Nonprofit Culinary Training Program Holds Classes In Silver Spring

SILVER SPRING, MD — A nonprofit culinary training program aimed at helping adults develop their career skills opened in the former site of the shelter Progress Place in Silver Spring, according to reports.

Bethesda-based Washington Property Company leased the commercial kitchen space at 3210 Colonial Ln. to STEP (Service workers Training & Education Partnership) to offer the culinary classes.

STEP is a joint benefit fund ran by Local 23 of the international labor union UNITE HERE, according to the press release.

“The STEP culinary training program represents a creative use of WPC’s former Progress Place facility, providing tangible benefits to hard-working members of our community and to our thriving local restaurant industry,” County Council member Tom Hucker said in a press release.

The classes are free to qualifying Local 23 members to teach them how to advance their careers, particularly in the culinary and hospitality industry.

Washington Property Company aditionally leases space in the building to 411 Art Associates, a group of artists that was formerly located in DC. They plan to eventually develop an additional high-rise apartment building on the site, but doesn't expect this to happen for several years.

The new Progress Place shelter opened at 8106 Georgia Ave. in December 2016.

Photo: Washington Property Company