Paul Dahm is executive director of Brainfood (brain-food.org), a nonprofit group that teaches culinary skills in a way that helps District high school students far beyond the kitchen. The program began a decade ago and operates out of two churches, one in Chinatown, the other in Columbia Heights.

What does your organization do?

We use food and cooking as the tools to teach life skills and healthy living to teens in Washington. Kids attend class after school two times a week for 2 1/2 hours, and we also run a six-week summer program that meets five days a week.