiencing homelessness.

Across the country, youth experiencing homelessness have a markedly high unemployment rate, with an estimated 75% unemployed, compared to 16% of housed youth. Many of the same challenges that can prevent youth experiencing homelessness from finding a job can also prevent youth from completing a workforce development program: not just the lack of housing and a permanent address, but also little or no access to transportation, the internet, professional clothing, and a support network.

There are myriad reasons workforce development may not work for potential participants. That’s particularly true for youth experiencing homelessness, according to June Crenshaw, executive director of the Wanda Alston Foundation, an organization serving homeless LGBTQ+ youth. Programs do not necessarily lead to jobs that will pay a livable wage, and young people experiencing homelessness generally can’t afford to sit in training sessions they aren’t being paid for. Even if youth make the tough decision to forgo weeks of pay in hopes of job development, they may not be welcomed — over 40% of youth experiencing homelessness in D.C. are queer, and they often report experiencing discrimination and harassment in the workplace, according to Crenshaw.

Queer young people experiencing homelessness often feel they’re not hired because of their gender and sexual identity, Crenshaw said. If they are hired, they can find themselves in an environment where colleagues make derogatory or aggressive comments with no repercussions. Discriminatory treatment in the workplace, in turn, can trigger rejection-related trauma, or just plain anger, according to Crenshaw. And that has consequences.

“If any of our kids have one bad day, it could mean the end of a job for them,” said Jorge Membreño, deputy executive director at SMYAL, a local organization serving queer youth at risk of homelessness.

Without government support, advocates say private organizations have to step up to hire and mentor youth experiencing homelessness. While Membreño said he works with a lot of employers on partnerships, he singled out the efforts of Capitol Hill’s new queer space and bar, As You Are, as an especially promising model. The owners reached out to SMYAL and the Wanda Alston Foundation about hiring from the LGBTQ+ community, and they are hoping to provide employees with skills that will be useful in future jobs.

Read more