Photo: Employees at Beautiful Rainbow Cafe (from left to right) Chef Chris Wood, Jack Ross, Ja’Von Meadows, Alexis Collins, and Leita Conner with the Program of the Year award and the first-ever Beautiful Rainbow Cookbook.
Editor’s note: This is an expanded version of a story published in last week’s print edition
By Lindsey Frazier, Features Editor
In its 10th year of operation, the Beautiful Rainbow Cafe, located in the Gadsden Public Library, was selected as the Alabama Council of Administrators of Special Education Program of the Year.
The award reflects the work of administrators who oversee the program, allowing educators Leita Conner and Chris Wood to continue the educational model created by Chip Rowan at the cafe, Wood said.
“It’s all work-based learning with Gadsden City Schools,” said Wood, a culinary arts educator. “All of our students come from the special education department.”
The brightly colored vegan cafe gives students the opportunity to develop life-management skills through planting, harvesting, preparing, cooking and selling meals and baked goods. Nearly everything is made in-house from scratch, with a few exceptions, such as occasional canned goods or winter produce.
“A lot of people have preconceptions,” Conner said. “Like, ‘It’s vegetarian, it’s horrible. I’m not going to eat that—I’d rather have steak.’ Well, so would we—we’re just not going to serve it. Our customers are very loyal. If they want vegetarian or vegan, they know where they can get it.”
Across the street from the library, 12 garden beds sit behind a mural-covered fence. There, students work alongside the Garden Club and Miller’s Farm and Gardens to grow and harvest ingredients used in the cafe.
“They started off with a single raised bed that they used for teaching math concepts like percentages and yields,” Wood said. “X number of seeds go in, X number of plants come out. They track watering and chart the temperature every day. That leads to personal responsibility—like, ‘It’s 79 degrees. How do we need to dress?’ It covers all kinds of different bases you wouldn’t expect from gardening.”
As the garden expanded, so did the program. Students began learning how to prepare vegetables and now help choose menu items based on what they’ve grown, Wood said.
Conner and Wood both teach special education at Gadsden City High School. In the mornings, Conner teaches a first-block class while Wood meets students arriving on the bus before heading to the cafe to prepare food made the night before. After class, Conner joins him at the cafe to continue instruction there.
“Unfortunately, with a lot of our students, because they were diagnosed with special education needs early on, not much was expected of them,” Wood said. “All you have to do is set a benchmark, and they will blow you away time and time again.”
In addition to earning school credit, students are paid an hourly wage through grants funded by the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama. They are also set up with bank accounts and taught how to budget and manage their money.
“We are doing a lot of money management skills,” Conner said. “Time management, budgeting. Right now, we’re focusing on wants versus needs and how you have to take care of your needs before you can spend on wants.”
Conner also teaches email etiquette, communication skills and professional behavior. The program has expanded beyond the classroom as well, with a grant-funded initiative that has produced nearly 100 educational videos.
“Before Chip Rowan started the program, none of the students with severe intellectual disabilities were getting jobs in the community,” Conner said. “Now it’s over 60. We have amazing success stories of students going out into the community and finding jobs.”
“It’s not just food service,” Wood added. “Working with Project Search, we have students in healthcare—at hospitals, nursing homes, even the chicken plant. They are all over the place.”
This year marks the program’s largest group yet, with 18 students participating, including 12 on the lunch rotation.
Most students are ServSafe certified, meaning they are trained to handle food safety issues, including allergies and illness.
“If someone comes in with a nut allergy, they know to immediately remove the cutting board, knives, equipment—change gloves, all that kind of stuff,” Wood said. “We try to maintain a safe environment for everybody.”
The cafe serves lunch Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. and remains open until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday for coffee, sweets and drinks. Catering is also available.
“Come on down and we’ll take care of you,” Wood said.
