New Haven Bakery Making a Big Difference in Refugees’ Lives

Havenly, a local Connecticut bakery, is making a difference in refugees lives by providing  employment and work skills while they learn the English language.                       

Havenly is a bakery located in New Haven that sells baklava through gift orders and retail stores in the area. Co-founder and Head Chef, Nieda Abbas, who came to the United States from Iraq, faced challenges when trying to settle into her new home while simultaneously searching for employment. She is now using her experiences to help others.

Abbas co- founded Havenly in the spring of 2018 with Yale students Cartina Passoni, Alessandro Luciano, and Benjamin Weiss. Havenly offers a program to help immigrant and refugee women find employment.

Havenly is trying to make a difference in these refugees lives by teaching them how to speak English as they learn what’s needed to succeed in the food industry. Through Havenly, refugees have an opportunity for hands-on learning, including food safety requirements and financial planning.

“The goal of Havenly is to make sure that they can be self-sufficient after they leave us. We want them to be confident with the new skills they learned when they are placed in jobs throughout the New Haven area,” said Catrina Passoni, the Executive Director and Co-Founder at Havenly. 

The Havenly program includes three components; education, employment and support. For six months, refugees can “earn while they learn,” gaining confidence and crucial know-how. The program pays those involved $15 an hour to work in the bakery and take workshops that will help them to develop the expertise needed not only in the food industry, but their everyday lives.

Looking for a job in the U.S. can be quite challenging for a refugee. In the United States, refugees make up one tenth of the total number of immigrants. Many have to face the obstacles of applying to jobs while speaking limited English and not having previous employment records.

Due to lack of these resources, only 8% of refugees nationwide have jobs with livable hourly wages and only 6% have jobs that have livable wage hours and offer full time employment, according to Yvette. M. Young of the University of Utah.

Havenly is also a space where refugees create meaningful friendships and relationships within the community.

“My favorite part is the community - there are a lot of friendships that form here, in our workshops and kitchen,” said Passoni.

A former Havenly employee, went on to be employed at the University of New Haven’s dining hall. By completing the program through Havenly, she was able to pass her food safety test completely in the English language.

In-store locations of Havenly’s treats in New Haven include Elm City Market, Book Trader Cafe, The Coffee Pedaler, The Juice Box, P+M Fine Foods Market, Cafe X, and Midpoint Coffee. Those interested in purchasing baklava from Havenly can visit their online store.  

Reported and written for CT by the Numbers by Hannah Johnson.