IRC Spice Kitchen is a business incubator that helps refugees, immigrants and new-Americans start their own food businesses.
Emily Park with Spice Kitchen says right now they are representing 26 different international culinary traditions.
She says, "Food to me is one of those universal languages. So having that here in our backyard where we're able to travel to all these different places is exciting."
Running a food business requires a lot of specialized knowledge and Spice Kitchen helps with everything from learning about licensing to doing taxes, marketing, creating recipes and everything in between.
Last year alone, entrepreneurs in the program made a cumulative $756,000!
The program was established 10 years ago. Since then they have helped dozens of people develop successful food businesses all while preserving their culture.
Emily was awarded the Smith's Zero Hunger Hero Award for the month of January for all the work she's done helping people follow their culinary dreams.
She says the best way you can help is to show support. "Hire them for a catering, find their food truck, purchase from them in the store. That helps more than any other way," Emily says.
You can find a full list of the people Spice Kitchen has helped by clicking here.
