Dale Anderson shows young offenders a path to a sweeter life
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| Kalamazoo, Mich.
Dale Anderson describes himself as an 鈥渦nlikely chocolatier.鈥
鈥淚t still feels like play: Let鈥檚 dress up and play chocolatier today,鈥 says Mr. Anderson, owner of Confections With Convictions in Kalamazoo, Mich. 鈥淚 feel like the Grandma Moses of chocolates.鈥
On a recent Tuesday, the case holds 81 different types of truffles and caramels, all made by hand in small batches from fair-trade, organic chocolate. About one third use locally sourced ingredients, such as homemade damson plum preserves; Michigan honey and maple syrup; blueberries, peaches, and cherries; apples dried in-house; and lavender from Anderson鈥檚 own garden.
From the espresso salted caramel made from locally roasted coffee to the saffron and kewda truffle, Confections With Convictions offers sophisticated flavor combinations and artisanal ingredients more often found in big cities like New York or San Francisco.
But Anderson never set out to make chocolates. He wanted a way to offer kids who had felonies on their record a chance to build a future. The store鈥檚 employees never thought they鈥檇 become expert chocolatiers either.
鈥淚 never really pictured myself doing this or anything close to this,鈥 says Quinton Mitchell, a 21-year-old who started working at Confections With Convictions when he was 18. 鈥淚 lived a different lifestyle before I worked here.鈥
Mr. Mitchell, who Anderson says has a deft touch dipping truffles, wants to make chocolate his career, with a goal of eventually opening his own shop.
鈥淚t changed me. It changed me a lot 鈥 all the way around,鈥 he says as he edits photos of white chocolate and orchid truffles on the store computer. 鈥淚 probably wouldn鈥檛 be walking around here if I didn鈥檛 have this job. I would probably be in prison, or dead.鈥
Anderson, a licensed builder for almost 40 years, had bought his then-wife 鈥渁 fancy box of chocolates鈥 when the name of the store popped into his head. He had been looking for a way to help the juvenile drug offenders he has counseled since 1996, and his original idea 鈥 teaching them to install photovoltaic solar panels 鈥 had come to nothing.
But before Anderson could open his shop, he had to learn to make chocolate. He experimented at home and took an online course (which he describes as about as useful as 鈥渓earning to play basketball online鈥). He enrolled in a weeklong class at The French Pastry School in Chicago and received more training from L.A. Burdick in Walpole, N.H.
Then he used his skills as a builder to renovate a long-vacant building on Crosstown Parkway in Kalamazoo, which ended up taking almost two years and all of his available capital. 鈥淭here was a river running through the basement,鈥 Anderson recalls.
Confections With Convictions opened in December 2010. Today, it employs six people. Anderson; his mother, Amy, a perpetually smiling presence behind the counter; and a professor at Western Michigan University all volunteer their time. Anderson hopes the shop will eventually 鈥済enerate enough income that I can work here.鈥
His first employee, Livia Worley, still works at the store part time, although she now has another job working for a Kalamazoo nonprofit group and says she stays mostly out of loyalty 鈥 and to keep in touch with Anderson and his mom.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got the perfect kid for you 鈥 she鈥檚 got five felonies and three misdemeanors,鈥 Anderson remembers the nonprofit Youth Opportunities Unlimited telling him about the then-teenager.
鈥淲hen I got to him, I had nothing. I was a dropout with a baby on the way and no place to stay,鈥 says Ms. Worley, now 22.
Today, the mom of a preschooler owns a home with her boyfriend, as well as three investment properties, and is on track to finish her associate degree at Kalamazoo Valley Community College in December. She plans to transfer to Western Michigan University to study accounting and finance. 鈥淭here was a point in time in my four years here that this was the only spot I did want to come. That tells you what sort of spot this is,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t was a safe spot to me.鈥
The futures of Worley, Mitchell, and the other employees remain the primary focus of Confections With Convictions; the chocolate is just an extremely tasty byproduct.
鈥淒ale teaches a skill set beyond making wonderful chocolate,鈥 says Frank Weichlein, former director of the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home. In addition to learning a marketable skill, he says, the youths also learn the importance of showing up on time and being dependable, and how to work as a team. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 how you make it in life.鈥 鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a neat thing for the kids and the community,鈥 Mr. Weichlein says. 鈥淭hey need this opportunity. Not a lot of people are willing to give it to them.鈥
In Michigan, juvenile records are visible to employers. Job opportunities during the Great Recession and its aftermath were next to nonexistent for juvenile offenders convicted of felonies. 鈥淚 wanted to find a way to employ some of these kids, give them legal money, and maybe a somewhat healthy adult male role model,鈥 Anderson says.
The decision to make chocolate had its own challenges. Anderson was concerned about the history of child labor, sometimes indentured labor, in Ivory Coast, where the cacao is sourced. That's why he decided only to use fair-trade chocolate. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 helping six kids here in town but I鈥檓 enslaving 60 in the Ivory Coast ... it didn鈥檛 make sense,鈥 he says.
Every day, the Andersons provide a family-style lunch for their staff, as well as a place where employees say they can leave their problems at the door.
鈥淚 love his jokes,鈥 says Quintoria Baker, who has worked at the store for six months. 鈥淗e keeps me laughing. I don鈥檛 hear a lot of jokes outside of work.鈥
Anderson has learned that what his employees really need is flexibility. Many have children; some don鈥檛 have a stable place to live. He doesn鈥檛 fire no-shows, but his rule is if you don鈥檛 call within 10 minutes of when you鈥檙e scheduled to work, you can鈥檛 work that day.
鈥淓verybody I鈥檝e had here 鈥 with a couple of exceptions of kids who disappeared and did not come back 鈥 has been super eager to be here, very loyal, very happy for the opportunity,鈥 he says.
Nor, he says, does he have to teach his employees how to work hard.
鈥淎 lot have had to hustle up something for themselves since they were 8 or 10,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that they don鈥檛 know how. It鈥檚 that they have not had an opportunity to do it in a socially acceptable format.鈥
Ms. Baker came to Kalamazoo a year ago. She had been applying for jobs with no success, and currently is staying at the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission. 鈥淔or him to hire me, I really appreciate it. I want to show him I鈥檓 dependable and can get the job done,鈥 she says. Of Anderson and his mom, she says, 鈥淚鈥檝e grown to love them within six months. I love the chocolate, period.鈥
Anderson calls Confections With Convictions 鈥減art counseling and part foster parenting.鈥 鈥淚 don鈥檛 necessarily have grand dreams for the shop, but I鈥檇 like to keep reaching and helping kids,鈥 he says.
In four years, five teens have gone on to other careers, and 12 have fulfilled their community service at the store, he says.
It鈥檚 not a program with a defined beginning and end, and there鈥檚 no time limit for employees to stay. 鈥淎s long as they need me,鈥 Anderson says, 鈥淚鈥檓 very happy to launch them into their lives in other places.鈥
What Anderson and his mom gave Worley, she says, was genuine caring about what she鈥檚 been through and where she鈥檚 going.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen a lot of kids come and go,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 try to tell them each the same thing: If you feel like no one cares about you, know the chocolate shop does. Miss Amy and Dale do.鈥
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