Vanessa learned about Providence Culinary Training (PCT) when she was searching for a plane ticket home. Originally from Barcelona, she had just left a controlling marriage, one where she couldn’t drive, couldn’t write a check.

Earlier this month, Ben Dunlap stood up to the microphone in front of a group of students about to graduate from Providence Culinary Training. “I’ve never made a speech before,” he humbly said. “My dad was… how do I say it? A street hustler,” he said. “He always did whatever he had to in order to provide for his family.” Ben said his father passed away recently, and now he wants to honor his father’s commitment to his family by supporting his own young family, but via a diffe