A Special Graduation: A HERRCS Cohort at Emma’s Torch

By Kira O’Brien, our Interim Executive Director and Chief Human Resource Officer

All graduations are special. They mark a beginning and an end, not unlike presenting a dish you’ve lovingly worked on to a table of hungry friends and family. You take off your apron, put down your ingredients, and walk into the dining room with a steaming plate and see everyone beaming at you, ready to tuck in to something you have made. 

At Emma’s Torch we have seen our fair share of graduations; 70 to be exact, celebrating the accomplishments of over 500 newly arrived refugees, seeking to build new careers in the culinary industry.  It is our mission to address the unique needs of refugees, asylees, survivors of human trafficking, and other individuals who have experienced forced migration and have resettled in New York and the DC metropolitan area. As is unfortunately typical of the refugee experience, our students face intersecting stressors in their new environments. 

In 2024, 89% of our students were within their first two years of arrival, meaning that they are joining our program at a critical time on their integration journey. Before enrolling in our program, most of our students live below the poverty level, experience housing instability and homelessness, lack access to basic resources like medical and child care, and have limited language and literacy skills; all of which diminish their opportunities to begin careers and achieve financial stability.

And although all of our 70 graduations are special, due to a special partnership with the city’s emergency relief shelters or HERRCs, the one on February 20th, 2025 was unique. 

This cohort represented the beginning of a partnership with Emma’s Torch and the NYC Humanitarian Emergency Response & Relief Centers (HERRCS) who have been providing emergency housing to the city’s newest arrivals. This cohort was comprised exclusively of gentlemen who lived together at one of the HERRCS locations and were seeking an opportunity to move them towards self-sufficiency and safety. At its core, this partnership was a recipe to prove that if you invest in people, they can thrive and reach independence. 

However, at the half-way point in their experiences in our program, the shelter these rely on—along with about 12 others—announced its closure, leaving these men at immediate risk of homelessness. This announcement came alongside larger announcements in a reduction of over 20% of city-wide services being provided to newly arrived migrants. The cohort and our whole community reeled, trying to continue to practice the skills we teach in the classroom to prepare for the workforce while dealing with unbearable uncertainty. All of this happened during the start of the new presidential administration, and resulting increase of anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation. It could have been a recipe for disaster. 

This cohort, and the entire Emma’s Torch community, met this news with the resilience and fortitude that continues to amaze me. Our community, (including our neighbors, partners, friends and strangers!), stepped up immediately, reaching out to provide whatever support they could; connections to jobs, legal services, warm clothes and well wishes. Our students doubled-down on their studies, quizzing one another about recipes and asking thoughtful questions to their instructors. They showed up early and stayed late. They went on fighting for their jobs under circumstances and pressures most of us could not fathom. They earned every ounce of the celebration and opportunity that graduation would provide them. It was an honor to present each of them with their certificates and know that their future would be bright. 

Alphadio said it best during his graduation speech, that even though this was a joyous occasion, we can’t lose sight of what each student represents. Refugees come to our country seeking safety, opportunity, and a home. They want to be a part of our social fabric, not erode it. They have seen the worst humanity has to offer, and they still greet each day with resilience, strength and hope. 

One of my favorite parts of our graduation ceremony is the presentation of students’ final exams; a dish that represents their experience. It’s amazing to hear from students about recipes their grandparents made in countries on the other side of the planet, being remade in our kitchens in Brooklyn. Or about a dish they’ve learned about in New York, but they’ve reimagined using flavors from their homes in Mauritania, Venezuela, Haiti or Guinea. 

Seeing the incredible potential in that room, tasting their amazing dishes and hearing about their plans, it shocks me that there is a movement in this country to negate all the positive impact our newest neighbors have on our communities. In a country so abundant and full of opportunities, I’m routinely reminded of the poster I have on my office door, “when you have more than you need, build a longer table and not a higher wall.”

Special thanks to our partners at the HERRCS, and to our friends at Radio Bakery, Daily Daily Provisions, Tacombi and Borgo who have already hired many of these incredible graduates in full-time roles!