Latest News & Updates
NJ Supreme Court Justice Has a CookWell Connection
Several of us involved in the early planning of the CookWell program met Ms. Pierre-Louis in January 2018, when she was an assistant US attorney for New Jersey and headed the Trenton office.
PACF-Burke Foundation Grant Helps CookWell Move Forward
The Princeton Area Community Foundation (PACF), in partnership with The Burke Foundation, awarded LJTP’s CookWell program a $10,000 grant for program support in 2019-20. We are grateful for this timely award, which has provided a [...]
In memory of …
Zakee Abdul "Willie" Cooper 1983 - 2020 The CookWell family was deeply saddened by Zakee Cooper’s tragic death on March 2 to gun violence. Just last summer, in June 2019, Zakee graduated from the CookWell [...]
CookWell’s Graduates
Through early 2020 we’ve gone through three training cycles and celebrated six people graduating. Several graduates have found employment in the food industry. One, Zakee Cooper, was climbing the corporate ladder at the Cheesecake Factory, [...]
Steps to Success
We measure success one life at a time. And ultimately, our hope is to enable as many people as we can to find steady jobs, and a steady life. But there are many steps to [...]
CookWell FAQs
How did the idea for this project originate? A: CookWell, and the Lawrenceville Job-Training Partnership (LJTP), came to be as a result of the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville’s strategic planning process in 2014-17. Q: [...]
Celebration Lunch for Cycle 1
CookWell held its very first graduation celebration (and final exam meal) on Friday, January 25. Over 40 persons, many friends from our partners and from The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, attended. On the menu: seared [...]
Chef Frank Wins NJ State Salsa Cook-Off
Chef Frank, celebrating his victory Last Friday, our CookWell trainees had a crash course in how to prepare forty pounds of mango salsa in under four hours. It was a lesson in patience, with each [...]
What is the Lawrenceville Job-Training Partnership?
The Lawrenceville Job-Training Partnership (LJTP) is a collaboration, begun in 2018 by the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, to provide job training for returning citizens. LJTP's initial job-training program was called CookWell. CookWell was a [...]