Power Station

When Paty Funegra was on Power Station one year ago, she told La Cocina VA’s founding story and promised to return with an update on a new capital campaign. La Cocina VA was already training and certifying unemployed Latino immigrants as food industry professionals. The next step was to scale the model, teach entrepreneurship, and serve the growing refugee population as well.  La Cocina VA had an unlikely beginning. After immigrating to the US from Peru, Paty settled into a new career at a multinational organization. She discovered DC Central Kitchen, a small but powerful nonprofit which, under iconic leader Robert Eggers, trains jobless residents for culinary careers and brings healthy meals to urban food deserts. Paty set out to adapt this model in Northern Virginia, where the Latino immigrant community lacked access to training and jobs. Paty founded La Cocina VA, which starts by teaching English before preparing students for careers in the food industry. It also partners with employers to identify how to