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One Boston developer wants to grow the Massachusetts hospitality talent pipeline through his family’s philanthropic efforts.
The Lupoli Family Foundation has made a $500K pledge to a Northern Essex Community College capital campaign aimed at continuing to bring affordable education to gateway cities like its campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence. The Lupoli family’s donation will be used in creating the $1M Lupoli Family School of Hospitality & Culinary Arts.
“Our family foundation is very passionate about education,” Lupoli Cos. CEO and President Sal Lupoli told Bisnow. “People at the top of the chain who get a quality education are able to come out and be effective in their industry.”
Northern Essex Community College has struggled to make ends meet, as Massachusetts has significantly cut higher education funding. There has been a $2,800 increase in tuition and fees at the state’s 15 community colleges since 2001. Lupoli, who started his career in hospitality, sees a talent-building opportunity in creating the center.
“This isn’t just something for the young adults to climb that ladder,” he said. “This is an opportunity for restaurants to continue to thrive because they’ll have access to the school and react to these individuals as they’re coming up. This is the right place at the right time.”
The Lupoli Family School of Hospitality & Culinary Arts will occupy two floors in The Heights, a 10-story mixed-use development being built by Lupoli Cos. The center will include classrooms, a test kitchen, laboratories and a restaurant for chefs-in-training to practice their burgeoning skills. The center is expected to enroll as many as 200 students.
“It’s an incredible gift that will help us do something that no community college in New England has done before,” NECC President Lane Glenn said in a prepared statement. “We will be able to create a permanent endowed chair for an academic program that will become a regional provider of skilled workers for an industry that is booming in the Commonwealth.”
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