The Gjelina Group Foundation
The Gjelina Group Foundation is a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit dedicated to uplifting communities through the support of programs committed to food, farming, arts, and environmental sustainability.
We believe it is the responsibility of foundations, community leaders, and local voices to join together to take action in our communities — we’ve seen firsthand that when we engage with hands-on learning pathways for growth, something changes.
OUR MISSION
The Gjelina Group Foundation’s mission is to create and support access to culinary education, urban farming and vocational skills for communities in California and New York.
OUR VISION
The Gjelina Group Foundation’s vision is to create a vocational hospitality and humanities model for public school programs that can be directly transferable across education systems — collectively building a structure for empowering students to both acquire viable trades and skill sets; to consciously pursue their passions with a tangible career path in mind; and to avoid unnecessary student debt by entering directly into a workplace with a confident path for longevity.
Our History
In 2011, Gjelina Group founder Fran Camaj started peeking into local public schools and was alarmed to find such an immense lack of resources at the schools in the Venice community. A former LAUSD school teacher himself, Fran began volunteering locally at Westminster Elementary School as a teaching assistant. Fran encouraged Gjelina staff to do the same, dubbing the efforts the Gjelina Volunteer Program (GVP). Since then, the Gjelina team has volunteered at over 75 events and has spent more than 2,500 hours with students at various public schools, as well as with farmers at many nonprofit organizations and businesses, to transform the way people think about food.
In 2015, in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Venice, GVP began investing in and upgrading the Venice High School Learning Garden and established the Chef’s Club and the Gjelina Apprenticeship Program.
In 2016, the Gjelina Group began working with the LESGC via donations and connecting the group to Upstate Farms for food for their culinary education program.
In 2017, Venice High School chose to begin self-funding our program and hired former Gjelina Foundation director Angela Hughes on a full-time basis to run the garden and the Culinary Arts Program.
In 2017, Gjelina Volunteer Program became an official 501(3)(c) and launched as Gjelina Group Foundation.
Read more about the Gjelina Group Foundation’s history via Gjournals here.
Our Work in Venice:
We are working to develop a holistic and interconnected in-school food growing and culinary program spanning K through 12th grade and running continuously from year to year, fostering a value-driven nutritionally educational curriculum that will provide necessary skills and trade for students. The aim of the program is to provide students with viable skills for entering directly into a workplace with sound experience and a thought-out plan for their future goals.
Our high school curriculum will focus on furthering service and business skill development, including service training, financial controls, profit and loss training, labor law, and HR training — all culminating in a student-led presentation of a hospitality business plan that can be used as a future fundraising deck.
Additional after school training will include hands-on work with our farmers, ceramic production, basic electrical, refrigeration & plumbing skills, public relations training, and graphic design.
Our holistic aim is to create a model for a public school program that can be directly transferable across education systems and schools — collectively building a foundation for empowering students to both acquire viable trades and skill sets; to consciously pursue their passions with a tangible career path in mind; and to avoid unnecessary student debt by entering directly into a workplace with a path for longevity.
Our Work in New York:
In 2016, the Gjelina Group began our relationship with the Lower East Side Girls Club (LESGC) while searching for a way to support food education as we started to explore opening a location in New York City.
Founded in 1996, the LESGC is an organization connecting girls and young women to healthy and successful futures. The LESGC is a new model of community agency, creating a culture that values creativity and experimentation, while putting girls and women at the center of community development and revitalization.
Working alongside the LESGC, we helped establish relationships with Upstate farms to provide and donate produce for daily meals in 2016-2017, and to assist in foundational food, produce, and gardening-driven programming that is still sustained internally on an ongoing basis.
In 2016, the Gjelina Group catered the LESGC’s annual gala.
In 2019, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gjelina Group Foundation arranged weekly produce drops for the LESGC’s Food Pantry.
In 2022, we opened Gjelina NYC and, with permanent staff, resumed our hands-on service to the Girls Club by funding and writing the curriculum for their Fall Culinary Education Program. We worked with our farm partners upstate for fresh and diverse plants for the rooftop garden, and catered and staffed the opening of the Center for Wellbeing & Happiness. The Center will deepen the Club’s support for wrap-around wellness services (movement, mindfulness and a food pantry) to all genders and generations with the aim of fostering collective healing and sharing lifelong skills for members and their families to thrive now and in the future.
Read more on Gjournals here.
Future Programming in Venice & New York:
We are working to develop a holistic and interconnected in-school food growing and culinary program spanning K through 12th grade and running continuously from year to year, fostering a value-driven nutritionally educational curriculum that will provide necessary skills and trade for students. The aim of the program is to provide students with viable skills for entering directly into a workplace with sound experience and a thought-out plan for their future goals.
Our high school curriculum will focus on furthering service and business skill development, including service training, financial controls, profit and loss training, labor law, and HR training.
We will establish a network of internship and experiential learning opportunities within the Gjelina Group as well as with other hospitality partners in our Venice and New York community. This pipeline will consist of after school training via hands-on work with our farmers, ceramic production, basic electrical, refrigeration and plumbing skills.
Donate to the Gjelina Group Foundation
Your donation supports our ongoing efforts in both Venice and New York.
On the Gjournal
Stories from our community
Gjelina Group Foundation: Past, Present, Future
A conversation between Fran Camaj and Shelley Kleyn Armistead
read More
Conversations: The Lower Eastside Girls Club
A conversation with Co-Executive Directors Jenny Dembrow and Ebonie Simpson about the organization’s ongoing mission, current initiatives, and forefront of their inspiring work.
read More
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Receive updates on new menu items, recipes, stories, and updates from the Gjelina Group.