Kids Cafe is a nutrition and self-esteem program for high risk and homeless youth living in St. Louis Park. Program operates 5 days a week and serves over 55 elementary aged children each day. The program provides mentoring and education around nutrition, as well as teaching the children key team building, leadership and hygiene skills. Kids Cafe served approximately 10,600 meals in 2005.

This exciting program has a full time chef that works with the children and guides and teaches them as they prepare, serve, and clean up a nightly dinner.

The new restaurant-style Kids Cafe kitchen, designed as a child-friendly space, was completed in September 1998. The program targets St. Louis Park children, including our Transitional Housing Program kids whose parents are struggling to make ends meet. Kids come to this daily after-school program throughout the school year. The program provides academic enrichment as well as the kitchen experience, utilizing volunteers as mentors to the children.

The Kids Cafe program serves children a well-balanced home-style evening meal. The program seeks to mentor basic socialization skills, responsibility, contribution, sharing, positive companionship, and healthy decision-making. A uniqueness to the program is that children work together to prepare the meal, set the table and then help clean up afterwards.

Second Harvest, a national network of food banks, started Kids Cafe in 1993 and now feed children in many of the major metropolitan areas all over the country. Kids Cafe is primarily funded through donations from Foundations and Corporations. SuperTarget is the major corporate sponsor of this program.

Perspectives' Kids Cafe is one of three in the Twin Cities metro area.