Garden of Joy Culinary Academy

09/17/2026

We’re looking forward to welcoming everyone back to the table!

Our first Family Dinner Night was such a beautiful evening, and we’re excited to do it again on Friday, September 25! Whether you joined us last time or haven’t visited Garden of Joy yet, we would love to have you come share a meal with us.

This time, our students and culinary team will be making Joey’s Gumbo, Chef Dom’s (Dominic Bley ) treasured family recipe with chicken, smoked andouille sausage, and shrimp. We’ll also have The Gardener’s Gumbo, a hearty vegan option with mushrooms, garden-fresh okra, and plant-based Beyond Meat. Both are served with rice and your choice of crostini or cornbread, with peach cobbler for dessert!

DJ Synsir Synclair aka DJSynSir will be joining us to provide the music for the evening!

Dinner is pay what you can, with a suggested contribution of $15 per adult and $10 per child. Give more, give less, or join us as our guest. Everyone is welcome, and all proceeds support our free afterschool programming.

Through our partnership with Harbor and Hamilton County JFS, the young people preparing and serving your meal are gaining hands-on experience and being paid for their time and work.

Friday, September 25
6:00–9:00 PM
Garden of Joy
3226 Central Parkway

Come on your own, bring your family, or invite a friend. These dinners are open to everyone, and we hope you’ll help us spread the word!

Thank you so much to our partners at Feed the Soul and La Soupe, Inc. , who help make our pay-what-you-can menu possible by supplying rescued ingredients for our students and culinary team to turn into delicious meals for our community.

09/12/2026

Last night’s first Pay-What-You-Can Community Dinner was truly such a beautiful evening. ♥️

It means so much to us to see our community fill the dining room, sitting among new friends, enjoying good food, sharing stories, and laughing together.

Thank you to Feed the Soul and La Soupe, Inc. for donating the ingredients that made this dinner possible. Their generosity allows us to offer these meals on a pay-what-you-can basis so that everyone can eat. We know how expensive it can be to take a family out to dinner, and we never want sharing a good meal together to become a source of stress.

Thank you to Harbor for its partnership and to Job Coach Dr. Dees for bringing us such an amazing group of youth workers. Our new group started this week, and they did an incredible job. We are so proud of them!

Thank you to Evelyn Yosmali and her jazz combo from Clark Montessori High School for filling the evening with such warm, cozy music. 🎶

And thank you to everyone who joined us. We love you, and we can’t wait to welcome you back for our next Community Family Dinner in two weeks! ♥️

09/03/2026

We’re excited to start something new at Garden of Joy!

Beginning Friday, September 11, we will be hosting Family Dinner Nights every other Friday from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. These are public community dinners, and everyone is welcome, whether you come on your own or bring family and friends.

Our students will work alongside our culinary team to prepare each meal. Every dinner will feature a different menu and live music. Once a month, we will also feature a food rescue menu in partnership with Feed the Soul , highlighting what can be created with rescued food.

This youth employment experience is made possible through our partnership with Harbor and Hamilton County JFS . Through this partnership, the young people participating in the program are paid for their time and work.

For our first dinner, we’ll serve three-taco plates with your choice of seasoned chicken, tofu or a combination of both. Each plate comes with your choice of chips with house salsa, corn salsa and guacamole, or a cup of vegetarian white bean tortilla soup.

Dinner is pay what you can, with a suggested contribution of $15 per adult and $10 per child. Give more, give less or join us as our guest. All proceeds support our free afterschool programming.

Friday, September 11
6:00 to 9:00 PM
Garden of Joy
3226 Central Parkway

Our first two dinner dates are September 11 and September 25. We’ll announce our first musical guest soon!

Join us for our first Family Dinner Night! Visit the event page for details and let us know you’re coming. https://www.facebook.com/share/18reBkPhM4/

We hope you’ll join us and help us get this new tradition started. ♥️

09/02/2026

Not sure what he had in mind with these…but thanks Ali!

08/21/2026

We are genuinely grateful to the International Institute for Restorative Practices for having us on the Restorative Works! podcast to talk about Garden of Joy.

Their work has changed the way Ali approaches his work with young people, both at Cincinnati Public Schools and how we do everything at Garden of Joy.

We know that unaddressed chronic suspensions and expulsions often lead to serious consequences like incarceration or death. The IIRP has given Cincinnati Public Schools and our team at Garden of Joy the language and tools to assist students with repairing harm when it happens, taking accountability when mistakes happen, and allow us to be in community with each other in a way that prevents future harm from occurring.

We at Garden of Joy believe this should be the baseline for how we work with young people in schools and youth programs. Kids are going to make mistakes, they are going to have conflict, and sometimes they are going to hurt people. Our job cannot only be to remove them when that happens. We also have to teach them how to talk about it, how to take responsibility, how to repair harm and how to make a different choice the next time challenging emotions arise.

Listen to the full podcast: https://www.iirp.edu/podcast/the-garden-of-joy-empowering-students-through-culinary-skills-and-restorative-practices

08/17/2026

08/05/2026

Thank you to Rodney Wilson and Cincinnati Magazine for taking the time to tell Garden of Joy’s story.

This community exists because so many people have believed in it and generously shared their time, talents, and love.

At Garden of Joy, we believe every shared meal is an opportunity to build trust, practice belonging, and remind young people that they have something meaningful to contribute.

Thank you to every student, family, volunteer, staff member, donor, chef, educator, and community partner who continues to help Garden of Joy grow.

We love you ♥️

08/03/2026

Thank you so much City Of Cincinnati Government for visiting our program ♥️ We are so grateful for all of your support! Grants like the Safe & Clean Grant from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful make our program possible!

08/01/2026

Tonight!
A Night of Hope Comes to Garden of Joy

Tonight, Garden of Joy is excited to welcome Most Hope Ministries for A Night of Hope, a free community celebration as we prepare for the new school year!

The evening will feature a live concert by Victory Boyd, a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and musician whose music has touched audiences around the world.

Most Hope Ministries will also be giving away:
• 400 backpacks filled with school supplies (while supplies last)
• Free pizza for everyone
• Gift cards for Smoothie King, City Barbeque, Target, and Valvoline

We are incredibly grateful to Most Hope Ministries for bringing this wonderful event to Garden of Joy and for investing in the young people and families of our community.

Please join us tonight, invite your friends and neighbors, and come be part of a joyful evening together!

Help Us Continue Growing
100% Volunteer-Led. Community-Powered. Free for Students.

Garden of Joy is 100% volunteer-led and community-powered.

Every meal, every lesson, every field trip, every garden bed, every moment of growth is possible because people continue to show up for our young people.

Thank you for growing with us.

If you would like to support, you can:

• Become a monthly supporter (https://www.gardenofjoyculinary.org/monthlydonor)
• Make a one-time donation (https://www.gardenofjoyculinary.org/donate)
• Volunteer with us in the kitchen or garden (https://www.gardenofjoyculinary.org/getinvolved)
• Share our mission with your community (https://www.gardenofjoyculinary.org/about-1)
• Purchase items from our wish list (https://www.gardenofjoyculinary.org/wishlist)

Garden of Joy Culinary Academy provides faith-centered, garden-to-table culinary education that helps teenagers and young adults build practical life skills, confidence, and pathways to opportunity. This work is part of a larger effort to promote peace and education in the Cincinnati community.

Click here for event details from Garden of Joy Culinary Academy!