New Orleans Be the Change Spotlight :: Introducing Turning Tables
This month for our “Be the Change Spotlight” we’d like to introduce you to Turning Tables, an organization committed to advocating for equity in the hospitality industry by providing mentorship, educational tools, and platforms for exposure in a system of support for the Black and Brown communities of New Orleans.
The Mission of Turning Tables
Turning Tables is changing the face of hospitality by cultivating leadership and creating a model for equitable access to career pathways. They seek out partnerships with employers, brands, and like-minded individuals in the industry that recognize the pervasive inequity in the industry and want to join in challenging it. Turning Tables supports them in order to identify the ways in which racism, discrimination, and implicit bias have permeated their establishments, and help them implement new policies and practices to eliminate it.
How Turning Tables got started
Turning Tables began in 2019 in partnership with Liberty’s Kitchen and initially sponsored by a grant from Tales Of The Cocktail Foundation. Their vision was to create a bar training program that reflected the city they serve. Turning Tables was built by industry mentors, bar and restaurant partners and introduced to New Orleans with its first graduating class of Externs in 2019. What they found that year was a thirst for community within the hospitality industry among Black and Brown bartenders at all stages of their career.
What Turning Tables does
Turning Tables provides both inexperienced and rising Black and Brown hospitality
professionals with culturally responsive education, training, mentorship, and resources necessary to access real opportunity. Throughout the program they surround their students with a diverse and committed community of support that empowers them to understand their worth and chart a revolutionary new path for themselves.
They collaborate directly with restaurant, hotel, and beverage industry partners to increase the diversity of their teams, inclusivity of their environments, and equity in access to opportunities and training. These approaches combine to make it possible for their students to feel more confident in their skills, see more role models who look like them, and feel that they are part of a larger part of the city’s economic growth.
How can you support Turning Tables
You can donate to Turning Tables HERE. Your Donations to Turning Tables will directly contribute towards:
- Transportation to Class
- Externships + Industry Field Trips
- Mental Health Support via We Help NOLA
- Internship Stipends
- Meals
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Workshops With Local Equity Workers (i.e. Beloved Community)
Learn more about Turning Tables::
Website • Facebook • Instagram
If you’re interested in nominating an organization to be featured in our New Orleans Be the Change Spotlight, please email us at [email protected].
